MvT Chapter 1: "Red Alert"

"Red Alert" is the first chapter and series premiere of the fan-made Ben 10 continuation, Multiverse vs. Tennyson.

Synopsis
"A flashback of the good old days unfortunately foreshadows the future times, showing what has become of a once-brilliant mind turned feral and warped by self-experimentation."

Plot
The opening scene begins with a motionless exterior view of an old-fashioned Mr. Smoothy’s location, under a dark night sky with light rain within downtown Bellwood. The view suddenly shifts downwards, its ambiance only the howling of wind, the sounds of rain, and cars driving in the distance, as a familiar black-and-bright-green car was revealed to be resting within the smoothie shop’s empty parking lot, the legendary Benjamin Kirby Tennyson’s car, more specifically, his DX Mark 10.

A crushed, littered smoothie cup drifted in the howling wind, wet by the rain, briefly bouncing against the passenger door of Ben’s car, before slowly rolling off. White text at the center of the bottom of the screen slowly begins to appear, revealing the flashback’s date and confirmation of its location. SUMMER 2012

DOWNTOWN BELLWOOD, MR. SMOOTHY’S LOCATION Visibly reflecting off the windows of Ben’s car, several bright-red lights flickered and flashed from inside the Mr. Smoothy’s location, followed by a violent explosion of electricity that not only erupted out of the building’s windows, shattering them, but tore through the silent ambiance like a knife through butter, the sounds of broken glass shards crashing to the ground overshadowing the sounds of rain.

Inside the location, the 16-year-old Ben Tennyson himself, even wearing his iconic bright-green jacket, rapidly sprints, dodging, bobbing, and weaving several fired bright-red blasts of electricity in his direction. He quickly circles behind a table, flipping it on its side for protection, while frantically tinkering with his Omnitrix, the red glow of it illuminating his face, visible through the darkness and confirming it to be on a post-transformation cooldown.

“Come on… come on…” Ben mutters, briefly wiping sweat from his brow with the back of his hand, while in his panicked state, as he’s suddenly startled by a large hole blasted through the table, to the left of him as it just barely missed grazing him. “GAHHH!”

“You can’t hide forever… BENJAMIN TENNYSON!” A dark, menacing voice calls out from the darkness, the sounds of electricity crackling around him.

“Yeah… but maybe, I CAN run forever, Dr. Viktor!” Ben responds, a futile attempt for a witty comeback that Ben realizes how lame it was, softly hitting the side of his head with his head in response and muttering, “Why did I say that?”

“I told you that I DON’T KNOW who you’re talking about!” The menacing voice calls back, unfamiliar to the member of Ben’s rogues gallery that he is referring to.

“Sure, yeah, like there’s some other big hulking monster alien shooting electricity and running around Bellwood, looking for me!” Ben responds, annoyed, as suddenly, the Omnitrix softly beeps, the red glow of light over Ben’s face now bright-green, prompting Ben to glance back towards it and smirk. “Bingo.”

Now confidently facing his opponent, Ben stands up, shoving the flipped table out of the way, facing his off-screen opponent and exclaiming, “You got a problem with smoothies, big guy?!”

“I… HATE the sugary Earth treats you all depend on…” The foe responds, hiding in the shadows and only identifiable as a pair of glowing-red eyes and a large, bulky silhouette. “...it’s a HUMAN WEAKNESS, AND I WILL NOT BE DRAGGED DOWN BY IT!!”

“You remind me of someone…” Ben responds, squinting.

“How moronic are you, Tennyson… that you’re STILL blind into realizing who I truly am!” The foe responds. “...but I will admit… you’re getting closer by the minute…”

“You see, I’m not particularly in the guessing mood, nor the fighting, ‘it’s-hero-time’ mood. I just wanted a nighttime Mr. Smoothy’s. So, are you going to just show yourself already, or keep up the boring charades and monologues?” Ben responds, frustrated.

Slowly emerging from the shadows, the foe finally reveals themselves to be indeed a Transylian like predicted by Ben, a large towering alien akin to Frankenstrein’s monster, possessing stitched skin and electrified conductors emerging from his back. Finally revealed, the red-eyed villain asks Ben, “So, tell me, does this ring a bell to you?”

Ben briefly pauses for a moment, thinking, before suddenly being overcome by a sudden moment of realization, and slowly exclaiming “...ohhhhhh- OHHHH, now I know, you’re ‘Al-Bay-Do’! Sorry, I have a lot of villains with red eyes… it’s a common trend-”

“Wha- NO! NO, NO, NO, IT’S ‘AL-BEE-DO, YOU BRAINLESS FOOL!” Negative Frankenstrike yells out in response, frustrated by Ben’s prominent mispronunciation, before he forces himself to quickly calms down, pinching the bridge of his nose before continuing to speak.

“It took weeks of work that seemed endless… but I MOSTLY corrected the DNA alteration ability I’ve UNINTENTIONALLY implemented into myself… an ability I was only going to originally use to finally return to my Galvan form again, un-until...” Negative Frankenstrike speaks, trembling with anger before suddenly pointing toward Ben with one stitched finger. “YOU, YOU BUMBLING NEANDERTHAL WIELDING AZMUTH’S TECHNOLOGY, SABOTAGED ME EVER BECOMING NORMAL AGAIN!”

“You know…” Ben responds, holding his hands up. “I feel like you are completely and utterly overreacting… you STILL have your Galvan intelligence, just with the added bonus of now becoming actually taller! I feel like it would be more genuine if you were actually thanking me!”

“I SHOULD BE THANKING YOU?! NO, I SHOULD BE PUMMELING YOU INTO A FINE FLUID, ESPECIALLY AFTER YOU STOLE MY CREATION WITH THE THREAT OF DEATH UPON VILGAX’S SHIP!” Negative Frankenstrike exclaims, lifting one electrically-crackling fist out. “...Now, I’m going to take it back from you to use it to correct my current technical errors, so I can FINALLY finish what I originally INTENDED TO DO!”

“You…” Ben asks, slowly lifting his arm and rolling down his sleeve, finally revealing that an Omnitrix was not on his wrist, but the bright-green Ultimatrix prototype he now possesses as of this time. “...want this? Then, come and take it back, ALBEDO! I might as well finish what I also originally wanted to do too… taking you DOWN!”

Taunted, Negative Frankenstrike angrily interlocks his fists together, charging electricity from his conductors and into his gauntlets, swings both of his arms upwards, and then brings them into the ground, creating a wave of lightning that rushes toward Ben. Selecting an alien from the Ultimatrix, Ben dramatically slams his fist down on the core, triggering a transformation sequence that results in him becoming a green-eyed, blue-and-white jellyfish-like alien, the glowing Ultimatrix symbol upon the center of his chest.

“AMP… FIBIAN!” AmpFibian exclaims, before suddenly swooping downwards, flying straight through Negative Frankenstrike’s attack, both utilizing his electrical intangibility and electricity absorption, as he reels back upwards and blasts his partially-absorbed attack back at Negative Frankenstrike, sending him stumbling back.

“You, Tennyson, and your nicknames!” Negative Frankenstrike says, recoiling from the strike. “You call this one ‘Amp-Fibian’?! I may not be the one who knows more about Earth’s creatures, but JELLYFISH AREN’T AMPHIBIANS, YOU IMBECILE!”

“NUH-UH! DO NOT get me started on that roller coaster again, pal!” AmpFibian exclaims, as Negative Frankenstrike reels an electrically-charged fist back and swings at AmpFibian, only for him to intangibly pass through his torso, popping out the other side before wrapping two tendrils around the conductor sticking out of his back. “I’m sorry, could I borrow these real quick?”

Within an instance, AmpFibian begins to rapidly blast electrokinetic pulses into Negative Frankenstrike’s bio-organic conductors, a weak spot revealed by his infuriated yelps of pain as he struggles to pull AmpFibian off. Finally managing to grab him, Negative Frankenstrike suddenly transforms in a sudden flash of bright-red light, reforming into an abstract, plant-like creature, with a venus flytrap-like collar and tendrils for legs.

Showcasing a form of elasticity, he fully grapples onto AmpFibian, wrapping elongated tendrils around his squishy body, before violently throwing him the other way, sending him crashing into several tables, as they seemingly bury him in the process.

“Pathetic… didn’t even have to use any of this form’s chlorokinetic abilities… but just to make sure...” Negative Wildvine exclaims, as he clutches a handful of explosive seed bombs, readying to throw him. However, suddenly, a flash of green light emits from AmpFibian’s buried form, before a flaming humanoid covered in rock armor with a skull-like face and the Ultimatrix symbol on his chest, bursts free from the tables, revealing himself.

“HEATBLAST!” Heatblast triumphantly exclaims his name.

The fight quickly resumes, as the two exchange fireballs emitted from Heatblast’s palms and seed bombs growing out of Negative Wildvine’s backside, but the two cancel each other upon collision, the flames either exploding and dispersing, or the seed bombs burning up. Frustrated, Negative Wildvine attempts to grapple onto Ben again, elongating one of his arms and flinging toward him, only to be immediately blasted off by a concentrated beam of flames from both of Heatblast’s palms.

Shoved back, with one side of his face blackened, Negative Wildvine stumbles, semi-blinded by the attack until he regenerates the wound.

“I hope you enjoyed the WARM-UP, but here’s the real FIRESTARTER!” Heatblast exclaims, making a few quippy puns, before smacking the Ultimatrix symbol on his chest with an open palm, triggering another instantaneous transformation into a different alien, a humanoid-shaped being of dark-green plant matter, red petals, and tree root-like features, with again, the Ultimatrix symbol on his chest. “SWAMPFIRE!"

“A Methanosian? That’s a bizarre choice over a Pyronite… but I HARDLY CARE!” Negative Wildvine responds, frustrated.

“Last chance, Albedo.” Swampfire remarks, staring him down with a glaring gaze.

“What, are you THREATENING me?! I will NOT back DOWN, TENNYSON!” Negative Wildvine exclaims, as he suddenly transforms again with another bright-red flash of light, becoming a strange, grayish-beige-skinned humanoid with the surface of his body from the neck down and waist up covered in large, dark-red eyeballs, his face merely a mouth and two ears for eyes. “I DID BEFORE… AND IT WON’T HAPPEN AGAIN!”

“I’m not putting up with you anymore, Albedo!” Swampfire exclaims.

“Then we’re going to have quite an interesting time… I highly doubt you’re going to be able to fully ignore me when I do THIS!” Negative Eye Guy exclaims, as he proceeds to charge up a series of laser beams from eyes on his outer-biceps.

“I guess you’re right… this WILL be fun.” Swampfire responds, before he suddenly slams on the Ultimatrix symbol yet again, this time with the side of a closed fist, this time triggering an additional transformation, as four metallic prongs eject out of the “corners” of the circular Omnitrix symbol on his chest, prompting Swampfire to access his Ultimate form: his plant-composed body bulking up and transforming into that of solidified wood, his backside and outer-forearms covered in bulbous growths of glowing-blue napalms, the details of one-bulb on his front side forming his face.

“ULTIMATE SWAMPFIRE!” Ultimate Swampfire dramatically concludes his added transformation sequence, just as Negative Eye Guy fires out his several laser beams, but they are quickly overwhelmed by a powerful burst of blue flames erupting from one of Ultimate Swampfire’s hands, an amplified version of his pyrokinesis.

Negative Eye Guy is sent flying back, smashing completely through one of the walls of the Mr. Smoothy’s building, as he lays fallen among the rubble within the parking lot. Ultimate Swampfire slowly emerges from the building’s interior, as Negative Eye Guy proceeds to weakly get back up.

“I can see that you’re using my Ultimatrix’s evolution feature very casually and recklessly…” Negative Eye Guy responds, finally getting back to his feet.

“Albedo, can you just knock it off? You talk and act like this when all you’ve truly done is throw your career as a brilliant person away! You’re nothing more than wasted potential!”Ultimate Swampfire responds, annoyed. “If you weren’t so blinded by your crooked beliefs, you could have something truly great, no matter if you looked like a Galvan or NOT!”

“WHAT, SO YOU’RE SPEAKING LIKE THAT SELF-PROCLAIMED FIRST THINKER NOW?!” Negative Eye Guy retorts back, enraged. “WHAT GIVES YOU THE EXCUSE TO JUDGE ME?!”

“What did you expect me to say?!” Ultimate Swampfire responds. “AZMUTH IS RIGHT, ALBEDO!”

Still enraged, Negative Eye Guy seals all of his dark-red eyes shut, forming one giant eyeball from the center of his torso, emerging from a series of protruding veins, before blasting a powerful beam of electrified energy from said eye in Ultimate Swampfire’s direction, who is harmed by the electric blast, unable to react to it in time, but gradually powers through it, pulling off a pair of napalm explosives from his forearms and throwing them toward Negative Eye Guy’s chest eye, blinding it and throwing him backwards.

In immense pain, Negative Eye Guy yells out in distress and collapses in a heap, gasping as he struggles back up to his feet again, smoke emitting from the singed skin on his chest, as he violently coughs up bright-pink Opticoid blood. As Ultimate Swampfire stares in disgust, Negative Eye Guy looks up with bloodshot eyes on his shoulders, shakily lifting his head in the process.

“Is… that the best… you have to offer?” Negative Eye Guy asks, rising back up to his feet, smearing blood off his face with the back of his hand in the process.0

“Albedo… what’s wrong with you?!” Ultimate Swampfire asks, shocked. “Are you trying to get some sort of sick enjoyment out of this?! This HAS to STOP!”

“No… no, I’m not going…” Negative Eye Guy struggles for words, his legs visibly shaking and fatigued. “...NO, I’M- I’M STILL STANDING!”

“Albedo… I’m NOT even referring to this incident alone! I’m referring to all the other times you’ve pulled this… all the times I’ve let you off the hook in the end…” Ultimate Swampfire exclaims, counting on his fingers. “...saving you from Vilgax’s crashing ship… letting your theater friends take you away after you were knocked unconscious… hiring and PAYING for Galvan doctors to remove a feral Cassiopeian Dream Eater off your FACE… and the list just goes on and ON!”

“You honestly think the slightest bit of gratitude you’ve done toward me will CHANGE MY MIND?!” Negative Eye Guy exclaims. “YOU’RE NOT WORTHY!’

“No… I did it because it was the RIGHT thing to do…” Ultimate Swampfire responds. “...something you’ve obviously made loud and clear that you’ll NEVER understand, Albedo! YOU’RE A FAILURE, ALBEDO, AND THAT’S ALL YOU APPARENTLY WANT TO BE!!”

“No…” Negative Eye Guy yells out, trembling with rage and staring down at his own hands with the eyes on his shoulders. “...NO, I DON’T WANT TO HEAR IT ANYMORE!"

Quickly grabbing a mass of nearby rubble, he flings in Ultimate Swampfire’s direction, who effortlessly dodges it in response. Enraged, Negative Eye Guy suddenly transforms in a flickering burst of red light, becoming an anthropomorphic beetle-like insectoid with a thick shiny-black and light-gray carapace, a large lower jaw, and a tall, pronged horn emerging from the center of his scalp and forehead.

“YOU’RE THE ONE WHO DOESN’T UNDERSTAND!” Negative Eatle exclaims, grabbing nearby rubble. “YOU’RE JUST A TROGLODYTE UNFAIRLY GIVEN POWER YOU DON’T DESERVE!!!”

Rapidly consuming the nearby rubble, crunching the broken metal and glasses with his jaws, Negative Eatle fires a concentrated energy beam of bio-energy from in-between the prongs of his horn, which Ultimate Swampfire simply blocks with one arm, hardly being phased, prompting Negative Eatle to continuously fire several additional beams toward him, although he simply just dodges or withstands every single one of the attacks.

Growing frustrated, Negative Eatle attempts to change into a different alien, but is apparently unsuccessful, as a blindingly-painful headache and ringing in his ear afflicts him instead, causing Negative Eatle to grip onto the sides of his temples in agony. The sudden loss of his guard allows Ultimate Swampfire to use a blast of napalm to shoot himself into the air, before holding one arm out, his palm open, down toward Negative Eatle and launch one single powerful blast that violently slams Negative Eatle down into the asphalt ground, sending a powerful shockwave outwards as a result.

Ultimate Swampfire falls back onto the ground and believing Albedo has most definitely been defeated as a result, slaps the Ultimatrix symbol on his chest, first reverting back to his non-Evolved counterpart, then Ben’s human form. He slowly approaches the crater Negative Eatle’s form lies within, only for him to unexpectedly emerge first, still gripping his skull in pain.

“Just my opinion, but I think that whole mental transformation is taking a real toll on you, Albedo!” Ben exclaims. “If you keep it up, it’s going to be the end of you!”

“I have it under CONTROL!” Negative Eatle loudly exclaims, as he forces himself to mentally transform into a different alien form, albeit with visible strain as the flash of red light is slow and slightly delayed, becoming a strange mummy-like being with a body made entirely out of bandage-like cloth, baring Egyptian garbs and a silver mask. Elongating his arms, he shoves Ben back, seemingly accepting his defeat.

“...but it obviously needs more practice…” Negative Snare-Oh exclaims, before pointing toward Ben. “...go ahead and sleep easy for a while, Tennyson… but when I return, I’LL TEAR THE ULTIMATRIX AWAY FROM YOU, EVEN IF IT MEANS YOUR ARM TOO!”

And with that, Negative Snare-Oh flees the scene, finally admitting defeat, as he flattens his body into a mass of slithering bandages and escapes the Mr. Smoothy’s location parking lot. Ben, uninjured but exhausted from the fight, witnesses his departure, seemingly unable to come up with one final witty remark, as he slowly turns around and scans the environment, seeing the wrecked Mr. Smoothy’s location and the massive, burned hole in the parking lot.

“At least I can get my smoothie…” Ben nervously chuckles, exhausted. “...if they didn’t run off from Frankenstrike’s arrival… but I might as well fix up this mess while I’m here. Clockwork would be handy right now.”

As the scene pans out, Negative Snare-Oh is shown to have escaped down a nearby alley-way and crawled atop a building’s roof with a new alien form, a slender, purple-skinned, reptilian humanoid with dark splotches on his skin, a short trio, and a trio of triangular, multi-colored eyes. A black silhouette slightly illuminated by moonlight, Negative ChamAlien glances in the direction of Ben, his red eyes glowing with rage.

“Just you wait…” Negative ChamAlien quickly speaks to himself, as he slowly backs away, turning invisible, as he flees the scene entirely, vanishing for good, followed by a slow fade-to-black. White text slowly appears at the middle of the now-darkened screen, now signifying an extreme time skip and complete change of location. SUMMER 2022, EXACTLY TEN YEARS LATER

GALVAN PRIME (GALVAN SPECIES HOME PLANET) REHABILITATION FACILITY

SECTOR O-152-V OFFICE OF MEDICAL SUPERVISOR “ DR. GLENDA BLURAMAKI” “...Mr. Livingston...” A soft, feminine voice suddenly speaks out from the sudden silence, as the scene abruptly fades back in, showing a metallic clock atop a metallic wall, its numbers replaced with Galvan alien symbols. “...I’m really glad you decided to arrive here on such short notice. You had me under the belief you were quite busy with your personal podcasting projects.”

The view pans over one of the office’s metal walls, eventually focusing on a framed, grayscale picture of a female Citrakayah, an anthropomorphic feline alien, in a lab coat shaking hands with a female Galvan, a small frog-like alien, professor.

A rough, masculine voice, the sounds of buzzing electricity when he speaks, responds to the female voice, stating, “Dr. Bluramaki, thank you so much for taking the time yourself to let me meet with you today. I was really hoping I could finally have this opportunity before he's transferred to… ya know, the new rehabilitation facility… crossing a whole 3 galaxies, isn’t he?”

“3 and a half, if memory serves me, right... I’m most definitely going to miss these years of watching over him.” The female voice responds, the view now abruptly changing to a side-view of the female voice’s owner, revealing herself to be the female, midnight-blue-furred, white-suited Citrakayah in the picture on the wall: Dr. Bluramaki. “He’s been here for almost a decade.”

“A decade… almost 10 years… do you feel it could be possible that one day he’ll be released back into the public?” Mr. Livingston responds, revealing himself as a masculine Conductoid, wearing casual clothing and a backpack, with beard stubble that resembles stubby copper wire. Dr. Bluramaki winces in response, her true answer not so optimistic. “...I see. I suppose Galvan Prime has lost interest in studying him further.”

“Well, that’s why I’m here.” Mr. Livingston responds, the view now zoomed-out to now reveal the entirety of the oddly-metallic personal office.

“Yes, you have requested and all of the Galvan higher-ups have granted you permission.” Dr. Bluramaki says, before she reveals her naturally-greatly-enhanced speed, darting to the metal door leading into the office and having it opened within seconds, as she gestures toward it. “Come, Mr. Livingston.”

The scene changes, now showing the two walk down the hallways of the rehabilitation facility, passing by the various miscellaneous alien patients, all in bright-green gowns, and several alien guards, at least one standing by each cell.

“He's truly been my life's obsession. I've examined every single case file written on him. I was a student of Professor Fergi, and then I lobbied the Prime University of Chalybeas to be assigned to him myself.” Dr. Bluramaki narrates, as both herself and Mr. Livingston make their way through the hallways.

“Any progress within the past few years?” Mr. Livingston asks, intrigued.

“Well, he’s been seen by over 50 clinical psychiatrists, some Galvan, some Kineceleran, some Tetramand… and with each, yield different opinions.” Dr. Bluramaki responds. “I have spoken to… Mr. Benjamin Tennyson himself… and while he’s no doctor or professor himself, he’s concluded that he is nothing more than ‘pure intellectual evil’...”

Mr. Livingston merely chuckles in response, as the scene changes, now showing a glimpse of Galvan Prime’s green-and-yellow daylight sky. The distant voice of Dr. Bluramaki is heard in the background, speaking to Mr. Livingston, “...he typically doesn’t spend much time out in the courtyard of this facility… says it ‘bothers his skin’... so he tries to stay purely within his cell.”

“He’s agreed to get some sunlight daily, as long as he wears a… makeshift cloak of sorts… to hide his appearance from others...” Dr. Bluramaki says, emerging from around a corner with Mr. Livingston into the open courtyard of the facility. “...but, it’s nothing more than the old, weathered sheets of his bed. He doesn’t allow anyone to take them away, not until they begin to smell unpleasant…”

“...and there he is.” Dr. Bluramaki slowly emerges from around the corner, slowly grinding to a halt, as she stares forward.

Standing in the mid of the facility’s open outdoor courtyard, right within the middle of the facility itself, occupied by several other gowned alien patients, a single, muscular figure, concealed with his ragged, white makeshift cloak, stands motionless with his head down in the middle of the courtyard, none of the other patients near him. The silhouette of curled spikes poked through the back of his makeshift cloak. The ambiance is eerily silent, only wind howling in the background, very similar to the opening sequence.

“I… would like to stand a bit closer near him… if you wouldn’t mind...” Mr. Livingston responds, facing Dr. Bluramaki. “...just to get a sense of his… well, awareness, or lack of awareness.”

“Oh, make no mistake, he’s aware.” Dr. Bluramaki responds. “As I described to you before… he’s suffered his… disturbing, experimentation-triggered genetic mishaps before, as a result of him attempting to secretly experiment with his recreated Ultimatrix device within his cell… but his intense physical therapy and reverted neurological damage has allowed him to be up and walking again…”

“Does he… does he still speak?” Mr. Livingston asks, fixated at the sight of the motionless figure wearing bed sheets over his body.

“If he still does…” Dr. Bluramaki hesitates for a brief moment, before softly responding. “...I’ve never heard it myself. I don’t think anyone in this facility ever has.”

Met with a brief period of silence in response, Dr. Bluramaki speaks again, breaking the silence, as she instructs Mr. Livingston, “You may approach him now. Step up to the end of the line of the box of space around… and no further…”

As both Dr. Bluramaki and Mr. Livingston slowly began to walk up toward the box of space surrounding the motionless figure in the bed sheets, Dr. Bluramaki continued, “Please do not cross the line, Mr. Livingston. We are not fully aware if his physical hostility still lingers.” before the two of them finally begin to approach the motionless figure, Mr. Livingston pulling out a recording device from his backpack and holding it near his leg, before pressing it to begin recording.

Abruptly, the form of the motionless figure in the bed sheets shifts slightly, seemingly now becoming aware of the two’s presence. The view slightly shifts, now showing the bright-red-painted square that the motionless figure stands in the center in.

“...we… have a person here who likes to meet you… Albedo.” Dr. Bluramaki first speaks, finally revealing and confirming the individual’s identity. “You remember Mr. Livingston from a few days ago, don’t you?”

“...Hello, Albedo.” Mr. Livingston responds, slightly nervous and tightly clutching his recording device. “My name is Lyric Livingston… I’ve been following your case for years, but still know very little about you… and I’d like to know more…”

Albedo’s form shifts again slightly, his head shaking, but it being a weak attempt at shaking his head left-to-right as a form of refusal was left extremely vague. A chain extending from the ground and to a pair of metal shackles around Albedo’s hands rustled, only to reveal that there was not one chain, but three in total, all presumably leading to their own pair of shackles.

“I’m very sorry about the…” Lyric speaks, now noticing the trio of chains leading into the front of Albedo’s makeshift cloak. “...mishaps you’ve had.”

“Albedo… I would really like to know what exactly happened…” Lyric states, slowly walking up right at the edge of the brightly-painted square separating him from Albedo. “...on that June day, where they discover the device you’ve been secretly attempting to reactivate… they said by then you ‘weren’t all mentally there’... you said things to them… strange things… Albedo… what did you say to them?”

Albedo is deathly silent, returning no response, only the sounds of his slightly-rustling chains, howling wind, and the incoherent commotion of nearby patients talking out to seemingly no-one, in the air. Lyric briefly glances back toward Dr. Bluramaki, seeming to signal something, to which she nods in response.

Turning back toward Albedo, lowering both the still-running tape recorder and his backpack, zipping it open, Lyric continues slowly speaking, “Dr. Bluramaki was very kind enough to lend this item to me… I can not hold onto for long… but I was hoping it may… ‘revitalize’ some memories from within you…”

Pulling out an instrument wrapped in plastic, Lyric slowly removes the plastic wrap and holds the object up in the direction of Albedo with one raised arm, revealing it to be Albedo’s Recreated Ultimatrix, a stabilizer he created to correct the cerebral strain of his strange ability of mental-triggered alien transformations. Whatever Albedo had done to it had left the Recreated Ultimatrix a semi-charred, jumbled mess of broken electronics and loose wires, its still-bright-red hourglass symbol atop its icon fully recognizable.

Albedo shuffles slightly, his chains loudly shaking, as for a single, very brief moment, he seems to be compelled to turn his head to the left, briefly revealing the slightest glimpse of the silhouetted outline of the left side of his face, a glowing-red eye from within. Moments later, Albedo forcefully pivots his head away.

“You FEEL it… don’t you, Albedo?” Lyric asks, still clutching the broken stabilizer in his hand, his tape recorder on the ground just inches from his foot. “You can sense it. I can see it in how you wanted to turn your head to face it. Does it resonate within you, Albedo?”

Within the darkness of the inside of his makeshift cloaks, a pair of large asymmetrical hands, the left composed of inorganic rock and the right composed of organic plant matter, both restrained with metal shackles, slowly begin to tightly clench shut. A pair of bright-red eyes with jet-black, rectangular pupils stare at the ground, the surrounding bright-gray and bright-purple flesh covering the upper-half of his face in a forced expression of concentration.

“...do you remember who you used to be, Albedo?” Lyric asks, followed by silence from Albedo, only the sounds of ambiance. “Say something, Albedo.”

The ambient sounds began to gradually grow louder. The sounds of wind grew louder, as many nearby patients began to stare in the direction of Albedo, showing sounds of irritation and uncontrolled emotions. One seemed to begin groaning and making sounds of distress, while another was in a fit of hysterics, fighting against his chains and laughing maniacally.

“You can’t feel it, can’t you?” Lyric asks again, still clutching the stabilizer, before asking again, “Say something… say something, Albedo.”

By the minute, the wind seemed to grow even more louder as nearby patients began to grow more irate, another now making a series of bizarre howls, while the maniacally-laughing one from prior was now violently pulling at his restraints. Albedo’s head shifted slightly, his eyes growing wide, causing his rectangular pupils to become square, as the position of his clawed, reptilian feet began to shift as well, dark claws forcefully becoming bared as they dug into the floor beneath him.

“Albedo, say something, anything!” Lyric pleads.

As Dr. Bluramaki now begins to notice the distressed patients, concerned and confused, Albedo’s head begins to turn to the left very slowly, a strange glow of red light radiating from his face and above where his eyes would be. Cracks began to form near his feet, their origin unknown.

“I ask for you to release whatever you’ve kept inside! Say something, Albedo!” Lyric now demands. “Say something!”

A loudly-beeping alarm begins to blare from the facility. Most, if not all of the patients near the duo were now displaying full-blown fits of hysteria, shaking their heads violently and creating sounds of anger, their eyes seeming to begin glowing bright-red, as they either yelled forward at nothing, or toward Albedo.

Albedo’s head continues to slowly turn, now exposing part of his left eye and more of the strange radiating glow emitting from his forehead. Dr. Bluramaki stares on with an expression of terror and shock, her eyes shaking and mouth slightly agape. Cracks continue to spread across the ground within the squared-off area Albedo stood within, his reptilian feet starting to slowly sink into the cracking ground.

Lyric begins to notice his surroundings, still clutching the damaged Ultimatrix stabilizer in his hands. Growing panicked, as in the background, Dr. Bluramaki covers his gaping mouth with her hand, he utters under his breath, “Albedo… Albedo…”

Albedo’s head is now almost fully turned to the left, revealing not one, but a trio of bright-red left eyes emerging from the left side of his face, only the original, largest pair having Albedo’s still-squared, black pupils. The glow emitting from his former was coming from yet another eye emerging from his forehead, projecting energy from some sort of psychic ability.

Albedo stares at Lyric with building rage in his eyes, as the nearest patient to him screams at Lyric with glowing-red eyes, spitting everywhere in the process.

Dr. Bluramaki steps back, now seeing the cracks forming around Albedo to be reaching toward the barrier of his square, filling every inch of his square’s inch. Shocked, she looks up at Albedo, only to see his horrifying gaze of rage fixated toward Lyric.

“...gravitational…?” Dr. Bluramaki mouths under her breath, taking a guess at what’s exactly causing the ground to be caving inwards. Hidden beyond her line of sight, an aura of red energy was glowing from Albedo’s rocky hand.

“SAY SOMETHING, ALBEDO!!!” Lyric yells out, right as the spreading cracks partially break outside the barrier of his square, destroying Lyric’s tape recorder in the process, as if it was violently crushed by an invisible force, as the screen freezes, cutting to black as a logo fills the screen, before a single message fades in beneath it. MULTIVERSE VS. TENNYSON

TO BE CONTINUED IN CHAPTER 2

Major Events

 * During the 2012 flashback, during the later events of Ben 10: Ultimate Alien, Albedo has gained more control of his mental-based transformations and become more vengeful against Ben, going so far as to ambush him during his midnight stroll to Mr. Smoothy's.
 * In addition, he is starting to grow more and more desperate and deranged toward his goal of eventually defeating Ben and reclaiming his Ultimatrix.
 * However, with excess use of his mental-based transformations, he is afflicted by the bio-energy feedback of his mental transformations, which is causing violent headaches.
 * Despite being gravely wounded in his Opticoid form, Albedo successfully escapes.
 * Between the events of Ben 10: Omniverse's ending and the meeting between Dr. Bluramaki and Mr. Livingston, a time-skip has confirmed it has been approximately 10 years.
 * During this time skip, many things have happened:
 * A rehabilitation facility was built on Galvan Prime, where Albedo was eventually sent to be mentally re-evaluated after he was left with a permanently-disabled Ultimatrix stabilizer, being watched over by Dr. Bluramaki during almost the entire duration of his stay within the facility.
 * Albedo went mad during his imprisonment and inability to transform, going as so far as to become gruesome self-genetic-experimentation on himself to grant himself powers, the method of which involving his disabled Ultimatrix's DNA, which he managed to keep hidden from the guards.
 * An unknown event ended Albedo's self-experimentation, leaving him massively disfigured to the point of being near-unrecognizable and his Ultimatrix stabilizer badly damaged.
 * Albedo has become a silent recluse who hides his mutated appearance through staying in his cell and hiding within a makeshift cloak of his old bed-sheets.
 * Albedo is visited by Lyric Livingston, a Conductoid podcaster, who wishes to understand Albedo more through drastic methods, such as instigating him with the sight of his confiscated creation and demanding for him to finally speak.
 * Albedo has a contained violent outburst, where he uses his forcefully-suppressed powers to possess many nearby patients, inducing a mass hysteria, and destroy both part of the facility's outdoors' floor, and Lyric's recorder.

Minor Events

 * Ben now shows signs of becoming concerned with Albedo's obsession in repeatedly facing against him, despite knowing he will most likely lose, much to Albedo's denial.
 * Opticoid blood is revealed to be colored pink.
 * One of the reasons behind the existence of Albedo's makeshift cloak is due to his potential sensitivity toward sunlight, possibly due to his mutated state.
 * Some of Albedo's mutant powers are foreshadowed, including:
 * Multiple arms, due to his presence of not only, but three sets of shackles.
 * Multiple eyes.
 * High-tier, destructive gravity manipulation projected from his left hand.
 * Potentially some form of rage-inducing mental possession ability projected from his forehead.

Protagonists

 * Ben Tennyson (first appearance; flashback; present-time mentioned)
 * Dr. Bluramaki (first appearance)
 * Lyric Livingston (first appearance)
 * Azmuth (mentioned)
 * Professor Fergi (mentioned)

Antagonists

 * Albedo (first appearance; flashback and present-time)
 * Dr. Viktor (mentioned)

By Ben Tennyson (Flashback)

 * AmpFibian (first appearance)
 * Heatblast (first appearance)
 * Swampfire (first appearance)
 * Ultimate Swampfire (first appearance)
 * Clockwork (off-screen)

By Albedo (Flashback)

 * Negative Frankenstrike (first appearance)
 * Negative Wildvine (first appearance)
 * Negative Eye Guy (first appearance)
 * Negative Eatle (first appearance)
 * Negative Snare-Oh (first appearance)
 * Negative ChamAlien (first appearance; vocal cameo)

Trivia

 * Albedo is confirmed to be a hatred for smoothies, unlike Ben, but is obsessed with chili fries.
 * Ben and Negative Frankenstrike's brief interaction regarding the pronunciation of Albedo's name is based off the actual mispronunciation of Albedo's name as 'Al-bay-do' in some, if not all of Ben 10: Omniverse.
 * Negative Blitzwolfer was originally in the episode, to complete the trio of Anur aliens Albedo uses in the flashback, but he was scrapped in favor of Negative Eatle, with the intention of having Blitzwolfer debut in a later chapter.
 * The events of several past Ben 10: Alien Force and Ben 10: Ultimate Alien episodes are mentioned, listed below in order of being mentioned:
 * Negative Frankenstrike brings up how Ben unintentionally sabotaged his plans to become a Galvan again, and later Ultimate Swampfire also brings up how after defeating him, he allowed his allies to carry him away. ("Double or Nothing")
 * Ben forcefully took Albedo's Ultimatrix with the threat of allowing it to self-destruct and later seemed to abandon him on Vilgax's ship, to which Ultimate Swampfire later evaluates, that he did in fact save him. ("The Final Battle: Part 2")
 * In the original canon of the franchise, it was left vague if Albedo was in-fact rescued by Ben, but in the canon of MvT, it was confirmed Albedo was quickly rescued from drowning by Jetray and left on a nearby shore.
 * Ben hired and paid for Galvan doctors to surgically remove a live Cassiopeian Dream Eater off of Albedo's face after he had the intention of putting on Ben's while he slept, only to slip on a slipped smoothie and drop it onto his own face instead. ("Night of the Living Nightmare")
 * With the exclusion of ChamAlien, Albedo uses Negative aliens in the flashback that appeared in the intro sequence of Ben 10: Ultimate Alien, but did not make an appearance in any of the Ultimate Alien episodes.
 * Much of the present-day sequence taking up most of the chapter is heavily inspired by the opening scene of the 2018 American slasher film and horror movie remake "Halloween", down to some of the dialogue, with Albedo taking the place of Michael Myers.
 * Lyric Livingston incorrectly believes Albedo was attempting to reactivate his Ultimatrix, while in truth, he was only using it to augment his DNA and cause self-mutations.
 * Although not visible in the episode, present-time Albedo is wearing an energy collar around his neck that mostly suppresses his mutation's abilities, but not entirely, as if it were to entirely, it could cause his still-recently-altered DNA to continue changing, like some sort of accelerated self-evolution. His moment of rage and frustration against Lyric causes some of his abilities, such as his gravity manipulation, to flare up and push back against his energy collar's limitations.