Washington B.C.

Washington B.C. is the second episode of Ben 10.

Airdate
January 13, 2006

Plot
There is a burning building in the Washington D.C. area; people are out on the streets, speculating the view. Within it, a woman and her child are trapped by the surrounding flames. To make their situation worse, they look up to see the ceiling about to collapse onto them. They ready to brace for the impact, only for nothing to happen. The little kid looks up to find Heatblast holding up the fallen section of the roof. He says that he has come to rescue them, and he tosses the section aside. Heatblast first uses his ability to absorb all the fire in the room. Once the flames were out, he leads them to safety. They are reluctant at first, but go with him anyway if they want to live. The three attempts to use the nearby staircase to escape, but another piece of the building smashes their route to oblivion. Heatblast quickly spots another alternate exit to get them out to safety, and starts by cutting through the wall at the end of the hallway. He then transports them to the street below them by encasing them, as well as himself in a tornado of flame.

Outside, all the onlookers are impressed by the spectacle. As Heatblast begins to act modest about the event, his attention is quickly drawn off by trading cards in the little boy's hand. Heatblast refers to them as gold Sumo Slammer cards. Like any kid, he sits next to the kid and proceeds to ask where he found the cards. The kid replies by saying that they were a prize in a box of Sumo Smacks Cereal. Gwen and Grandpa Max drive up to interrupt his interrogation with the boy and informed Heatblast that the fire was started as a diversion so some thieves could rob the jewelry store. Heatblast tries to cover his ignorant behavior by saying that he knew what they just explained to him.

As Grandpa Max pursues the thieves, he notices smoke coming from the seat next to him. Heatblast is there and his ambient heat from his body is burning through the leather seat. Grandpa Max comments that he should have installed asbestos seats when he had the chance to. Gwen responds by putting out the fire with an extinguisher, only to hit Heatblast along with it. She also chides him for his non-strategic choice of superhero in this instance, and Heatblast claims she is jealous. She responds by spraying him again.

After a short chase with the thieves, Heatblast leans out the window and blows up the rear axle of their car, sending it careening into a brick wall. He walks up to the driver's side, and pulls the door off. He then convinces the thieves to get out by bending the door metal in his bare hands. He starts to berate the criminals afterward, but ends up back to normal before he finished what he was saying. The Omnitrix has lost power again. They notice Ben and try to escape, but the police show up before they can go anywhere. Ben tries to take credit for the capture, but the cops tell him that this isn't something that kids should be playing around about. Ben leaves disappointed.

In a different part of the city, a man in a suit is knocking incessantly on an apartment door belonging to a man named Dr. Animo. He gets no response, so he lets himself in. Inside the room, cages of different animals are seen everywhere, and animal noises can be heard in the background. The place also smells like a zoo, according to the man. Someone eventually shows up to question his intrusion. His appearance consists of white hair, and his skin has a green tinge to it. The man addresses to him as Dr. Animo, and explains that he is the landlord, telling him that his rent is past due. Dr. Animo is indifferent, and says that the money goes to his research. The landlord then attempts to insist him on paying his rent, but this only prompts Dr. Animo to reveal what he was working on. He picks up a strange looking helmet, and he refers to it as the Transmodulator. He then takes out a frog from its cage, and explains what his device can do. He uses it to alter genetic information, and made the frog grow many times its size, gains more eyes, and horns. The frog grabs the landlord with its tongue, and spits him into the wall, knocking him unconscious. Dr. Animo then remarks that he needs more components to complete his work. A commercial comes up in the TV about the new M-Mart, and it catches his attention.

Inside the M-Mart, Ben notices the cereal aisle and the boxes of Sumo Smack cereal. Meanwhile, Grandpa Max is searching for canned octopus and is complaining about the store's reputation for their wide variety of foods. Gwen tries to convince him to buy some normal food for her tastes, but Grandpa Max won't listen. As he walks off, Gwen hears the trademark sound of the Omnitrix, activated again by Ben. She looks to see what Ben is up to, and finds the cereal aisle a mess. A moving box with a voice in it leads her to Grey Matter, a tiny, yet super-intelligent alien. When Gwen asks what he is doing, Grey Matter answers her question by telling her that he is looking for the gold Sumo Slammer card. An employee finds her with the huge mess, which then makes her blame it on Ben. The employee mentions that someone will have to pay to make up for the mess.

Grandpa Max wonders why they are buying a large supply of cereal. Ben blames it on Gwen, who in return says that Ben was raiding all the boxes trying to find a piece of cardboard. Grandpa Max points out that his obsession over the cards has gone too far this time, making Ben try to use his earlier heroic actions as a guilt trip. They move on, and he notices a display of the whole collection of Sumo Slammer cards, and walks off to see them. Grandpa Max leads Gwen to the pet department, which she hopes that they are not buying their food there. Ben admires the card. But then a series of earthquakes attracts his attention away. In the entertainment section of the store, Dr. Animo bursts in through the wall of televisions while riding on his mutant frog. He begins looting what he needs, and Ben comes to ask what he is doing. Dr. Animo warns him not to be a hero. With the Omnitrix still recharging, he is forced to take the advice. Dr. Animo then goes off to another section of the store, despite being stopped momentarily by some guards.

While Gwen plays with a hamster at the pet section, Dr. Animo arrives and feels the need to make a few more minions. He turns the hamster in Gwen's hands and a nearby Cockatoo into similar giant mutants to his frog. Ben arrives just as he finishes the process, and Dr. Animo goes off on a rant in what he deserves, and in what he plans to make Washington D.C. "pre-historical." The hamster then pursues Ben, Gwen and Grandpa Max. It ends up going past Ben and corners Gwen and Grandpa Max. Still unable to transform, Ben improvises with a football and a motored scooter. He attracts the hamster's attention, and manages to trap it under shelves. This angers Dr. Animo, but does nothing about it. He rants about turning D.C. into Washington "B.C.," and leaves on the giant cockatoo with the electronics Ben saw him stealing. The giant frog then follows. The store owner offers a reward for their work, which Ben uses to get his gold Sumo Slammer card, but Grandpa Max drags him off to continue his pursuing with Dr. Animo before Ben can get the card.

In the RV, Grandpa Max comments about how the chase reminds him of the good old days. This confuses Gwen, who believes him to have been a plumber. Grandpa Max just says that he was a good plumber. Ben pouts the entire time and complains by not collecting his reward. As always, Grandpa Max has advice, and answers that being a hero is what is most rewarding. Ben though isn't convinced.

Gwen pops in to report what she's found out about Dr. Animo. It turns out that he was a veterinary scientist that was doing twisted genetic experiments. He is angry because his work did not win him an award when he beleives it should have. Dr. Animo's comments about pre-history lead Ben to a conclusion about where he's probably headed.

They head to the natural history museum. As expected, Dr. Animo is there, continuing his work on his Transmodulator. When he notices them, he goes into another scientific explanation. This one is about the true purpose of his Transmodulator, which is to bring dormant organisms back to life. His speech is lost on his audience, especially on Ben. Realizing this, he makes a visual aid out of a nearby mammoth, reanimating the formally dead animal. He leaves the mammoth to deal with them while he escapes. Ben stays to deal with the mammoth while Gwen and Grandpa Max go after Dr. Animo. To deal with the mammoth, Ben transforms into another new alien called Four Arms, a red giant, four-armed alien.

As Gwen and Grandpa Max chase Dr. Animo, they are deterred by the giant bird. Using a nearby spear, Gwen knocks it out easily. She comments that Ben isn't the only one with skills. They catch up to Dr. Animo, only at the point where reanimates a T-Rex. For some reason, it may have come back to life, yet several large pieces of its skin and flesh are missing making the dinosaur a zombie. Meanwhile, Four Arms is still fighting the mammoth. He eventually defeats it after being tossed a few times. As Dr. Animo escapes with his new T-Rex, the bird swoops in to kidnap Gwen. Four Arms arrives in time to chase it, but is unable to get Gwen back. He tries to take it down, but is shaken off and falls to the street below. He reverts back to normal just after crashing into the street.

As Ben and Grandpa Max look for Gwen, Dr. Animo is on his way to retrieve his in what he says that he truly deserves. He goes through a Sumo Slammer card factory on the way, catching a gold one in the T-Rex's toe. At the same time, the bird perches itself on the Washington Monument, with Gwen still in its clutches. She remembers that she has her cell phone and uses it to call Ben and Grandpa Max. Just before getting the call, Grandpa Max hands Ben a slip of paper that Dr. Animo had dropped during his escape from the museum. It addresses the information about the person that received the award in Dr. Animo's place -- a man named Dr. Kelly. Ben realizes that this is who Dr. Animo is after. Gwen's call then leads and pinpoints them to her location. As she is about to fall, Ben transforms into another new form. This one is called Stinkfly, an insectoid alien capable of amazing flight in the air yet notably smells horrible.

Stinkfly is able to save Gwen before she hits the ground. This leaves him hindered, however, since the bird decides to attack him back for the save. He battles the bird, while Grandpa Max heads to the top of the monument. Seeing Grandpa Max at one of the observation window, Stinkfly takes the opportunity to drop her off there. Without the extra weight, he is able to take the bird down easily. Grandpa Max then tells him to follow Dr. Animo.

Meanwhile, at Kelly Industries, Dr. Kelly is leading a group of people on a tour. Dr. Animo arrives on the T-Rex to get his award back, and promptly does so. After giving a short and pointless speech, he has the T-Rex attack Kelly. Stinkfly arrives just in time to save him. The T-Rex uses its tail to smack Stinkfly down to the floor, where he notices a gold Sumo Slammer card. He almost picks it up, but sees that the T-Rex is about to eat Kelly. Like any superhero would, he remembers what Grandpa Max had told him, and realizes that some things are more important than a card. He then flies off to save Kelly in the process crushing the card. After saving Kelly, Dr. Animo tries to use his Transmodulator to blast Stinkfly, but he is too nimble to be hit. Stinkfly then fires some slime from his eyestalks at the T-Rex, causing Dr. Animo to drop the award. Distracted by the destruction of that which he sought, Dr. Animo also loses the Transmodulator to Stinkfly. Stinkfly tosses it to the floor, and it emits a pulse, which changed every creature Dr. Animo had used it on back to normal.

Later on, as the police drag Dr. Animo away, he continues to rant about how the award should be his. The words resonate with Ben's earlier comments, and Ben realizes just how he sounded. He does get Dr. Animo's Transmodulator as a trophy, though. On reflection, he sees that saving the city really is its own reward. Gwen thanks Ben for rescuing her, and he claims that heroes are supposed to rescue dweebs. This causes the two to call each other names as the episode ends.

Major Events

 * Ben transforms into Grey Matter, Four Arms, and Stinkfly for the first time.
 * Ben and the gang first encounter Dr. Animo.

Debuts

 * Dr. Animo

Omnitrix alien debuts

 * Grey Matter
 * Four Arms
 * Stinkfly

Characters

 * Ben Tennyson
 * Gwen Tennyson
 * Max Tennyson

Villains

 * Dr. Animo (first appearance)

Aliens used

 * Heatblast
 * Grey Matter (first appearance)
 * Four Arms (first appearance)
 * Stinkfly (first appearance)

Quotes
Max: (sniffs something burning) Knew I should have got those asbestas seat covers when I had the chance

Heatblast: Sorry Grampa. Can't help it. I'm hot.

Gwen: (grunting) Ten aliens on that stupid watch and you pick the one with the flaming butt!?

Heatblast: Jealous?

Gwen: (makes a look and she hits him with the fire extinguisher)

Stinkfly: (to Gwen) I can't shake down cracker-breath. You're gonna have to trust me.

Gwen: Trust you?

(Stinkfly tosses Gwen off his back, then grabs her and flies to the Washington Monument; Gwen screams)

Grandpa Max: Come to Grandpa.

(Stinkfly flies by Grandpa Max, allowing him to grab Gwen, then beats up the giant bird)

Grandpa Max: Go! Stop Animo. We're all right.

Gwen: Speak for yourself.

Trivia

 * On the DVD, the subtitle lyrics are all messed up.
 * Frog disappears when Dr. Animo leaves the M-Mart.
 * The trio's second stop is Washington D.C.
 * An animation error occurs in this episode; when Ben hit the mutated hamster with a football and began to lead it away, for a split second it can be seen that there is black line on the back of Ben's shirt.
 * This is the first appearance Dr.Animo.
 * Ben turned into Four Arms for the first time, meaning this is also the first time Ben turns into a big alien form because Four Arms is 12 ft tall.
 * The pop-up version of the episode reveals that Dr. Animo was inspired to complete his work after seeing news footage of Ben saving the campsite from And Then There Were 10, inspiring him to make his own Monsters, thus Ben's responsible for the existence of one of his greatest enemies.
 * This is the first episode which had an ABB-Appearance before Ben by Heatblast for the first time.