when I say I’m annoyed at the show’s changes, I don’t mean that I expected it to be 100% the same as the books, that’s impossible and would’ve been a bit boring even.. no, what I’m upset about is that they sold the show as this

and then made it this

I went on an illegal run (IE I told myself I wouldn’t run tonight, showered and got in my PJs then got the Zoomies, changed into running clothes and went out) and had a fun time with a timey whimey AU which would be a fun fic if I had the time and inclination.

Ok so it opens with No Watch Ben (who for the purposes of this Au knows nothing of the alt Bens, omnitrix, aliens etc) doing his thing. He’s started having weird visions, random bits of info he shouldn’t know pop into his head, unexplained pains. Little by little reality around them starts to warp and decay.  That’s when Paradox arrives with Prime Rook and Gwen in tow. They immediately cry out and grab onto NW!Ben in tears of grief and joy.

Ben Prime (who will be Prime from here on out) is in the midst of a death loop that, the longer it continues, it tearing apart the fabric of time and reality. He’d been battling Maltruant (maybe Maltruant/Malware hybrid, idk up for debate) and was pinned with his Omnitrix being mined for its data and power. Ben, unable to escape and knowing Maltruant with the Omnitrix’s power would be unstoppable grabs a piece of broken debris and slits his own throat. Azmuth had told him years ago that, as a failsafe, if the wielder dies the Omnitrix will also shut down and be rendered unusable by anyone trying to take control of it. Ben may be impervious to most forms of attack but the Omnitrix can’t prevent suicide. But neither Ben nor Azmuth knew that the Omnitrix had grown beyond it’s programming and would do anything to save it’s host. Before the last of Ben’s light goes out, the Omnitrix uses Maltruant’s time power (since it’s hooked up to the Omnitrix) to force a loop in which Ben dies and is revived over and over again. But the loop shows no sign of stopping and is destroying time. 

Every other Ben in the multiverse who is connected to their own Omnitrix felt the backlash of Prime’s Omnitrix trapping them in the loop as well. Only the Ben without a watch, while still feeling some of the effects but is overall okay, can help. Also, outsiders can’t interfere in the loop, only another Ben can enter and break it up. But this Ben has no training, no experience. Paradox reveals he brought a third passenger from the Prime universe, Prime Azmuth who was dropped off with NW! Azmuth. It turns out this version HAD created an Omnitrix, just avoided the final touches bc he was afraid of what he’d made and worried about finding the correct host. Theoretically NW! Ben should be fine with the watch since its out of sync with the loop.

We switch back and forth between Prime Azmuth convincing NW! Azmuth not only to complete his Omnitrix but to pass it onto a young human. Prime Azmuth tells not only of Ben’s heroism and accomplishments but lets some of his genuine grief and personal connection to the boy leech through at the thought of him forced to die on repeat. They debate as they work to finish the device. Meanwhile Rook and Gwen are trying to bring NW!Ben up to speed on him being a universal hero and aliens and whatever. It’s a lot to handle and NW! thinks he can’t do it. He privately tells himself that Prime has got to be someone amazing, someone not like Ben. He wonders if he can stop the loop by switching places with Prime who’s clearly way more important.

They get to the two Azmuths and the Omnitrix is complete but NW!Azmuth refuses to hand it over. He’s seen too many people abuse power to willingly hand it over to a child he’s never met. He’s ready to let the multiverse burn but Prime Azmuth convinced him to at least let NW!Ben try to break the loop. Rook and Gwen are trying to stress that NW!Ben needs to break the loop before Prime slits his throat. NW!Ben nods, perfectly ready to die to save his ‘better’ counterpart. They are able to link Ben up to the loop using the completed Omnitrix and soon he’s in the midst of battle in the loop. NW!Ben tries and fails a couple of times to break the loop and it just keeps happening as time around them falls apart.

At the point where Maltraunt goes to pin down Prime, the beginning of the end, NW!Ben steps in the way. This puts him directly in the path of danger and would kill him. But he doesn’t realize that the Omnitrix loves Ben Tennyson, was tearing time and space apart to save him. And it loves all versions of Ben, including the version where the watch never existed. To save NW!Ben, the Omnitrix flares out power which throws back Maltruant. This breaks the loops bc it’s no longer the same pattern over and over. Together, Prime and NW!Ben stop Maltruant and yey, the day is saved. Paradox shows up all smug, he knew NW!Ben would try and pull a sacrifice play and the Omnitrix, which has already demonstrated what its willing to do for Ben, would break apart the loop to help. Prime and NW! talk like they did in the canon episode (blah blah its just a gadget, only you can make yourself a hero) and NW!Ben feels spurned on to be his own hero.

NW!Azmuth had seen the battle play out and despite his anger and fear and bitterness, he finds himself intrigued. A young boy was willing to sacrifice it all to preserve universes’ he’s never heard of. A boy without training, or powers or anything special had a heart made fullmetal of gold. He watched Prime Azmuth fuss and frantically lecture Prime about the whole suicide thing. He thinks it might be nice to have a young one of his own to worry over. He’s not there yet but maybe with some meetings and some official Plumbers training for NW!Ben, maybe there will be another Omnitrix Ben in the future. Or not, perhaps the multiverse could see what a Ben Tennyson is capable of without the device. It’s not like he needs it to be a hero.