Ben 10: Justice Incarnate

Arrival

4:36 PM

"Wake up Tennyson," said a voice.

"No, Mom. I don't want to go to school today. I want to stay home and bake cookies with you.

"Ugh... Benjamin K. Tennyson, you wake up this instant!" yelled the being in annoyance.

"Aaaah." Ben woke up instantly to the yell.

The voice was relieved. "Finally."

Ben looked around for the source of the voice but found none. "Who said that?"

"I did," the voice replied.

Ben looked at the Omnitrix in confusion. "What?" Suddenly, the faceplate opened up and projected a hologram of a small frog-like being.

"I've been trying to wake you for about an hour now."

Ben raised an eyebrow. "Azmuth? What are you doing here?"

"I'm not Azmuth. I'm the AI that runs the Omnitrix. Azmuth 10. Who do you think says all those indications to you?"

Ben just blinked. "I'm surprised about seeing an AI besides Eunice."

Azmuth 10 decided to explain. "The Omnitrix uses quantum computing to analyze all the DNA stored within along with monitoring the various functions. Azmuth couldn't trust any AI except one he made himself."

"So why are you here now? You haven't shown up before."

"I was given this feature with the latest update you received. Whenever you lost connection to Primus, things tended to go poorly, so he allowed me to speak to you in such cases."

"Well, that's good because I happen to be in a bit of a pickle."

Azmuth sighed in annoyance. "What happened this time?"

Ben relayed the events before his arrival here.

"So you're one of the Sonosarian clones. Interesting."

"Interesting? What's that supposed to mean?"

"Remember when you split yourself using the Sonosarian DNA a while back."

"Yeah. I ended up causing trouble because of the different personalities."

"After you told me that, I was programmed to reduce mental side effects. At the moment, your mental state should be about equal to the original's. "

"Well, that sounds good. If we're able to get back home, do you think that we could recombine."

"I'm not so sure about that."

"Why?"

"Do you know how Sonosarians reproduce?"

Ben thought about Echo Echo. "Isn't the species just living sound in a suit?"

"Exactly. When Sonosarian clones separate for long periods, their brain waves come out of sync. The clone becomes its distinct consciousness. That's how they reproduce."

"So, if I don't get home soon, I won't be able to recombine as one Ben."

Azmuth nodded. "That is correct."

Ben sighed in relief. "That's not too bad. I'm alive. He's alive. Not the worst thing to happen."

Azmuth smirked at the response. "I'm glad to see such optimism in our current situation."

Ben shrugged. "Since we're pretty much stuck here with no way back, we should probably look for civilization."

"Indeed. I may be able to help you in that regard. Raise the Omnitrix above your head." Ben did as requested. The hologram turned off, and energy emitted.