He had never told anyone, not Grandpa Max or Gwen or Azmuth, but when the Omnitrix was removed... he felt pain. Not the kind of pain that was bound to happen when it was ripped from his wrist, the pain he had already experienced when Vilgax and Kevin teamed up. No it was constant. First it was a dull ache, going on for a week before it became worse, like a million Diamondhead shards piercing his insides over and over and over, like a pack of Vulpimancers were ripping him to shreds, but he ignored it, his stubborness didn't brake even when he sat in his room writhing in pain for an hour before finally passing out, he never told anyone.
This went on for five years.
He managed to get used to the constant pain, able to go about his life normally without having anyone know of his torture, though he sometimes felt his families concerned gazes when a particularly large stab of pain ripped through him and he let out an involantary wince or small gasp, he always shook it off and made an excuse of stomach aches and back cramps, it might have convinced them the first few times but he knew that they doubted his lies after he began using the same excuses
Then his Grandpa went missing.
He was quite surprised when the alien ambushed him in the Rustbucket, dodging it made the pain worse but he ignored it like always, and after the alien ran away and he found his Grandpa's message he rushed to his house and grabbed the Omnitrix and for the first time in five years...
The pain subsided.
He was very suprised when the ripping pain in him dulled to half it's force as soon as he touched the watch and he was able to move better, getting to his cousin much quicker without the pain locking up his muscles and making his brain go foggy, which always happened after a big physical workout and having barely any rest or food, it was a very welcomed sensation, as was the feeling of relief when the watch was back on his wrist, though there was a barely existent ache until he was able to activate it fully and transform for the first time in years, and that went on, no more pain, no more torturous nights laying in bed unable to move, just the sharp sting he always felt when he transformed, which quickly went away after every transformation from alien to human and vise versa
The pain came back everytime the Omnitrix was removed or deactivated completely to just a plain old watch fused to his wrist, he still never said a thing, never once showing he was in pain and always brushing it off when the Omnitrix was back on.
And it would continue that way for as long as he could bare.
For those of you who don't understand, this is kind of a 'what if' one-shot where if the Omnitrix is removed after a long period of time the wielder, who've had their DNA changed repeatedly, would be pained by it, like loosing an arm or something, their body has become so used to it that it sorta rejects the absense of it, I guess
I don't own Ben 10, if I did there would be no Ultimate Alien's and Wildmutt would be on more
