Ben 10: Justice Incarnate

Prologue

It had been five years since the incident with Diagon, Vilgax, Sir George, and the war between the Forever Knights and the Esoterica. At the time, Ben had proven his development into a proper young adult. As a sign of approval, Azmuth had gifted Ben with a brand new Omnitrix. The Ultimatix was, in Azmuth's word's, "an inferior copy." Instead of a gauntlet, the new Omnitrix was back to a wristwatch. Its faceplate was now square instead of round and had a white and green color scheme. The faceplate was black with two green stripes forming an outline for the hourglass of the intergalactic peace symbol. When the faceplate slid back, the Omnitrix revealed the core. Ben was ecstatic that Azmuth trusted him with the final product. This was a new dawn in his hero career.

Five years have passed since that day. Ben continued to fulfill all of his social roles as a family member, friend, and boyfriend. The cousins graduated from their respective high schools thanks to a mutual understanding of the duo's responsibilities. Max made sure that Ben and Gwen were only brought in only when necessary, and both of their parents made sure that they were not skipping out on schoolwork. The parents knew they were heroes, but they didn't want them to be high school dropouts. Gwen graduated with honors, and Ben graduated within the top twenty. Soon after, they went to different colleges. Ben wanted to continue hero work, but he promised his parents that he would make it into his full career after graduating from college. He attended a local university to at least get his Criminal Justice degree. Gwen, on the other hand, fulfilled her childhood goal of attending an Ivy League school. Friedkin University was where Gwen studies the mystic arts. It was located east of Bellwood, and it was the best Ivy League college among all the colleges around Bellwood. Given the fact that Ben 10,000 was able to perform some magic, Ben had asked Gwen to help him in that area.

Ben had also spent the last five years doing some part-time Plumber work with his new partner Rook during breaks. After many exciting adventures, he unlocked new aliens and sharpened his combat and mental skills at the Plumber Academy. In honor of Ben's eighteenth birthday, Azmuth gave a software update to his Omnitrix. This added new features and improved old ones. Initially, Azmuth believed that the evolutionary function that Albedo previously developed was asking for trouble. Then again, he made a sword and a watch that could allow a being to conquer galaxies. In the end, it all comes down to how power was used and how stable the power is. Azmuth was well-regarded as the smartest being in the universe. He was often referred to by his Galvan peers as the "First Thinker." Along with his intelligence, Azmuth was gifted with years of experience and knowledge. It was evident that if anyone could improve the evolutionary function, it would be Azmuth, and he did.

One of the initial problems of the evolutionary function was the lack of safeguards in the evolutionary process. Previously, the ultimate forms in the Omnitrix became unstable and conscious, and they tried to escape while possibly trying to kill Ben in the process. Another problem was the issue of a stable mental state. The evolution feature worked by placing the selected species in a simulation, right down to the DNA, for an extended period, about a million years or so, in what was described as a "worst-case scenario"; the actual DNA was then modified to match the new DNA. This survival of the fittest routine explains why the evolutions are more combat-centered than their standard forms. One would assume that a species spending a million years in 'hell' could cause possible mental problems. The new safeguards Azmuth placed in would slow the development of evolved DNA. Each genome would be analyzed to meet Azmuth's requirements before the form would be allowed for use.

Earth had changed a lot in the last several years. Things had finally calmed down not only on Earth but throughout most of the universe. The Plumbers, an intergalactic police force dedicated to preserving peace throughout the cosmos, had been granted powerful new technologies developed by the Galvan.

New weapons, new armor; basically, everything they needed to combat threats that previously required the aid of Ben and his team. Azmuth made sure to regulate the level of technology that was distributed in the organization; in fact, he was made the leader of research and development. The Plumbers would be well equipped to handle low to mid-level threats, but the Tennyson family would be on call whenever extreme danger arrived, which was not often.