Anodite changes

deactivation code: 0100011103

Heroes and family sit together, smiling ear to ear. They celebrate a fleeting moment of peace and harmony. In the middle of this activity, a sleeping Benjamin Tennyson is finally flitting awake. As this happens, Gwen, from the dinner table, takes notice.

(Chuckles) "Yeah, and I said—oh dang, Ben's awake. Hey! Hey guys, Ben's awake!"

They all take notice and drop their meals. Gwen's mom is especially shocked.
"Wait... that creature is Ben?"
"That creature is me," Sunny says, clearly taking offense.

"Yo Ben, you good?" Kevin asks as they crowd over him, to which Gwen promptly interrupts.
"Alright, that's enough—give him some space. He just woke up from an intense experience!"

Ben looked on at Gwen, confused.
"What are you talking about?"

He looks around to see many worried faces staring at him, including Verdona, which surprised him.

"Ben, you—" Gwen says before being interrupted by Ben's pains of anguish.
"Ugh, ahhh, what's happening... my head feels like it's splitting."

The rush of Anodite power finally settling into him—his human brain couldn't fathom the sheer amount of power and senses he now possesses. It was so much, he almost passed out again.

"Ben, it's alright," his grandmother said, walking toward him and touching his shoulder soothingly.

At that moment, he inspected himself and couldn't comprehend what he saw. Glowing bright blue skin covered every part of him—it looked as if his human skin was gone and had been replaced by this glow. He started freaking out at this point.

"What—what happened to me while I was asleep?!" he demanded, not knowing the strength of his powerful voice. His piercing wail almost broke the glass around them.
"Calm down, Ben, before you kill someone!" Gwen yelled at her cousin to calm his rage and confusion.

He looked at his friends and family as they covered their ears. He realized that he had hurt them and immediately calmed down.
"I—I'm so sorry," he said.

Finally, the glow around him stopped, but he still retained the Anodite form.

"It's okay. No one can blame you for being surprised—we all are," Gwen said, sympathetic toward her cousin.

"I just want to know what happened. I can't remember—my thoughts are so scrambled."

As he says this, a voice sternly speaks,
"That's because you disobeyed my instructions like a pea-brained fool!"

Everyone looks around the room to find where the voice spoke from.
"I'm down here."

Everyone looks down to see a small grayish alien with a grumpy face. This is none other than Azmuth, who created the Omnitrix in the first place. He's also the smartest being in the Ben 10 universe.

"H-Hey there... Azmuth," Ben stammers out in his Anodite form, barely able to think straight with all this intense and overwhelming power.

As if the Thinker read his mind, he replies:
"Oh, is it hard for you to think, Ben? I bet it is when you disobey the simplest of instructions—like, say, don't mess with the Omnitrix under any circumstances!"

Ben puts his head down, not even able to face Azmuth due to the shame he feels.
"H-Hey, stop yelling at my cousin! He was just trying to help, right?!" Sunny asks, emotion and rage filling her heart.

"Oh please, there are other ways he could've helped, as you do so eloquently put it!
Don't get involved with topics out of your imagination. Even if you are an Anodite, you're 1,000 years too early to cross intellects with me!"

"And as for you—" he looks Ben in the eye this time.
"I am so disappointed in you, Ben Tennyson. I expected so much from you. I thought of you as my successor, but this? Tampering with my invention for a power boost?"

He was promptly interrupted by Gwen.
"Alright, that's it—I've had enough! My cousin has too much on his plate for this. If he doesn't try something, Vilgax will take over the universe!! He's too powerful without doing something drastic!"

"There are no shortcuts! I understand Ben's situation—and the severity of the universe depending on one man—but that's no excuse to do what he did! I warned him of the consequences. I was clear I would take away the Omnitrix if he went against my wishes!"

Azmuth speaks with a somber tone.
"Omnitrix deactivation code: 0100011103. Azmuth the Thinker."

He speaks into the device, and a robotic female voice sounds out:
"Access granted to Azmuth."

The Omnitrix is stripped from Tennyson's wrist and lands in Azmuth's hands. Everyone stared, surprised at what just happened.

"I understand, Azmuth. You warned me," Ben stated. "And I let you down, like so many others."

He looked down now, his Anodite eyes narrowed to a saddened expression.
"Then do what needs to be done—and show us who you are!!"

Everyone stared at Azmuth now, not expecting that from him.
Ben looked at him, surprised.
"But I let you down... I let you all down. Are you really willing to give me another chance?" Ben asked in disbelief.

Azmuth didn't quite answer the question. Instead, he responded with another question—fitting of the Thinker.
"Say, Ben... remember when Malware took your prized transformation, Feedback?"

"Of course," Ben responded.
"And what did you do about it?"

"What did I...? I—"
He grew shocked in realization. He knew what Azmuth was saying. The others stayed silent, not noting what Azmuth meant until he continued.

"You grew. You matured. You saved lives. You became the hero you were meant to be."

As it finally reached its conclusion, he smiled and went on his way.
"You haven't been acting like Ben Tennyson for a while. I've been watching—defeated with every battle. You cower in the face of adversity. You look for other methods other than your own strength.

So once you prove to me that you are in fact Ben Tennyson—savior of the universe like a dozen times—I'll give this back to you. I'll even upgrade it for you."

Before he left, Ben asked:
"Why are you suddenly so forgiving? You were about furious with me just seconds ago."
"Oh, I'm still ticked off... but I guess your hot-blooded cousins opened my eyes."