Chapter Eleven: Shivering
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"Darnit, why now…"
Ben's eyes readjusted to the light as simplistic thoughts like these ran through his mind. The scenery had not at all changed before… but something seemed different. A phrase his art teacher once said floated to the surface. "Perspective…" Something about my perspective… changed, he thought.
He tried to push up onto his arms and legs – and stumbled. However, he didn't fall; he floated, balance continuously faltering. He looked down at his arms – they were scrawny… dark… grey. Air rushed passed him as if it was going through him.
Something, as usual, was off. The sun, more than halfway across the sky, beat down heavily, but Ben didn't feel a thing. The drone of bugs was heavy in the air.
Slowly readjusting to his new form of movement, Ben spun around trees, trees, more trees… and a river. Shaking awkwardly, he moved forward. The lack of legs baffled him; Ben was unsure what he was.
As the river neared, he tried his hardest to lean down and not fall. What he saw, at that point, horrified him. A scream – coupled with a monotone rasp – escaped from nowhere in particular.
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Both Gwen and Max leaped backwards with impeccable speed. Ben, or someone in his body, shoved his arms outward in some kind of defensive maneuver. His voice, semi-deep in tone and intimidating, still, somehow, mixed with Ben's own, spoke outward towards to the two. "Okay, then… I'll repeat myself… who are you?"
The voice sounded faintly familiar to the Tennysons, who could only guess at this point whatever the hell was going on. Max, mouth dry and half-understanding the situation, spoke up first. "A better question would be who you are!"
The person smirked apprehensively. "Brave life form… you don't know me? How can you not know me?" His defensive guard let down for a moment, and he crossed his arms, holding them at that sides as if he was cold. That stopped as he triumphantly struck his finger into the humid coastal air shouting, "I am the mightiest warrior the galaxy has even seen! Fear my power!" He shoved his arms out farther into the air. The ignorant grin on his face faded as he realized what he intended to happen was not happening. He pulled his arms down and scrutinized them while moving his hands around, testing the air along with parts of his body.
As if the day hadn't been crazy enough, the completely bewildered look on his face had topped it for Gwen. She busted out laughing at her now-confused-looking cousin.
"Does anybody know what's going on?" she said, between airless fits of amusement.
The ten-year-old boy suddenly began to shiver. "… and why it's so freaking cold!"
"He's gone nuts, too!" She giggled louder.
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He had to admit it. While he was trying his hardest to heavily deny it for the past few hours, the attempt didn't accomplish much it wasn't working well.
It just convinced Ben Tennyson that it was the worst day of his life.
For nobody is it familiar or comfortable to be transformed into an alien, temporarily or permanently. The former was all right with Ben; it was the latter that freaked him out so badly.
There was the floating too; that was hard to get used to. He did kind of like the intangibility, though.
"I have to concentrate," he thought, "I'm not going to stay like this. At least I hope so…"
He stopped that thought. "I have to find Gwen and Grandpa… and find out how this happened…"
The sun, though, continued to distract him. It didn't feel that bad earlier to him, but now… It was beating down like crazy on him. It almost burned, even. It was then he realized that he needed to find himself…
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The man grimaced as he hunched over the terminal for the second time that day. In the background, he could faintly hear a conversation going on. "So, what's it like to live on a sun, Ben?" Max ignored the answer as he tried to key in a question.
"So, what, repeat that, Max?" He sighed sarcastically and furiously retyped the sentences he had only just finished.
"I said… I… think… that my grandson has had his conscious self… err… transplanted."
"Do you know where the real Ben is?"
"… No."
"What about the body? What's in it now?"
"We think it's the Omnitrix's resident Pyronite."
"The fiery guy?"
"Yes."
"And how did that happen?"
"That's what I'm asking you."
"Well, it's possible that what happened is a regular thing to the Omnitrix."
"How?"
"…Long story."
"Fine, then. Do any of you up there know what is actually going on?"
"Not really. I keep hearing stories of these three rogues trying to, well…"
"What?"
"Get the Omnitrix back."
"So?"
"Just be careful out there. I have to go."
"Well, it's not very different once you get used to it."
Gwen laid her fist under he chin. "Somehow, I find that hard to believe."
"Why? It's only 5785 kelvins, and that's in the fall. It's only 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit in your world.
Gwen turned around her laptop, it opened to a weather map. "Try 88 degrees Fahrenheit. Right now."
The boy suddenly started shivering again. "Are you serious? How do you live like this?"
Gwen smirked. "We push through. Somehow."
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That's it. You know the drill, so go ahead and review! No, seriously, go ahead now. I'll wait.
Sorry for the update lateness. Oh, and, by the way, I have a great idea for another fic, so look out in the Ben 10 section for the next few weeks!