Episode 01

"Ben," a woman's voice called. "Ben, will you hurry up. Grandpa Max is waiting."

Arthur raised his head. He had just seen the words written in the Notebook vanish before hearing an unknown voice calling for him. "Who's that," he wondered aloud.

"That would be Sandra Tennyson," Aelita answered. "The mother of Ben Tennyson."

Arthur blinked absently for a moment before a look of realization crossed his face. "Ri~ight. I'm a ten-year-old child. Kids normally don't live alone…What's going on exactly?"

"The Notebook has made some adjustments to how exactly Ben 10 begins to minimize the transition. Today is Saturday, May twenty-fifth. It is the first day of summer break and the start of your cross-country roadtrip with your grandfather - Max Tennyson. He has come to pick you up in his mobile home - the 'Rustbucket'."

"Oh, okay, um, do I need to grab anything, or…"

"No, everything has already been prepared in advance and is loaded onto the Rustbucket. But you are free to take whatever is here now."

Arthur looked around for stuff to grab and quickly grabbed his phone, wallets, etc. However, he stopped when something else occurred to him. "Wait. How does this stuff still exist? I mean, I reversed time? Shouldn't my phone and stuff not exist anymore?"

"You only changed the year. You did not specify any temporal effect. As such, everything is exactly as it was, only twenty-five-years early."

"So, thank's to me, the world is twenty-five-years more advance?"

"More or less."

"Huh." Arthur absently went about putting on his white and black sneakers as he thought about this. "Gonna be honest, this is starting to feel a little surreal. I mean, I'm the Ben 10. Hold on…What does this mean about the show? The toys? The fandom?"

"Nothing. As stated in the Notebook's instructions, its influences upon reality will go unnoticed by anyone unless you specify otherwise."

"Okay, so unless I do something, no one will realize fictional characters are coming alive or anything? What if I show someone their own show?"

"That is correct. Even if they saw the franchise they originate from, no one would realize they are the same character. At most, they would recognize how 'eerily similar' they are."

"Weird."

"Benjamin Kirby Tennyson, are you going on this roadtrip or not," Sandra called. 

"Coming," Arthur yelled back reflexively. He grabbed the Notebook and slipped a pen into it before rushing out of the room. 

As Arthur moved toward the garage door - assuming that is where he is supposed to go - he noticed the holy light of Aelita following him. He looked over his shoulder and saw the angel floating after him. He was about to ask her what she was doing when he heard a voice in front of him.

"There you are," said Sandra.

Arthur looked the woman over as he approached her. She was a mature woman who had fair skin, the same vibrant green eyes, and shoulder-length blond hair that was mostly swept back but had a single lock hanging in front of her face. She currently had on a maroon, short-sleeve top, and black skirt.

"Oh," Sandra signed longingly.  She then knelt down and pulled Arthur into her embrace - causing him to freeze up. "I'm going to miss you, so much." Pulling back, she looked him in the eye with a hand on his shoulder as she added, "Be good and listen to your Grandpa Max." She then kissed him on the forehead before nudging him to proceed toward the mobile home sitting in the driveway. "Have fun."

Arthur proceeded to walk toward the all-too-familiar RV as Aelita continued to follow behind him. Quietly, he murmured, "I know you can hear me. What are you doing?"

"As I have told you," Aelita said in her normal, flat tone, "my only purpose is to retrieve the Notebook should you prove unfit. Until then, I have nothing to do and shall be following you. Do not worry, no one will notice my existence any more than they would the Notebook unless I will otherwise."

"Okay…By the way, if Ben's mom's around, what about his dad? Where's Mr. Tennyson?"

"Your and Ben Tennyson's lives have overlapped. This includes the fates of your parents. Much like your own father, Carl Tennyson came down and perished from cancer last year."

Hearing this, Arthur stopped in his tracks. His face twisted in discomfort. 

As Arthur let this information sink in, the door to the Rustbucket opened and a somewhat heavyset man stepped out. He was in his sixties or seventies with a head of short, white hair and wearing a red, Hawaiian shirt; blue, jean pants; and brown loafers. This was none other than Grandpa Max Tennyson. "There you are sport. I was worried you might've changed your mind about coming on this trip."

"N-No way," Arthur stuttered. "Just making sure I don't forget anything."

"I hear you. Well, hop aboard, we're burning daylight."

Arthur followed the man onto the RV. Once inside, he took a nostalgic look around the interior. Things were moving a bit faster than he was able to keep up with, but something about seeing the interior of the Rustbucket in front of his very eyes left him with a grounding sense of nostalgia and wonder.

"Hey there, Doofus," said an irritated voice.

Arthur turned to see a ten-year-old girl sitting at the table. She had very short, red hair with a blue hair-clip, vibrant green eyes, and pierced ears. She wore a pale blue shirt with a dark blue cat face on the chest and dark blue collar and sleeves; calf-length, white leggings; and white and blue shoes. 

"Hey Gwen, you're here too," Arthur said - vaguely remembering the lines from the show but not caring to put much effort in repeating them. He may have taken the role of Ben Tennyson but he had little interest in playing the role. Where Ben was unhappy and upset over his cousin's surprise appearance, Arthur already knew and planned for her presence. 

Furling her wings, Aelita lost her holy light and dropped to the ground. Invisible to anyone else present, she proceeded to step around Arthur. She then slipped into the booth to sit across from Gwen. 

"Not by choice," Gwen complained. "Someone convinced my mom that going on this trip would be a 'good experience' for me. Now, instead of the summer I had planned, I'm stuck with my geek-a-zoid cousin for the next three months."

Max then spoke up from the driver's seat - turning back to look at his grandchildren -, "Things have been a little rough for us lately, and I thought it would be good for you kids to go on an adventure. That's not a problem, is it?"

"Not for me, Grandpa," Arthur shrugged smoothly before slipping into the booth next to Aelita. 

Gwen pouted, "No Grandpa."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

On the road, Max was driving while the radio played. 

Gwen frowned while occupying herself with a laptop.

Aelita had somehow gotten ahold of Arthur's phone and was playing games. 

However, Arthur was not paying attention to them. He currently held a pen in his mouth while staring at the Notebook. He was contemplating various ideas on how to alter reality. Most pressingly, he was reconsidering his earlier decision to hold off on certain changes until after the Notebook reached level two.

"That would work if I apply it to myself instead of Ben," Arthur thought. "And, if it's accommodating enough to preemptively make me ten, then I might not need to specify age - that brings it down to four words…I might not need to use 'the' or 'family' for that…Would 'Grandpa' work, or do I have to specify 'Max Tennyson'…You know what. Let's just do it. I can make any corrections later." 

Arthur proceeded to write in the Notebook:

I replace Ron Stoppable.

Kim Possible joins roadtrip.

Possibles are family friends.

Grandpa picks-up Kim Possible.

Just as Arthur stops writing, he hears Gwen say, "Hey, Grandpa, just where are we?" 

"We've got one more person to pick up before we head to the camp sight," Max replied.

"Who," Gwen asks suspiciously.

As if on cue, the Rustbucket came to a stop. Looking out the window, the two children saw a house that was all too familiar to Arthur. Standing on the doorstop were two parents seemingly seeing their daughter off as she jogged to the RV with a bag over her shoulder.

"No," Gwen groaned. "Not only am I stuck with the doofus but his friend too."

"Now, be nice," Max lightly chastised as he stood up. "Kim is just as much family as you two and asked if she could come on this trip too. You're going to be spending a lot of time together, so try to get along."

As Max opened the door to let Kim in, Arthur heard Gwen mutter, "At least it'll be nice to have someone with a brain around."

Arthur ignored this as Kim bound into the Rustbucket. She gave Max a hug as she happily greeted, "Grandpa Max."

"Whoa there little lady," Max laughed. "You're excited."

"A roadtrip across the country? How could I not be?"

"Hey Kim," Arthur greeted. 

As Kim turned to face him, he looked her over. She had long red hair pulled into a small ponytail, bright green eyes, and wore a pale yellow top with orange shorts and pale yellow shoes. 

"Ben," Kim said happily as she came over to Arthur and hugged him. "Thank you so much for inviting me on this trip." As she pulled back, she noticed Gwen frowning at her. "Oh, Gwen, I didn't know you'd be here."

"Neither did I," Gwen replied.

"Alright, that's everyone," Max said. "Kim, you can get situated in the closet over there. Now, let's get going. If we don't make any stops we should be able to reach the campgrounds before nightfall."

Kim nodded and went over to the closet while Max returned to the driver seat. 

Arthur subtly followed Kim with his eyes. He wondered, "This is what I wanted, but I'm a little surprised by the logistics of it. I mean, Kim Possible is set in a fictional town of Middleton - possibly Colorado - while Ben 10 lives in the fictional city of Bellwood. Did the Notebook move someone or what?"

As the Rustbucket got moving again, Kim took a seat next to Gwen. "So, are you two as excited for this trip as I am?"

"Sure, I've been looking forward to this trip for forever," Arthur said with feigned enthusiasm.

"No, not really," Gwen said as she focused on her computer.

"If you didn't want to come, why did you," Kim asked.

"That's what I would like to know," Gwen replied. 

Seeing that Gwen's mood was not going to improve, Arthur decided to avoid the issue for now. Pointing a finger at the beds at the back of the RV, he said, "Hey, Kim, why don't we sit over there so we can talk."

Seemingly not wanting to deal with Gwen's mood, Kim agreed. 

The two got up and moved over to the bottom bed.

Arthur let Kim do most of the talking - asking about what they would do and see on the trip - while lending an ear. His mind though was focused on the Notebook no one noticed in his hands. "Let's see. We get to campsite. Meanwhile, Xylene is transporting the Omnitrix disguised as a freight ship. Vilgax finds them and attacks. To protect the Omnitrix, she jettisons it onto Earth for Max, but it comes toward Ben instead. Boom episode one. But, just to be sure…"

Vilgax attacks Xylene's ship.

Xylene jettison's the Omnitrix.

Omnitrix heads toward Earth.

Ben Tennyson finds Omnitrix.

"Now, what else can I do…I've already affected Kim, her family, myself, Max, Vilgax, Xylene, the Omnitrix, Ben…Azmuth and my family aren't really relevant to anything right now. Any other ideas I have need more than four words. Mutants…girls…" 

Arthur's eyes shifted over to the back of Gwen's head. "I could do something about Gwen's attitude. I mean I get it, suddenly getting up rooted and have all your plans derailed is a big piss-off if you ask me. Bu~ut, I'm supposed to be doing whatever I want…Actually, just what am I going to do with her? I want the Omnitrix because - why not - but what about the rest? I don't care for being the main character. My plan for myself is just to mess around, but for the main character role who will deal with the villains and aliens for me…"

"Kim's already a main character of her own show…But whose to say there can't be two main characters. Gwen could do more. There's her whole 'Lucky Girl'-thing and magic. However…I'm retconning everything after the OG series. No Anodites, no weird magic realm, no blah! That in mind, where do I plan to take her and her powers. Magic will still be a thing - after all, no magic, no Charmcaster. But that'll take a while. I need something for Gwen now. Her own Omnitrix? Not bad but I'm not going the Reboot route and that feels like too much of a copout. So, make her a mutant. But what would her powers be…"

Like this, the drive continued for several hours with the occasional pit stop. Gwen continued to pout while Arthur talked and played with Kim. 

During this time, Arthur continued to think about his questions. This in turn led him to writing some ideas in the Notebook.

Gwen is a mutant.

Humans began mutating 50-years-ago.

Mutants first appeared 37-years-ago. 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Eight hours of driving to reach the campsite after six o'clock.

Another hour to fully set up camp.

It was then, Arthur realized he made a critical error in already altering Max.

"Mealworms," Max declared - setting a bowl full of the aforementioned creatures onto the picnic table the kids sat at. "Got them fresh, so they're rich in protein."

"What's wrong with having cheeseburgers," Gwen asked.

Arthur subconsciously nodded in agreement. Impressed by the older man's vitality or not, this was not something he could accept.

"Come on guys," Kim interjected - failing to hide her own revulsion at the writhing 'food'. Hesitantly, she reached out to grab one. "I mean, how bad could they be?" 

Despite her obvious reluctance, Kim managed to throw the worm into her mouth on her third attempt- powering through her disgust. Chew. Swallow. She seemed fine for all of one second before shivering in disgust. She then offered a weak thumbs-up and wobbly smile. "Very protein rich."

Max then slapped a reassuring hand on his grandchildren's backs. "See. I know it may not be what your used to. But this summer will be an adventure in body, mind, and your tastebuds."

The elderly man then walked away back to the Rustbucket.

Gwen leaned in and whispered conspiratorially, "I've got some trail-mix and half a candy bar. What have you got?"

"I don't even remember," Arthur said.

"I have a Bueno Nacho's gift card and a box of pop-tarts," Kim said.

"Think we can make them last all summer?"

Arthur zoned out of the conversation as he focused on the encroaching night sky. Swinging his legs around to get up, he declared, "Well, while you two to figure that out, I'm going for a little nature walk."

"Since when do you do nature walks," Gwen inquired.

"Yesterday," Arthur replied as he walked away.

Gwen saw Arthur leaving and leaped to her feat. "Wait, Ben! You can't just go wandering around a forest at night, you'll get lost." However, seeing she was being ignored, her worry was replaced with an irritated scowl. "Well, fine! Then, don't expect us to share any of our food with you."

Arthur let Gwen's words fall on deaf ears as he continued to walk into the trees. However, once he was sure he was out of sight, he sprinted forward. He did not know when the Omnitrix would crash land, but he wanted some distance from camp when it did. 

After running for some time, Arthur stopped and rested against a tree as he caught his breath. Feeling a bright light on his face, he opened his eyes to see if it was the Omnitrix. Unfortunately, to his disappointment, it was Aelita hovering off the ground with her wings out. He slid down the tree and sat on the ground. 

"No, please, don't get up," Aelita said. 

"You know, instead of watching the rest of use, you could have helped setup camp. If nobody acknowledges your existence, couldn't you have helped and everyone would have just written it off as someone else doing it?"

"Yes," Aelita confirmed as she floated down to just above the ground. "You could have also used the Notebook to simply write, 'Camp setup is completed'. Or, you could write something to the tune of, 'Cheeseburgers appear before me.'"

"That…is a very good point," Arthur conceded. "I'll have to remember that for later. Maybe rub it in Gwen's face how I 'found' food and won't share."

"Why do that?"

"Cuz I use to have a sister, Gwen's annoying me like one, and I'm petty." 

Aelita stared at Arthur for a moment before stating simply, "Alright."

"So, why are you here," Arthur asked as he stood back up.

"I am observing the progress of the plot." 

"Oh, okay…You wouldn't happen to know where the Omnitrix is going to crash would you?"

Raising her left hand, Aelita pointed over her right shoulder. "About five minutes walking-distance that way."

"Thank you." 

Arthur began walking in the indicated direction with Aelita following close behind.

"You seem oddly driven."

"Yeah. What's the point of being Ben Tennyson without getting the Omnitrix."

"And yet, you said you didn't want to be the main character."

"I have a plan for that. I'm going to give Gwen mutant powers and have her and Kim be the leads."

Aelita tilted her head. "I believe Gwen will already develop her own abilities. Why not have Kim develop powers?"

"A, she doesn't need them - she's the badass normal -, and B, I have plans for Kim down the line. I just need to figure out how I'm going to go about Gwen discovering her powers…"

"Where exactly will that leave you?"

"A, it doesn't matter; B, my role will work with the powers I have for Gwen; and C, my intended role is to be the dopey sidekick that gets to fuck the heroines."

Then, before anything else could be said, a trail of light appeared in the sky - catching Arthur's eye. "Is that it…"

As if to answer Arthur's question, the shooting star suddenly turned toward him. 

"Yeah, that's it," Arthur yelled as he turned to run away from the incoming alien object. As it neared, he dove out of the way of its trajectory - allowing it to fly past him. 

Hitting the ground, the shooting star - actually the pod containing the Omnitrix - dug a ditch through the earth before coming to a stop.

Arthur rose to his feet and dusted himself off. Beside him, Aelita descended after having risen into the air to avoid the pod. She followed close behind as he walked alongside the ditch toward where the pod stopped. 

Once it was in sight, Arthur saw the spherical, metallic pod of alien origin - red hot from reentry. A white gas was released from it that seemed to cool its metallic surface. Then, the top of the pod opened to reveal its contents. 

Despite how hot the ground was around it, Arthur proceeded to slide into the ditch and quickly make his way through the slightly melted ground. He approached the pod and could see the Omnitrix sitting within. He gulped at the mix of nostalgia and awareness of how unassuming yet powerful the device was. 

The Omnitrix resembled a large wristwatch with a thick, black wristband, white tubes running along its surface, a gray face plate that had white rivets, two green buttons just below that, and a green hourglass icon on its face. 

Arthur clenched his fist and stuck it out toward the Omnitrix.