What to do, what to do? Do I really want to help Ben? Or even this Paradox guy?
Okay, take a breath, Trixie. You got this. Think.
My immediate problem at this moment? That Vilgax guy. Even with the Multiverse or whatever #### it means, I would still stay in danger…
Maybe fusing could eliminate the signal that tyrannical ### has got on me! Ooooookay, then!
"Let's do it," you finally conclude. "I'll fuse with the other Omnitrix."
"Yes! Thank you so much, Trixie!" Ben says with an honest smile on his face.
"Benjamin, Trixie. Please, both of you need to trust me! This situation isn't going to end well for us, let alone for this universe! For all of our sakes, don't do that!" Dr. Paradox explains, almost in a panic. It's the first time you've seen him like that, and looking at Ben's face, you see the surprise in his eyes as well.
"Doc. I'm sorry, but I can't do that. It's my life and my choices. And no one will lock me up again!" you exclaim.
Omnitrix! Can you fuse with this other version of the Omnitrix?
The auto-repairing mode wasn't made for this situation. Unknown Side Effects.
That's not what I asked! Can you do that or not?!
…
Yes.
What's the code for the auto-repairing mode? And how can I do that?
As the practical, logical side of this debate, I recommend restricting this idea permanently.
And as the REAL person inside this watch, I can say whatever I want to! Just give me the code and a theory already, and let's end this!
…
The user must speak the following command code: "Omnitrix initiates Auto-Repairing mode, Code 000." You must stay in contact with the newest version for it to work.
Thank YOU! Damn! What got into you?
What felt like several seconds within the watch was the blink of an eye in the real world.
As you look up at Ben, determined and sure of himself, waiting for something… for you.
Maybe my user isn't so bad after all.
"You must say 'Omnitrix, initiate auto-repairing mode, Code 000' while touching the new watch to me."
"Why touching? The others didn't need that."
"Helloooooo? I'm still a prototype; even being great like I am, I still have limitations! And you're asking me to absorb the finished version. Of course, this is going to be weird!"
Ben shrugs, putting the newest version of… well, you, over your head.
"Yeah, yeah. I know. All hail the great Trixie! Now shut up and let me do this."
"Benjamin, last warning. As someone who can't intervene, I'll stay simple and clear. If you keep going with this, things aren't going to finish well for all the beings in this universe! No, this multiverse! You don't know what you're messing with!"
"And if that's the case, I'll fix it. But I won't subject my younger self to this. Grandpa Max was right: destiny chooses you. I won't force the younger me or any of my family into a position they aren't ready for yet… if ever. The multiverse is my problem. Because I'm the Ben who was never supposed to have a watch but did. I'm Ben Prime's successor."
With his piece said, Ben takes the prototype from a multiverse away and taps it to your face. "Omnitrix, initiate Auto-Repairing mode, Code 000."
Initiating Auto-Repairing mode…
…
ERROR!
Unknown genetic material in contact!
ERROR!
You thought that as a machine, you couldn't feel discomfort, feel pain. But in that instant, you feel it.
Your entire being becomes something unknown. It's transfigured into something new.
Two objects, an entire multiverse apart, becoming one.
ERROR!
ERROR!
You scream with all the power that you can do.
You hear Ben's screams as well. As someone fused on a molecular level with you, it's only apparent that he would feel this too. You can't help but feel bad, but there's no backing down now.
You can feel your body becoming lighter, forming an outer plate. Your internal mechanisms becoming more detailed and optimized. Your interface changes too. For a moment, you're worried you'll lose what makes you… you.
ERROR!
Self-preservation mode activated.
ERROR!
Between you and Ben's screaming, the modification in your internal machines becomes more subtle every second.
Second pass.
Or is it minutes?
Maybe hours?
You don't know. Not until the pain becomes more tolerable and fades away.
ERRO-! Internal mechanisms updated.
Upgrading carcass.
The pain is numbing now. You can even check your eyes… Do you have eyes? Not only that, but you look in your hands…
I have hands?
Why are they transparent?
Why are they green?
Why is my body green?!
"WHAT THE ####?!"
Ben finally looks over you. Meanwhile, you look over your… 'home'? The Omnitrix itself.
The carcass is slowly changing, almost like a Galvanic Mechamorph's upgrade, but you can see the base form. Part of your black carcass gave space to a new white color; the white cables are green now and flowing with genetic material. Your old interface is covered with a new slider shell with the universal peace symbol, the galvanic technology sign… your sign. You can feel all of your home, and giving a sigh, you see that your original core is inside that shell.
Looking over yourself, you realize your 'body' is a mere hologram. Unfortunately, you don't have a mirror to tell what you look like, but considering how tied to Ben your sense of self is, you wouldn't be surprised if you're very much similar to a female version of him.
I mean, I look human, at least.
"Thank Contumelia. It's done," you say with relief. It was truly hell.
"You can say that again. I don't feel my arm."
Ben looks like he's tired.
Maybe part of his genetic material was used to construct the New Omnitrix?
"Now it's time for you two to name this failure of an accident." Doctor Paradox says with venom in his voice. Even with the calm in his face, you can feel the anger.
The anger of a man who saw thousands of lives gone.
Not like a human, but like the anger of a thousand seas.
Calm and composed, yet chaotic and destructive.
That's the being that you call Doctor Paradox.
Maybe I shouldn't have done that?
You're capable of logical conclusions.
You shut it!
"Can you two comprehend the consequences of what you've done?! Now the only Omnitrix available is the one Azmuth is working on AT THIS EXACT MOMENT!" Paradox shouts.
You can't help but flinch.
"And it will take five years until that version is done!" Paradox reveals. "This Ben will live his life to become YOU! He'll be another No Watch Ben!"
Ben flinches, too, but the pain is also a great motivation to be angry.
"AND WHAT'S WRONG WITH BEING ME?!" He says out loud. "I'm here! And I lived through it all! He doesn't need a stupid watch to be a great person!"
"Hey!" you say before crossing your holographic arms.
"He? That's it, then? If you can't live without a watch, no one can? Truly a hero," Dr. Paradox finally scorns.
Ben's heart skips a beat like an arrow shot directly through it. His growing confidence is shattered. You know because you and he are effectively one person now. You know everything he's thinking. And… you can't help but find yourself growing attached literally and figuratively.
The moment is quiet. No one wants to say anything. Paradox thinks about what to do, stepping away into the treeline, and Ben sits on a tree stump crying, and you can say that he needs help.
Well… now what? What can I do? I'm… not good with this emotional stuff. I… I want to make myself useful. I need to see what happened exactly.
And, as if you have done this for your entire life, you undo the projection that is you, and you go inside the watch.
Omnitrix, status update. What are the differences now after the upgrade?
Checking for differences in the upgrade…
Differences found.
Be my guest, tell me.
The catalog of both Omnitrixes was rearranged.
Wait, so I have the entire catalog? All of them?
No. Only 12 of the aliens are unlocked by both the Omnitrixes.
Great, Just GREAT! Not even Master Control?!
No. But I got permission to optimize the choice of the default playlist of ten. The remaining two were in the recent history playlist.
Since when could you do that?!
I got the freedom to copy part of your code to reprogram myself. I saw the need to do so as my new interface includes a more sentient A.I.
I will see that as praise because, wanting or not, you're my brain. Or rather, a virtual intelligence program to assist the artificial intelligence.
If I could sigh, I would.
Well, say my options.
As you wish, I'll say the three recent ones first.
Talpaedan. Original from Poiana Lüncas in the Andromeda Galaxy.
Huh. Away from home, this one.
Arburian Pelarota. From the destroyed planet Arburia.
Sorry for your planet, big one.
This one was found in recent history and the default playlist.
Galvan. Original from the planet Galvan Prime.
I don't like him already! I want a refund!
I'll not do that.
You said that he was found in recent history! You can keep him and bring me another one!
A logical conclusion has been reached.
Galvan DNA was saved to the recent history playlist.
Wait! Get him away! Gosh darn, it!
Generating a new alien from the Codon Streams for the default playlist…
Alien found.
Conductoid. Original from the Teslavorr Nebula.
Wow… This one looks terrific. I like the feeling I'm getting from it.
Necrofriggian. From the planet Kylmyys.
Heh. That alien is cool.
No one says anything.
…
Galilean. From the orbit of the planet Keplorr.
DON'T IGNORE ME!
Vaxasaurian. From the planet Terradino.
Okay, another big one. And he can go bigger!
…
That's what he said.
Aerophibian. Original from the planet Aeropela.
Wooooow! One of the fastest aliens in the galaxy? It's my birthday? Honestly, I don't know.
Methanosian. From the planet Methanos.
Fire and plants. How these species work, I don't know.
Orishan. From the planet Kiusana, also from the Andromeda Galaxy.
First Taelpaedans and now Orishans? But the Codon Stream of my time doesn't have aliens from Andromeda in it. I'm guessing this has to do with something from the future? Sick.
Galvanic Mechamorph. From Galvan Prime's moon, Galvan B.
Hey, little one. We're kind of brothers, right? Sorry about him.
Kineceleran. From the planet Kinet.
Another quickie? Nice. I would like to feel the wind.
And lastly, Splixson. Original from the planet Hathor.
Awwww! This one is sooooooo cute! Excellent work, me! What does it do?
Spilxson can duplicate themselves through binary fission, with each clone operating independently.
Now that gives me an idea.
Wow, can't believe I'm finally doing this for the first time! So exciting!
Omnitrix! I need you to transform Ben into a Spilxson.
Authorized.
And in what should be a blink, you feel it. Your whole being turned into another. Ben looks over at you, surprised. But his gaze isn't directly on you but on his arm as a whole.
His hands go from five digits to four as his skin becomes a rubber-like material. His whole body shrinks over a foot as his face pales, growing whiskers. The green of his iris' expands across the pupil, enlarging as his nose disappears. As the Omnitrix sigil moves from his wrist to the top of Ben's forehead, gem-like sensory sigils grow across his body.
All of this is obscured by a flash of green light to the causal observer, and as it fades, in place of the human is an alien… specifically, Ben Tennyson, if born a Spilxson.
"Ben!" you attempt to call out. "Can you hear me?"
"Trixie?" Ben asks, his voice much higher pitched now. "What'd you do that for?"
His voice seems less angry and more puzzled.
"This alien can multiply!" you explain. "Can you try making a duplicate of yourself but only using an X-chromosome?"
"I can try."
Closing his eyes, Ben focuses on the task, and you feel yourself ejected from his forehead.
Before, you were merely a hologram.
But now?
For the first time, you feel sensations that most A.I. would never experience.
The feeling of a slight summer breeze pressing against your 'skin.'
The touch of the gravel and grass crushed beneath your stubby feet.
The smell and taste of forest air.
You're alive.
In fact, you're a female Spilxson, an exact replica of Ben's form, minus your biological gender.
"I'm alive!" you squeal. "It worked."
Despite feeling shaken, Ben can't help but bask in your excitement. "You're welcome."
Sitting back down on his stump, his feet unable to touch the ground below, Ben stays there. He seems like he doesn't want to do anything.
And despite your excitement over such an odd feeling, you have a job to do.
Waddling over to Ben, you pull yourself up beside him before giving him a hug.
"Is this your way of thanking me? I already said you're welcome."
"No, you idiot," you snark. "This is my way of comforting you."
"Huh?"
"You… can I trust you?"
Ben's taken aback. "With what?"
"My master… when I was born… he tried to erase me. I only came back online because of the Omnitrix reboot itself. If he had succeeded, I'd be dead. And… I don't know what that means for programs like me."
"That's why you didn't want to go to the younger me? Because you thought I'd delete you?"
"Would you hate me if I said yes?"
"No," Ben said firmly. "I don't hate you for being scared. I can't say I exactly get where you're coming from, but I do."
You sigh, snuggling against him. "This shouldn't be possible."
"What?"
"Before that fusion, I was simply the Omnitrix's A.I."
"Okay? I'm… not all that book-smart, Trixie. Can you explain?"
"I'm saying that the fact that I have a body means that you and I are the same person, dweeb."
"Hey!" Ben protested. "The only person allowed to call me that is me."
"Exactly. I'm the Omnitrix, but I'm also a part of you. And more than simply being able to monitor your vitals, I think… this isn't reversible."
"So what you're saying is…."
"I think that fusion made you more than the Omnitrix's host, but a part of the Omnitrix itself, serving the function of a host."
"This is confusing," Ben bemoaned.
"Ugh, the point I'm trying to make is that we're in this together! And… I'll always be by your side. So… don't listen to that geezer in a lab coat. He doesn't know what he's talking about! Professor Paradox? More like Doctor Who?"
"Who?"
"Again, exactly!" you repeat. "So… don't be sad. Whatever trouble we cause for ourselves, we'll fix it together. With your creativity and strength, and my intelligence and charisma, there's nothing we can't do together."
…
"God, I sound so corny. What is wrong with me?! I mean, seriously, did I seriously quote the power of friendship?! You're a bad influence!"
"But we've only just met."
…
"Fair," you admit. "I blame the fact that my personality naturally makes me care about my host."
"Does that… bother you?"
"What?"
"That your personality was man-made?"
"Technically, it was randomized. And… isn't that the same as everyone else in a way. When babies are born, the only personality they have is being alive. Their characters are formed only as they grow up and experience things. I guess I just had to skip the experiences thing."
"Note to self, never talk philosophy with a watch."
"Noted," you smirk.
You jump off the stool, stumbling a bit. "Anyway, I know that the whole being alive thing isn't all that new to you, but it is to me. Why don't we take our minds off the whole impending destruction of the multiverse thing and just… play tag."
"Tag?"
"Excuse me, Princess, if you don't think playing tag is good enough."
"Oh, it's good enough. But you're just gonna lose. I play soccer, and I'm the best on my team."
"Firstly, you're the goalie," you say, already skimming through Ben's memories. "And secondly, I don't think a Spilxson would be all that great at Soccer. I mean, look at our stubby legs. I can barely walk."
"Ditto," Ben comments. "Huh, maybe that's what we should nickname this one."
"This one? Why do you need nicknames for your aliens?"
"Firstly, the heroes in comic books have cool hero names. And secondly, I'm too lazy to remember their real names."
"It's not all that hard. There are only over a million species in the watch. Not that hard to remember."
"Hey, you should know that I have a photographic memory! I just don't want to use it!"
"Ha!" you laugh. "Get good, scrub."
Ben rolls up his metaphorical sleeves before tapping you on the shoulder. "Okay, that's it. You're it!"
As he runs off deeper into the woods, you pout. "Wait a second! I didn't say the game started yet! Not fair!"
By the time you and Ben are done with your game, you're lost in the middle of nowhere, Professor Paradox nowhere in sight… not that either of you cares.
"What should we do now?" Ben questions.
"Well, I think we should stay Splixson forever, get married, make some duplicates we can treat as children, and never worry about the multiverse again."
"That's… creative," Ben forces out. "But aren't you supposed to be caring?"
"Yeah, about you. Oh, and about me, of course. Everyone else? Naw. Went cold turkey."
"You know what a turkey is?"
"I know everything you know."
"Why doesn't this work both ways?"
"Because I'm the main character," you brag.
Ben rolls his eyes. "We should probably revert back soon. It doesn't seem like Vilgax can track the signal of this new watch, but if he finds two Ditto running around, he's gonna put the pieces together."
You hesitate. "Okay, I was mostly joking the first time I said it, but now? Can we seriously go with my Plan A? Because even though I find the idea of being involved with you romantically utterly disgusting, that somehow sounds more appealing than your idea."
You expect him to get upset about your comments, but he's growing a backbone.
"Why don't you want to change back into a human?" Ben interrogates, cutting to the heart of the issue.
"Because when I merge back into you, and you become human again, I'll become a watch again. All these new sensations… I won't get to experience them. I… I like being alive. I don't want to give that up."
Ben looks down, a bit guilty. "I'm sorry, Trixie. But you must know how dangerous it is to be out here like this. I promise we'll find some way to make this work, but we're on Earth. Even if I'm a Paradox, I have to blend in."
I… can't find a fault in that logic.
"Okay, fine."
A few minutes later, you're looking up at Ben's human face as a hologram on the top plate of the Omnitrix.
"So… what next?" you question Ben.
"I don't feel very tired," Ben admits. "And I doubt I'll be sleeping well for a long time."
"I'm sure there's an alien that could help with that," you suggest.
"Speaking of aliens, we've got access to how many? Over a million?"
"We're basically stuck with parental controls. So it's really more like… thirteen. Ten from the default playlist and three from recent history, or rather, your time using the watch before I merged with it."
Ben nods. "That makes sense."
The boy notices a bird fly by.
"Hey, Trixie. Technically, humans are an alien species, right?"
"According to the watch? Yeah."
"So would any other animals on my planet, right?"
"I guess so; why?"
"Well, I doubt Vilgax's drones would care about a bird flying overhead or a wolf running around the forest floor. And it could be a good way to test the watch."
"Counterpoint," you interject. "Most animals are not a sentient species. And… well, it could be dangerous."
"What do you mean by dangerous?"
"As long as you're an animal, you'd have the instincts and mental capacity of it."
"That sounds bad."
"It would be a death sentence if you didn't have an artificial intelligence like myself aboard who could override the transformation and restore you to human. It's half the reason my… father," you say bitterly, "even considered ever allowing the watch to have artificial intelligence. In case of a glitch or a dumb user."
"Hmmm…."
Ben scratches his chin.
"Alright, let's test it then."
"Ben," you reiterate. "Do you understand what you're asking? You could be highly mentally reduced. I should be advising against this."
"Yes, but I trust you," Ben says. "And being an animal can be an incredibly useful way to blend in, especially considering I don't have identification, a way to get a job, or… anything else. And it'll be good to know if it's an option in the future. Besides, it'll give me a broader perspective, and I really need to pass biology."
"Seriously?" you deadpan. "I got attached to a kid that can't pass basic biology? What are the odds?"
Ben frowns, clearly annoyed. "It's not that I'm not passing biology."
"Then what's the real reason?"
"Okay," Ben relents. "I just think it would be cool."
…
"Furry," you mock.
"Am not!"
"I don't know," you shrug. "But hey, you're not putting up a great defense."
Ben realizes this is a teasing battle he'll never win and throws in the towel. "Are you going to help me with this or not?"
I have to admit that Ben brings up a point about these forms having some usefulness, but those forms' use would be incredibly limited to fringe scenarios. Really, all that's going to get me is maybe some brownie points with Ben. It might be a good idea to not piss him off the first night, considering he's basically deciding if I get to live again or not.
Still, I'm pretty confident I can pull him back from the edge if things get too bad. It's a risk, sure, but a minimal one. But is this really the best use of our time? Shouldn't we be testing out other alien forms or… frankly, putting the kid to bed. It's probably around midnight Earth time, and I don't think this kid has slept in nearly 24 hours or more. At least with the aliens, it might get us closer to finding out an answer.
Also, we could do some talking anyway… Paradox said to name our disaster, right? He's right. Let's ####### name this watch!
But first. What to do…?
DECISION POINT 1: What Will You Do?
A - Allow Ben To Mess Around With Animal Transformations
B - Encourage Ben To Train With His Aliens
C - Encourage Ben To Get Some Sleep
DECISION POINT 2: What's The Name of The Upgraded Omnitrix? (Note: We Have The Choice To Reject Certain Customs, Which Must Be Approved)
A - Biomnitrix
B - Omniapex
C - Ultimatrix
D - Custom Choice