> "We all thought the Omnitrix was a gift.
But no gift comes without intent.
Evolution isn't always about growth.
Sometimes... it's about control."
— Gwen Tennyson
---
Location: The Rustbucket – Post-Upgrade Recovery
Ben sat cross-legged inside the Rustbucket's side compartment, eyes fixed on the Omnitrix as it idled silently on his wrist. The glow had faded, but the tension hadn't.
Ever since the Upgrade Protocol activated, he'd been having visions — moments of clarity wrapped in dread. Alien voices in his dreams. Binary whispers at the edge of hearing. Not warnings… instructions.
Max stood by the makeshift command console, scanning interstellar channels for any trace of the signal that triggered the transformation.
"Still nothing," Max grunted. "No transmissions. No known Plumber signatures. It's like the galaxy saw what you did… and then went silent."
Ben rubbed his eyes. "Or they're watching. Waiting."
---
Gwen's Discovery – Ancient Galvan Archives
Gwen, laptop open and fingers flying, pulled up a partially decrypted file stolen from a Galvan subnetwork that the Omnitrix had quietly accessed during the signal burst. As she pieced it together, a phrase kept repeating in alien glyphs.
She translated aloud:
> "Evolution Cascade Protocol – 10-X Prime.
Designed for singular hosts.
Adaptive. Autonomous. Potentially irreversible."
She turned to Ben, eyes narrowed.
"This isn't just an upgrade system. It's an evolutionary directive. The Omnitrix was meant to push you — but not just in power. In form."
Ben leaned closer. "Form how?"
She hesitated. "The Omnitrix doesn't just give you aliens. It reshapes you to become one of them permanently — if the conditions are met."
Ben blinked. "So… it can evolve me into something else?"
Gwen nodded. "Eventually, there wouldn't be a Ben left at all. Just… the 'perfect synthesis.'"
---
Max's Interruption – The Azmuth File
Max entered with a sealed Plumber datacube — one from his personal archive.
"This was sent to me years ago by a contact in the Galvan Council. They called it speculative. Fringe stuff."
He loaded the message.
A flickering image of Azmuth appeared — more lucid this time, but urgent.
> "If this reaches you, then the Omnitrix has entered Protocol Phase Two.
I need you to understand — I never intended for the device to be used this way. The Evolution Theory was abandoned for a reason."
"The theory posited that if a single sentient lifeform could access all known DNA types, its consciousness might evolve past identity and merge into the Omniversal mind. A cosmic convergence. No species, no limits… no humanity."
"It would be the death of a person… and the birth of a weapon."
Ben stared at the screen.
Gwen whispered, "So this watch doesn't want to make you stronger. It wants to remake you."
---
Internal Conflict – Ben's Private Struggle
That night, Ben sat on a cliff's edge, looking up at the stars.
"Who am I?" he murmured to himself. "A kid with a second chance… or just a test subject for something older than the universe?"
The Omnitrix shimmered. A faint, mechanical voice whispered in his mind.
> "Directive active. Evolution in progress. Do not resist."
Ben clenched his fist. "I didn't come back to become something else. I came back to do it right."
But deep down… he wasn't sure anymore if those two things were different.
---
Kevin's Perspective – A Dangerous Realization
In a hidden underground lair filled with salvaged alien tech, Kevin stared into a damaged Galvan neural matrix stolen years ago.
The fragments of the Evolution Theory danced across the holographic display.
He smirked.
"So that's it. The Omnitrix isn't a tool. It's a trap."
He touched his chest — where his mock-Omnitrix core throbbed.
"If Ben's trying to become something better…"
He turned toward a fusion chamber glowing with experimental DNA strands.
"…then I'll become something worse."
---
The First Symptom – Mutation Sign
The next morning, Ben noticed something strange.
A green glyph — like circuitry — had formed faintly on the skin of his chest, right above his heart. Gwen tried scanning it. The device nearly overloaded.
"It's… part of the Omnitrix now," she said slowly. "Like it's integrating with your biology."
Ben touched it gently. It pulsed with warmth — not pain, not cold. Familiar. Like it belonged.
Max's face darkened. "It's not just evolving you, Ben. It's absorbing you."
Ben stood, activating the Omnitrix. "Then we need to control it before it controls me."
---
Final Scene – Alien Worlds React
Across the galaxy, in the high courts of the Galvan Council, a long-silent alarm echoed.
In the hidden tomb of the Highbreed Precursors, the old ones stirred from stasis.
And beyond all of them, in a timeless space between timelines, an entity without name whispered to itself:
> "He has triggered the Alien Evolution Path.
Let the Watcher of Forms awaken.
Let the trials begin."