The meaning of the word

"You bastard!" said Ben. "Because of you, they-"

"Me?" interrupted Albedo.

"Yes, you!" the teenager pointed his finger in Albedo's face as he remained seated on the steps.

"Really? Then please explain to me what was necessarily my fault in the whole situation?"

Ben was silent. Albedo continued.

"The fact that I didn't turn myself in to a bunch of psychopaths? Since when am I suicidal? Or the woman who was electrocuted? As far as I know, I was not inside the ship pressing the execution button! - Albedo stood up and stared at Ben. - Perhaps you are referring to all the people injured by the sonorosians' screams, oh, but I almost forgot, you were the one responsible!"

Ben stepped back and bowed his head.

"Honestly, Tennyson, this business of blaming me for all the stupid things that happen on this mediocre planet is getting on my nerves. Everything is 'Albedo this, Albedo that'. Do me a favor, take the consequences of your actions!"

"Look who's talking!" said Ben. "Don't you dare act innocent now. You may not be directly involved in today's events, but everything that happened there is somehow connected to you!"

"Is it? Then explain it to me," Albedo crossed his arms, "I'm all ears."

"The aliens from the spaceships came after you and the Ultimatrix that is on your arm!"

"Boy, did they ruin the surprise."

"And thanks to what you did to my watch, I don't... I..."

"Almost killed a dozen people?"

Ben stared at Albedo, who was smirking wickedly.

"Yes..." said Ben.

Albedo started to walk around the young man. Then he continued:

"Funny you should bring up that point, Tennyson, but that is where you are wrong. I have nothing to do with this Omnitrix problem."

"How could you not? After our fight at the power station, when you tried to rip the Omnitrix off my chest-"

"True, I did try."

"My transformations have been getting more and more... Unstable."

"Nice euphemism."

Ben replied with eyes filled with anger:

"You pierced the clock with your claws!"

"And it's pierced now?"

Ben looked at the watch on his left wrist. Except for the light that kept oscillating between green and red, nothing else different could be observed on the device.

"No..."

"You underestimate the Omnitrix, Tennyson. Do you really think that Azmuth wouldn't add a repair facility to the clock if necessary? The holes were only perforations in the outer casing..."

"But that doesn't explain-"

"What?" interrupted Albedo.

"It doesn't explain the pain in the transformations."

"Of course not! One thing has nothing to do with the other..."

"So what's going on with the Omnitrix?"

"Ah, now you're interested?"

"Come on, tell me!"

"What if I tell you that I have completely lost interest in talking to you?" Albedo turned his back to Ben and walked away from the teenager.

"Don't make me force you!" Ben raised his left arm and positioned his right hand on the watch core.

"You are really impressive, Tennyson," Albedo turned again and opened his arms, "As if it wasn't enough to hurt all those people in the park, you want to cause more victims in the middle of the residential area?"

Ben stared at his trembling right hand.

"And people still have the audacity to call me a villain. With heroes like you to protect them, there's no need for me to even try, you just save them and the day's quota of victims is already complete..."

What am I doing? Thought Ben.

"Put your hand down, kid," Albedo said seriously. "Already under normal conditions you wouldn't stand a chance against me and the Ultimatrix."

The boy lowered his arms and stared at the ground.

"I'm going to ask you a question, Tennyson. Why do you think I want to return to my Galvanian form so badly?"

"I don't know, because you hate being a human?"

"That's true. But the main reason is that I don't know how much longer I can stay sane enough to want to return to my original form."

"I don't get it."

"When you transform, your body undergoes a process that is too complex and that you probably won't be able to understand, but that in the end results in a structure that Azmuth himself calls a construct."

"Yes, he already told me something like that."

"And did he tell you the consequences of this?"

"Consequences?" asked Ben.

Albedo let out a slight snort through his nose and gave a half smile:

"Of course he didn't tell you. He never does..."

"What are you talking about?"

"Omnitranyl Effect. Has he ever told you about it?"

"Omnitra... nyl?"

"That's right."

"What would that be?"

"If you knew a little more of the history of the Great Thinker Azmuth, the most intelligent being in three galaxies and blah, blah, blah, you would know that he has a long history of amazing creations, but all with one problem in common."

"Which would be?"

"All his creations come at a price."

Ben's eyes widened. He tried to pronounce something, but wasn't sure what to say. Albedo continued:

"Just access some intergalactic encyclopedia or do some searching on the Extranet itself. Every creation of his comes with a price to pay. His incredible mechano-galvanic armor turned soldiers into merciless sociopathic warriors. There was such a sword of great power that not only ended wars, but entire species. Even the moon of Galvan prime did not escape its ego and in the process of terraforming, a creature was forced into being and is now living at the mercy of hatred for its own existence."

"Are you saying that-"

"I am saying that with the Omnitrix it was no different. I was wrong to try to recreate a version of the Omnitrix for myself, but now I live my life being able to rid myself of the burden that Azmuth's creation imposed on me before the Omnitranyl Effect befalls me for good."

"And what does this so-called O-omnitranyl Effect do?"

"Simple, you become more and more dependent on transformations to keep you rationally sane."

"I don't get it..."

"Ever since the first transformation you underwent, your body has been asking you to be exposed to all the complex technology and chemicals involved in the transformations!"

Ben stared at his watch. Albedo then said:

"Azmuth didn't turn you into a hero, Tennyson. Azmuth turned you into an addict..."

Ben stared at Albedo, his face pale and his legs trembling with a loss of strength.

"N-no..." said Ben "You're lying! You're lying!"

Albedo fell silent, allowing the boy to deal with the information.

"You're lying. You sure are," Ben paced back and forth. "I-I'm a hero. I-I change myself to save people!"

Ben walked up to Albedo's face and pointing to himself said:

"I save people!!!" A tear ran down his cheek "I-I-I transform to be a he-hero..."

"You know that deep down I am telling the truth," says Albedo.

"No..."

"Come on, Tennyson, think."

Ben focused his attention on his memories. How good it felt to transform. Becoming an alien for the simple pleasure of transforming. He would take on villains and accept missions because he knew that sooner or later he would need to transform into the Four-Arms or the Humungousaur to beat someone up. He remembered the time he traveled to the future as a child and met a version of himself, Ben 10,000. His version from the future that didn't even return to his human form anymore.

Ben felt like throwing up. He knelt down and nauseated himself, but could not get anything out.

Albedo crouched down next to the boy and put a hand on his back.

"Now that you've thought for a moment, do you believe me?"

"No," Ben pushed Albedo's hand away and began to stand up. "There are holes in this absurd theory of yours!"

"Really?"

"You say that the Omnitrix makes me want to become more and more aliens, but you don't explain why I am suffering so much from the transformations. It just makes me want to give up transforming!"

"You really don't understand the pathophysiology involved in an addiction process, do you, kid? It is a matter of tolerance!"

"Stop talking tough and just spit it out, what the hell is this tolerance!"

"Why do you think Azmuth never let you have master control of the Omnitrix?"

Ben remembered all the times Azmuth had rebooted the Omnitrix and prevented him from keeping master control for an extended period of time. And in the end, he always said that he was still too young or that when the time was right he would figure it out and use it.

"The more you transform, the more your body asks for it, and when you don't transform enough, the experience becomes unpleasant. In order for it to become the usual feeling again, you need to transform more and more!"

Ben brought his hands to his forehead and ran his fingers through his hair. The teenager couldn't stand still.

"If you had master control, you would reach a tolerance level of the effects of transformations very quickly, and it wouldn't be long before the Omnitranil Effect would become even more evident in your body. That was the excuse Azmuth used to hide the side effect from you as long as he could."

"No, no, no..."

"Don't be childish, Tennyson, denying it won't help you get out of this!"

"And what do you want me to do, huh?"

"Me? I don't have to want anything! You have to decide what you want to do!"

Ben went back to walking back and forth.

"If you want to be free of pain, then transform yourself!"

"Have you gone crazy? You know what happens to the people around me."

"Then go to a secluded place and change until you can't do it anymore! Turn into all the 'heroes' you want until the effects of the transformation overcome tolerance!"

"You know I can't do that, not after all you've told me!"

"So give it all up!"

"What are you talking about?"

"Remove the Omnitrix and get rid of the source of your addiction once and for all."

Ben put one hand on the back of the other and stared at the Omnitrix on his wrist.

"Leave this 'hero' business behind and go live your life as an ordinary Earthling teenager!"

The young man remained silent for a few seconds, then said:

"I knew..."

"Knew what?"

"I knew that all this was just a plan of yours to make me give up the Omnitrix in the end!"

"What!"

"You want to take the watch, and you made up this whole story so that I would-"

"Shut up!" interrupted Albedo. "Just shut up and think for a moment, Tennyson. Don't you see?"

Ben kept holding his arm with the Omnitrix next to his body.

"Look at you, Tennyson, the pathetic condition you are in. Those last lines are not yours, it's your brain trying to protect the source of your addiction, don't you see?"

The boy's eyes widened, the trembling in his arms made his whole body shake.

"You don't become a 'hero' because people need you. You become a 'hero' because you need to satisfy yourself."

Ben took one step back, then two, and finally turned and ran towards the front door of his house. Violently he closed the door behind him as he entered.

Inside the house, Ben ran through the enclosures until he reached his bedroom. The boy entered and locked the door, as well as closing windows and curtains. Finally, he threw himself on the bed and covered himself completely with his blanket. Amidst the darkness under the blanket, only the green and red oscillating light of the Omnitrix.

And there he remained.

Alone.

Just him and his thoughts.

...