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Sequel to Captured

Remember

Ben

A blinding light struck my face, the sides of my arms irritated from dry grass. I opened my eyes slowly, aching from the bright sun.

"Where… where am I?"

I knew nothing of this place. Was it a planet I had never visited… or a barren land on my own home world? I stared directly up, looking at the sky. It was a strange blue with a hint of purple mixed in. The sun was colder than I was used to… Did the moon always show in the daytime? Was it ever that big… or that color?

I gripped my left arm in agony, screaming as the nerves began to wake up. I quickly sat up, doubling over. What happened the night before? Was it even the night before that it happened? How long… had it been?

My shoulder and part of my arm was a deep purple, a color that wasn't exactly common on my skin. It was hard rather than plush when I tried pressing my finger on the wound. It didn't give like youthful skin should. It literally felt like poking a wooden board. There was no give and take.

I sighed, groaning with the pain. Was this the result of what ever happened the night before? Was I in a fight? No… I wouldn't have lost if it was a fight. I wouldn't have even received this injury.

My eyes grew wide, a memory flashing before me. "BEN!" it screamed.

That was Rika's voice…

I clutched my arm tighter. "Gwen? Kevin?!" I called out, unwilling to stand up. What if my legs were injured too? I couldn't see them… but I could see my shoulder. For some reason I wasn't wearing a shirt, and that's what seemed the strangest out of all of this.

When no one responded, I knew I was alone. This was a different kind of alone, too. It wasn't just that Gwen and Kevin weren't here. No one was…

"Come on, Ben. It'll be all right."

"Liar."

I looked around. Those voices sounded familiar… Another memory, probably.

"Rika?!" I called out. Maybe if they weren't here… she was…

The ground shook violently. This wasn't normal, either. It wasn't a natural earthquake. This was man-made, like a WMD ((Weapon of Mass Destruction. Some people don't know these things [: -shrug-)) going off to kill them all. Was I in the middle of a battleground?

I looked around. No dead bodies… It looked like no one had been here in a while. I looked behind me. The grass wasn't depressed, like I'd walked myself out here. Strange…

I looked back down, then at my shoulder. A flashing light caught my eye. The Omnitrix…? I pressed down the faceplate, circling through everyone. They were all there… no one new, and no one old had gone missing. ((For now at least. We'll have to wait until tomorrow to see the outcome of his aliens.))

"Benjamin! Get up!"

I turned around suddenly, my back screaming from the contortionist positions I was forcing it into. That man… I've seen him before…

Blue skin? I asked myself.

"Don't worry, Benjamin. I am Tano. Thank you dearly for taking care of our sister. Everything will turn out as planned, Benjamin. Hold your breath."

Tano…? Who was that?

I quickly turned back around and ducked as the man seemed to be heading straight towards me. Suddenly, his hands planted themselves on my arms and lifted me up. He began pushing me forward at high speeds.

"Run!" he demanded.

All I wanted to do was fall back down and scream in pain. He'd aggravated my injury and it wasn't happy in the least. I nodded slowly, following instructions. Who was I to disagree? What if it meant my life either way? It didn't matter anymore. I've been through worse, right?

I didn't have to trust anyone. I could follow orders and kick their ass if things went wrong. I could fend for myself well enough to know I was safe no matter what I did.

So, then how the hell did I get this injury?!

I couldn't keep up with the blue man, but I knew all I had to do was run in his direction and I would end up somewhere in the end.

"You might want to step to the left a little!" he shouted behind him.

I raised a brow, questioning his reasoning. In any case, I stepped over to the left as I ran. Sure enough, the man had good judgment. A large, odd-looking missile-like object flew straight for me—or at least it would've if I didn't move.

"Whoa! What the hell was that?!" I asked loudly.

"Hold still," a voice demanded. Another blue skinned man appeared a good ten feet in front of me, giving me just enough time to stop running. I stumbled before him. The man grasped my shoulder and a light surrounded us.

I closed my eyes as it grew blindingly bright. Upon reopening them, two other blue-skinned men stood in the room.

"That's it." Now I had to speak up. "Where the hell am I?"

"Shh," one hushed me. "Benjamin, be quiet."

"Why?" I asked quietly.

A cat weaved around my feet, brushing against my legs.

"…" One of the men looked up. "Oh, right. He's human," he whispered to another.

"He's happy to see you."

I rolled my eyes. "Duh. Hi," I waved to the cat.

He looked up, meowing pleasantly.

I knew those eyes. They were Aikka's eyes. "Aikka?"

The cat seemed to smile. He meowed again.

"He wants to know why you didn't come sooner."

I looked up. "I need to know where I am," I told them dryly.

"I'm Keo," the one who'd apparently transported us spoke up.

"Tak," the tallest one said.

"Ixxes," the one on the ground smiled.

"You're on Cryogaus," another spoke up, walking into the strange room. "I am Tano. It's nice to see you again, Benjamin."

I laughed nervously. "Ben. It's just Ben."

"Ben…," Ixxes hummed.

I nodded. "You're Rika's brothers, then."

Tano nodded.

"That means… Where was I?" I asked.

"Your cat explained to us that you'd gone back to the jail in self-sacrifice for our sister. I don't know what happened after that."

"Hold still," Tak insisted, taking my head in his hands. "He's going to die in five minutes if you don't do something."

"Wait, what?!"

"Your blood is streaming with a poison. Your heart is failing and… I'm not even going to talk about your arm. You can see it's pretty bad."

I snorted. "Well, that was pretty obvious."

"Sit down. I'll see what I can do," Tano sighed.

I kept my eye on Tak and Tano as I sat down on the dirt floor.

"One hundred and two," Tak told his brother.

"I'll get some water," Ixxes stood up, leaving the room.

"Be careful, Brother!" Keo shouted after him.

"What's going on?" I asked the two who were governing my apparent medical treatment.

Tak turned around, leaving to get supplies from another room.

"You're in the middle of a warzone. We're hiding out here to recuperate and rework our plans."

I blinked. "And Rika?"

The man didn't answer me. He took a sharp object from his brother, who'd just walked back in, and cut a large gash into my shoulder and down my arm.

"Ah! What the hell?!" I asked, though as soon as I tried to pull my arm inward to coddle it, Tano had both hands pinned down.

"Hold still, damn you." I could feel the blood dripping down my arm in an instant. Tano removed his hands from my own and wrapped them over the large gash he'd created. "You might want to breathe in… very deeply."

I closed my eyes and waited for the pain before breathing in. In only a moment, it felt like he lit my arm on fire. The fire traveled down my arm and through my shoulder, across my chest and through the rest of my limbs.

I was quick to cry out, though it was involuntary. I could hear Tano laughing.

"Wimp," he laughed, removing his hands.

"You… you said breathe…," I growled, hugging my arm. When my skin gave into my grasp, I took in a deep breath, surprised. There was no pain… nothing hurt anymore.

"I didn't say scream," he continued to laugh.

Ixxes walked back in, carrying a wooden thermos of sorts. At closer examination, it seemed like bamboo. "Here," he told me, handing me the bottle. "Drink this. It'll replenish your system."

I looked up towards Tano. "Are you all insane?" I asked.

He smiled. "Look at your arm, then ask me again."

My shoulder was completely white again, and the large gash he'd created was gone as well. "I could've just gone Swampfire and done the same…," I rolled my eyes. "What'd you do with the poison that was in my system?" I asked, taking a drink of the water Ixxes had given me.

"It's in the water."

His words registered in my head the second I'd swallowed and it went down the wrong way, causing me to cough. "W-what the hell!"

They all laughed. "Come on, don't you have a sense of humor?!"

I clenched my jaw, handing Ixxes the water. "Here. Suddenly, I'm not so thirsty anymore."

He shook his head, laughing.

"We're just messing with you… Come on, Ben. You have to have some knowledge of what's humorous. We wouldn't let you near Rika otherwise!"

"Wait, what do you mean?"

"Our sister loves you. We only assumed equal from you as well," Keo smiled.

I shook my head. "No… you must've misunderstood."

"He's right," Tano agreed with me. "Rika has it wrong."

"What do you mean?" Ixxes asked.

I sighed. "I… I sincerely thought I was going to die…," I spoke slowly, now knowing most everything that happened the night before. "I told Rika… that I loved her—give or take a few words, that's what I implied. What else would you expect me to do? Leave her empty-handed, hoping I would come back some day? No… I couldn't hurt her like that.

"So I told her what I felt right then and there. If it wasn't for my untimely death only a few hours later I wouldn't have said shit! I wouldn't have meant it."

Tano, Tak, and Keo sat down.

"You're lying." Tano shook his head.

"No, I'm not."

"That's true too," Tano hummed. "You're saying… You didn't want to give in because you knew it wouldn't have been what you truly felt…"

I nodded. "Rika was trying so hard to get me to break under pressure, but she doesn't get it. If she wants me to love her, she needs to give it time."

Keo smiled. "At least there's interest there. So, technically she won't lose either way."

"Lose?" I asked. "It's not a game," I shook my head.

"I know," he added. "But Tano implied she'd said the same."

I nodded. "Yeah… I like Rika… But she's pushing for something that just isn't going to happen. Not right now. Hell, how long have I known her?"

Tano sighed. "Not long enough. I would've done the same, Benjamin."

"Ben," I corrected him. "We seem to get along pretty well, and that's a good sign," I laughed, trying to lighten the mood and change the subject. "I have a hunch we'll be spending a lot of time together."

Tano nodded. "Got that right, Alien Boy."

I sighed. So it runs in the family… "Where is Rika?" I asked again.

Keo shook his head, as if to shake off the last conversation. He quickly smiled. "Oh, she's on a scouting mission."

"Duguan aptal!" Ixxes growled, slapping the back of Keo's head. "You're not supposed to say anything!"

I smiled. "When will she be back?" I asked Tano.

Tak responded for him. "Soon. We left her out in the field this morning. That's when she contacted you."

"Oh," I looked back down. "That reminds me. How long has it been since I saw you in the jail?"

"About seven hours," Tano nodded.

"Damn… And it's still morning, I assume? Rika kept mentioning that her nights were much longer than ours back on Earth."

Keo nodded. "Our nights are substantially longer than Earth's."

I sighed. "If that doesn't cause some serious jetlag…"

Another large earthquake shook the ground.

"Rika!" Tak shouted, quickly rushing out of the room. Tano quickly followed after.

I watched his exit, then turned towards the other brothers. "Where is he going? Is she going to be all right?!"

The brothers' eyes shifted around the room.

"Sorry, Bro. Only Tano knows those kind of things," Ixxes told me.

"Well?" I urged. "Aren't you two going to do something to help?" I asked, getting to my feet.

"Right!" the brothers agreed together, rushing out of the room with me.