The More Things Change: Part 1

The More Things Change: Part 1 is the first episode of Ben 10: Omniverse.

Plot
5 years ago, Ben as Four Arms is fighting a red Galvanic Mechamorph called Malware. While at first it appears that Ben is winning, Malware manages to grab the Omnitrix and forces Ben to transforms back to human. Malware confronts Ben and taunts him about his defeat, which allows just enough time for the Omnitrix to activate again. Ben transforms into Feedback and uses his energy absorbing and redirecting powers to quickly defeat Malware.



In the present day, 16 year-old Ben is in pursuit of Zombozo (who has stolen a brain from Bellwood's brain bank) with Gwen and Kevin. Ben transforms into Lodestar and with Kevin and Gwen's help captures Zombozo. Once Zombozo is tied up, Gwen and Kevin prepare to leave. Gwen is skipping several grades of high school and leaving for college. Ben is surprised to learn that Kevin (who has found a place near Gwen's campus) is leaving too. Realizing that he will be left all alone, Ben shares an emotional goodbye with Kevin and Gwen. As they leave, Zombozo begins to mock Ben, claiming that he would have never captured him without his friends' help. Ben fiercely responds that he is a superhero and does not need help to get the job done. He leaves to find something to eat.

After driving past Mr. Smoothy because "it wouldn't be the same" Ben drives to Max's Plumbing store. Using the secret entrance in the store's bathroom, Ben descends into the Plumbers Base beneath Bellwood.

Ben meets up with Grandpa Max, who tries to inform him about something important. Before he can, an alarm goes off and Ben goes off to find the problem. When he arrives he is shocked to see half of a building destroyed, with a giant crater left. Watching from the shadows is Khyber, who attaches the Nemetrix to his pet and lets the animal run into the crater. Khyber whistles, and his pet transforms into Crabdozer and goes after Ben. Ben trying to transforms into Humungousaur, but Spidermonkey instead. Ben fight it, but is no match for the strength of the creature. Just as Crabdozer is about to finish Ben, Khyber whistles again and calls it back.

As Ben transforms back to human, an alien named Pakmar comes out of a nearby toilet he was hiding in. Pakmar reveals that this was his shop, a toilet emporium. Unfortunately he was confronted by a gang of alien criminals. The criminals force all of the alien shops in Bellwood to pay them Taydenite for "protection". If the shop owners refuse, the criminals destroy their shops.

With this information, Ben goes off to Mr. Baumann's alien grocery store. He asks him if he has had any demands from the alien criminals. While Mr Baumann originally denies that he has had any meetings with them, he eventually admits to it. At first he does not want Ben to interfere, Ben manages to convince him to let him observe quietly. In order to disguise himself, he turns into Cannonbolt and unfortunately immediately attracts attention. After accidentally dealing some damage to it, he settles down in the store's food bar.

Remembering how hungry he is, he asks the customer next to him if he can have his food. Just as he is about to begin eating, the trio of alien criminals arrive.

The alien criminals (Bubble Helmet, Liam, and Fistina) have arrived with their bomb. Mr. Baumann quickly pays them the Taydenite so that they will leave, but Ben interrupts. While both Bubble Helmet and Mr. Baumann try to convince Ben to stay out of it, Ben still confronts the criminals. Bubble Helmet begins to attack and the Cannonbolt rushes into the fight. Ducking behind his counter, Mr. Baumann expresses his disapproval of lasers and the damage that Ben always does to the store.

While the other customers run out of the store, the alien that sat next to Ben at the food bar continues to calmly eat his meal. Bubble Helmet activates the bomb and signals his partners to run away. While Ben tries to breach the force-field around the bomb, he ultimately fails as the Omnitrix times out. As Mr. Baumann inquires Ben to when his friends will come to save the day, the alien sitting at the counter unveils himself. Using his proto-tool and agile gymnastics, the alien is able to defeat the criminals. He introduces himself to Ben as Rook, an alien Plumber sent by Grandpa Max, and Ben's new partner.

Ben is not happy to hear the news, trying to tell Rook that he works alone now. Rook insists that he is his partner and mentions how honored he is to meet Ben who is famous for his heroics. While he likes hearing this, Ben still refuses to accept Rook as a partner. However, due to the events around them, Rook and Ben cooperate to disable the bomb and catch the now escaping criminals.

Ben transforms into a new alien named Bloxx, for the first time and rushes to stop the bomb while Rook goes after the criminals. Seeing that he can't affect the bomb due to the forcefield and Bloxx's weakness, Ben and Rook switch places. Ben covers the criminals with a dome he builds his body into, as Rook evaluates the bomb. Rook states that he can't crack the force field in time, and needs to get the bomb out of the current populated area. Blasting a whole in the wall with his proto-tool, he calls Ben over to help carry the bomb outside. After scanning a nearby abandoned building for the presence of sentient life, Rook deduces that there is no one for the bomb to hurt, and Ben attempts to throw it in. As he is about to, the alien criminals run outside and blast Bloxx's arms to bits. Bloxx tries to catch it, but the bomb breaks through him and falls back down. With very little time left, Bloxx builds himself into a catapult under the bomb and launches into the empty building.

The bomb detonates, destroying the building and leaving behind a large crater. The crater has exposed a hidden tunnel and the three criminals run into it.

Ben and Rook run after them and emerge from the tunnel into a secret, underground, alien city: Undertown. Ben is shocked by this discovery, but remembers his mission as he runs after the criminals with Rook.

Above-ground, Khyber once again attaches the Nemetrix to his pet. Telling it to show no mercy, he releases it after Ben, and it runs into the tunnel.

Major Events

 * The team is disbanded and Gwen leaves for college along with Kevin.
 * Rook becomes Ben's new partner.
 * Bloxx gets unlocked and makes his first appearance.
 * Feedback makes his first appearance as one of 11 year old Ben's primary aliens.
 * Four Arms, Spidermonkey, Lodestar and Cannonbolt make their Omniverse debuts.

Minor Events

 * Zombozo makes his debut in Omniverse.

Omnitrix Alien debuts

 * Lodestar
 * Spidermonkey
 * Cannonbolt
 * Bloxx (first appearance)

Nemetrix Alien debuts

 * Crabdozer

Characters

 * Ben Tennyson (16 and 11 years old)
 * Rook (first appearance)
 * Max Tennyson
 * Gwen Tennyson
 * Kevin Levin
 * Mr. Baumann (first re-appearance)
 * Pakmar (first appearance)
 * Magister Patelliday (first re-appearance; cameo)
 * Driba (first appearance; cameo)
 * Blukic (first appearance; cameo)
 * Solid Plugg (first appearance; cameo)

Villains

 * Khyber (first appearance)
 * Khyber's Pet (first appearance)
 * Zombozo (first re-appearance)
 * Liam (first appearance)
 * Bubble Helmet (first appearance)
 * Fistina (first appearance)
 * Malware (first appearance)

By 11 year old Ben

 * Four Arms (first re-appearance)
 * Feedback (debut)

By 16 year old Ben

 * Lodestar (first re-appearance)
 * Spidermonkey (first re-appearance; accidental transformation, selected alien was Humungousaur)
 * Cannonbolt (first re-appearance)
 * Bloxx (debut)

By Khyber's Pet

 * Crabdozer (first appearance)

Errors

 * In some scenes, Cannonbolt is shown without his back armor.
 * In one scene, Liam was missing his comb.
 * When Ben was talking to Mr. Baumann the table that had the Gloppenbeef sandwiches disappears.
 * In the beginning of the episode there was a big wildfire, but in the next scene it was gone.

Allusions

 * The title of this episode is based on the saying "The more things change, the more they stay the same."

Trivia

 * 16-year-old Ben turns into Lodestar as his first alien in Omniverse.
 * 11-year-old Ben turns into Four Arms as his first alien in Omniverse.
 * This episode aired on August 1st as a sneak peek.
 * This episode marks the debut of the Nemetrix.
 * This is the last episode Gwen and Kevin are featured as main characters
 * If one looks at Ben's Omnitrix while he was trying to select Humungousaur, his selected alien was Spidermonkey, although he might have mistaken Spidermonkey for Humungousaur due to Ben not being used to the new hologram display interface.