Secrets

Secrets is the thirteenth episode of Ben 10 and the season 1 finale.

Plot
A news-station helicopter is following police cars chasing a speeding armored car. The reporter says that criminals hijacked the car from a bank and they have a hostage. Along the highway, they speed past Grandpa Max's RV and a large crystal grows out from the pavement, completely destroying the undercarriage of the car. The effect made it spin and completely stop. One of the criminals gets out of the vehicle with the hostage, and the other holding a rather large rifle. He aims his rifle at the police car and shoots it and it flies to the air, just after the police inside it went out. He then turns it to Diamondhead, though he doesn't seem to be afraid of it, and slashes it to pieces. The criminal runs away with terror, but he's stopped by another crystal emerging from the cement, lifting him up. The first criminal then walks out from behind with the hostage. Diamondhead is silent and he transforms his hand into a spike. With that appearance, they surrender immediately and the news reporters comment on Diamondhead's heroic act. They seem to say that heroic aliens has become a common-occurrence to everyone.

Vilgax is watching the broadcast in his ship. He's displeased with how the Omnitrix is being used, since he intends to use it for his own selfish attainments. His robotic lieutenant asks Vilgax if he's allowed to send more drones to retrieve it. Vilgax replies with a no, and his regeneration tank opens. One of the medical robots crawls out, only to be crushed by a massive metal foot. Vilgax's limbs have fully regenerated and he says that he'll see to the task himself.

In the RV, Ben wakes up screaming. Max asks him if he had another nightmare. He recaps that he's been dreaming about the weird alien from his vision when he merged with Rojo as Upgrade. He apparently saw his new body in the dream as well. Gwen wonders if Ben is just looking in a mirror. Max assures Ben that it's just a bad dream, and that they'll talk more about it in the morning. Max then heads back to bed, and Ben tells him one more thing. He was told, “I'm coming for you now". Surprisingly, Max was immediately shocked by the statement and decides to hit the road, instead of waiting in the morning. Gwen points out that it's pretty early in the morning, but Max explains that it's the best way to beat the traffic.

Ben points out that Max is driving unusually fast and Max claims that he wants to make it to Mount Rushmore before nightfall. Ben then turns away and complains of boredom. He gets an idea to relieve it, and asks Gwen if he can play a game on her laptop. She says that she would, but not letting him would be a good lesson for him on how to entertain himself. Ben looks at the laptop and gets a mischievous look on his face.

On Vilgax's ship, the activation signal of the Omnitrix is detected. Immediately, Vilgax orders his crew to track the signal down. The sensors took a few seconds to find the signal's general location. Vilgax stares at the screen, becoming satisfied of how well his plans have succeeded so far.

In the RV, Gwen begins to have trouble with her computer. Upgrade reveals himself on the screen, declaring that it won't function because Gwen's a loser and always will be in a monotone voice. She yells at Upgrade to get out of her computer, but he won't and he points out what she told him a while earlier on how to entertain himself. She attempts to get him out of the computer by physically pounding and shaking it, though Upgrade continues to fool around and envelops the whole computer. It sprouts legs and jumps out of her hands, and Gwen goes after the Upgrade. Upgrade then continues with his foolishness, and eventually finds a diary on the memory. He reads one of the entries, and it is just Gwen calling Ben a name. Max is annoyed by Upgrade’s misbehavior, and Max tells him that now's not the time to go alien, and says that they can't afford to attract attention. Upgrade is confused by his statement, not sure about attracting attention inside the RV. Upgrade then reverts back to Ben. Clearly distracted, Max says to forget what he just said and continues driving. Ben and Gwen are absolutely clueless of what's going on with Max.

Vilgax lost the Omnitrix signal. However, Vilgax isn't concerned of the matter, since they gathered enough data to get a general idea of its whereabouts. He then looks at images of Ben’s heroic acts as aliens on various screens and he's figured out a way to draw him out. Without caution, he punches the last screen, which shows Diamondhead saving a kitten from a tree.

In the bison-filled field, Vilgax descends his ship to a near ground-level. The hanger of the underside of the ship opens, and a swarm of drones and a red large mace. The mace doesn't fly, so it just falls to the ground with the drones following it. It then begins rolling, leading its force on its way to Rapid City, destroying the welcome sign along the way.

Ben and Gwen notice several fires coming from Rapid City and Ben points it out to Max. Max is concerned about the situation, but he states that the locals should have everything under control. However, the force completely wastes the area, and Ben immediately decides to help them. Max tells him that it's a bad idea, but Ben doesn’t listen and transforms to Heatblast, then rockets off to save the city.

The strike force continues to destroy everything in sight. The mace is conspicuously missing from the battle. Heatblast burns four of the drones and states that they should pick on someone with real fire power. At once, all the remaining drones surround him, and Heatblast gets a feeling they are expecting him. Despite this, he begins to attack back, and surprisingly, the task of destroying the drones turns out to be easy. The drones were all destroyed by a single shot of his flames, but then an electrical net is fired at Heatblast, pinning him to a nearby building. The red mace rolls up after this. The sphere opens up, revealing a compartment within, Vilgax steps out. Vilgax's appearance is much more revealing, and he's much taller. His body's also covered with armor, and he has several cylinders attached to his arms and shoulders. Heatblast immediately recognizes Vilgax as the alien from his visions. Vilgax introduces himself to Heatblast, and explains his purpose for capturing him. Heatblast states the obvious about Vilgax's allegiances and burns through the net. However, Vilgax stands in the same place, taking each attack as if it were nothing. With a single toss, he throws Heatblast halfway across the city.

Heatblast makes a decent crater when he landed. Burning away the rubble over him, he comments on Vilgax's strength as Vilgax leaps across the city to land a short distance from him. Heatblast decides to buy some time to use his flames to melt the street into a hot, fiery tar. Vilgax then trips on it. Max then arrives in the RV, and sees Vilgax, and immediately horrified. Max seems to recognize him. Heatblast gloats and Max interposes the RV between him and Vilgax. Gwen opens the door, and says that Max wants him in, though Heatblast refuses, stating that he's going to kick alien butt. With that, he reverts back to his normal self and Max shouts at Ben to get him in the RV. Vilgax then gets up just after they drive off.

Max tells Ben that he does not want to pick a fight with Vilgax. Ben asks Max how he knows his name is Vilgax. Gwen then wants to know what Max hasn't been telling them. Max pauses, but interrupted by two drones that begin to fire at the RV. Gwen tells Max about the drones, and he speeds and swerves to avoid them. Gwen finds her way to the front, stating that they can’t keep this up forever. Max however, states that it will only get worse, unless they get to Mount Rushmore. Gwen then questions Max for his purpose going there, but he says that there's no time for questions. In the back, Ben activates the Omnitrix again and decides to fight. He transforms into Stinkfly, and Max warns him for using the Omnitrix to fight. Stinkfly ignores him and heads off to fight.

When Stinkfly flies out of the RV, he heads for the two drones to stop them. He lands on top of one as they try to shoot him down. The other attempts to shoot him, but Stinkfly uses his slime to cover the blaster, causing it to self-destruct. Stinkfly then uses the end of his tail to drive it through the engine of the drone he's on. He comments with a quote, as he hovers over the wreckage. Vilgax tackles him, and Stinkfly manages to get back on the air, though Vilgax grips on his tail. He demands that Stinkfly gives him the Omnitrix, but Stinkfly answers him by spitting slime on him to knock him off. Vilgax breaks free, yet he attempts to tackle Stinkfly again. Stinkfly was able to dodge this time, and continues to wonder who Vilgax is. Vilgax then lands right in front of the RV, and it forces Max to immediately U-turn. Gwen suggests that they help Stinkfly, but Max continues to be suspicious, and says that they will get special help. Gwen figures that it's at Mount Rushmore, because Max has been stating over and over how important it is that they get there.

Meanwhile, Vilgax chases Stinkfly across the rooftops of the city. Vilgax attempts to tackle Stinkfly again, this time into a building, causing a large explosion thereafter. Vilgax has had enough of chasing Stinkfly around and he reverts Stinkfly to Ben manually by touching the Omnitrix symbol. Ben is immediately surprised on what Vilgax did. Vilgax was also surprised that a mere human child is using the Omnitrix. Vilgax then attempts to remove the Omnitrix from Ben’s wrist, but it emits a feedback which pushes them into the air. Vilgax realizes that the Omnitrix has already merged with Ben’s DNA. Ben takes the chance to run, but Vilgax grabs him, and Vilgax tosses him inside the red mace. He then gets in and drives off, with Ben as his captive.

Max is driving along a side road in Mount Rushmore. Gwen questions whether tourists are allowed on the premises. Max states that they’re not tourists, they're tenants. He then stops in front of a “ROAD CLOSED” sign and he presses a button under the dashboard. The ground beneath them appears to be an elevator, which transported them to a massive underground facility. Gwen and Max travel the corridors of the facility and it's covered with hundreds of compartments. Max opens several of them, and they contain devices, which don't appear to be human technology. With Gwen's patience shrinking, she demands to know what's going on immediately. Max finds the compartment he was looking for. He removes a rather large and deadly-looking weapon from it. And with response to Gwen's question, he says that he wasn't exactly a normal plumber before he retired.

On Vilgax's ship, Vilgax is still surprised that the welder of the Omnitrix is nothing but a mere child, though he realizes that it fits very well with the Omnitrix even though it's being used as a play toy. Ben is affixed to Vigax extraction device. His right hand and legs are restrained to energy and his left arm is in a cylinder to extract the Omnitrix. Ben protests that the Omnitrix has been used to save the lives of many people. Vilgax doesn't care and describes his plan to Ben. He says that the Omnitrix is the key to a power struggle, so ancient, so vast, that it's beyond Ben's comprehension. He says that he's to succeed an army where each member wears the Omnitrix and it's visually represented as an army of Omnitrix aliens attacking an ice fortress. And, one of them reveals the ability to switch forms in an instant, and without reverting back. Vilgax claims that he shall be the ultimate conqueror of the universe. An array of tools then rises up from the floor around Ben.

At Mount Rushmore, the RV emerges from the elevator that led to the underground facility. Max explains the specific function of the weapon retrieved earlier. It's designed to destroy Vilgax, and only him alone. Max then directs Gwen to a button in a compartment on the dashboard. Gwen pushes it, and a holographic display shows up. Max explains that it's a GPS-assisted tracking system, specifically designed to pinpoint the Omnitrix's location. Gwen was then given the job to navigate.

Meanwhile, Vilgax tells his crew to take off, and he plans to destroy Earth once they get into orbit. Gwen and Max find the ship ready to take off. Gwen wants to know how they'll get aboard, but Max just smiles, and he presses another button on the console that flips out of the dashboard. The RV's bumper extends and it spreads out. The RV then accelerates at a significant rate, which then allows them to fly into Vilgax's ship after driving it off the cliff.

Vilgax is holding a rather large energy blade. He was then interrupted by beeping, which came from the RV. It crashes through the wall, and runs through two of Vilgax's crew, and Vilgax himself. The computer then warns of a hull breach and a power surge. Vilgax was thrown into a metal door and then Max backs up and leaves the RV, carrying the giant weapon. He orders Vilgax to keep his claws off Ben. Ben is surprised to see Max, as is Vilgax, who addresses him by his last name. Max fires at Vilgax, and he's sent through the door. He drops the weapon and goes to check on Ben. Ben wonders if Max knows Vilgax, though he only replies that it's a long story. The extraction cylinder that was holding the Omnitrix begins to crackle with electricity, and a power surge occurs. Ben immediately transforms into XLR8, then Diamondhead, then Wildmutt, before Max figures out what is causing it. Wildmutt then changes to Four Arms, which allowed him to break free.

Four Arms is free of the reextraction device, and drones arrive to deal with him. Four Arms tries to attack them, but then transforms to Ghostfreak and passes right through them. Ghostfreak then changes to Grey Matter, and he disassembles one of the drones and hops to another, Grey Matter transforms to Upgrade. Upgrade merges with the drone, and he manipulates it to slash through the remaining drones. During the fight, the ship begins to lose altitude. Max helps finish off another drone, and says that they need to get the ship under control. Upgrade is immediately impressed that Max has the knowledge to fly a ship, which distracts his attention off another drone. Gwen has become completely surprised for everything she has seen so far.

Grandpa Max tries to control the ship and Vilgax, unexpectedly, walks out of the room he was blasted into and grabs Max. He tosses him towards the breach in the hull. Max stopped just short of the edge and Vilgax walks over to begin crushing him. He says that the weapon no longer hurts him, since he's much stronger now than before. Upgrade finishes his fight with the drone and he tackles Vilgax through the hull breach. Vilgax is left to fall to the ground, but Upgrade’s body was lightweight and stretchable, allowing him to float down safely to Mount Rushmore like a parachute. Gwen and Max are still in the ship, and turn to the RV. Gwen doesn’t seem too happy about having to be in it again.

Upgrade transforms to Ripjaws just as he reaches Theodore Roosevelt's face. Ripjaws is not pleased with the transformation, and claims that he hates the Omnitrix sometimes. He was able to climb to safety anyway, but unfortunately, he becomes dehydrated. Vilgax jumps to the top of Mount Rushmore and prepares to crush Ripjaws. He luckily transforms to XLR8, and tries to attack Vilgax, though ends up hurting himself. XLR8 points out that he'll feel that tomorrow, though Vilgax says that there is no tomorrow for XLR8. The cylinders in his arms grow and recede into his arms, increasing his muscle mass substantially. With a single attack directed at XLR8, Vilgax completely demolishes Theodore Roosevelt's face, though XLR8 dodges the attack. He throws a punch at on Vilgax, only to be grabbed by him and tosses him into a rock. Diamondhead then emerges from the dust, firing shards at Vilgax. He proceeds closer to him, though attacking Vilgax breaks his hands off. Vilgax then grabs him again and smashes him to the ground, which cracks his face. Vilgax attempts to attack Diamondhead, but he transforms to Ghostfreak, making him immune to the attack. He comments that he loves the Omnitrix sometimes. Ghostfreak then phases through the ground as Vilgax's ship passes overhead.

Vilgax's ship crashes while Max drives his way through the ship. He breaks through several walls and makes it to the ship’s stern. Ghostfreak watches the event taking place. Gwen and Grandpa Max make it out, though the RV is completely damaged. They hear a crash in the back, and they assume it to be Ben, Vilgax appears, leaving what make the noise unknown, and shortly thereafter, Ghostfreak arrives to find the RV empty. He passes through it, and he finds Vilgax holding Gwen and Max. Ghostfreak transforms to Wildmutt, and confronts Vilgax. Vilgax offers him a choice: it would either be Wildmutt's family killed, or Wildmutt surrenders and gives up the Omnitrix. Wildmutt chooses to surrender to Vilgax. Vilgax drops Gwen and Max, and he walks over to Wildmutt and reverts him to Ben. He then takes Ben back to the crashed ship. Max warns Vilgax not to go back in the ship.

Vilgax thinks that Max is foolish, ordering him to not board the ship, but the computer tells Vilgax why he shouldn't. It seems that Max has activated the self-destruct launch mechanism and he drops Ben to attempt to try and shut it off. He fails to do so, and with anger, he screams “TENNYSON!” and refers to Max as the thorn in his side. Vilgax is blasted again with the weapon by Ben. He figures that it runs in the family. The blast causes wreckage to fall on Vilgax and pins him down. Just before the ship explodes, Ben transforms to Heatblast and escapes the blast. Vilgax, unfortunately for him, is left behind.

Gwen and Max find Ben in a smoking crater, sitting on a pillar in the middle of it. Gwen says that Ben’s work isn’t that bad for a doofus. Ben then tells Max that they need to talk. All three of them look up to the sky as pieces of Vilgax’s ship fall to the ground.

Major Events

 * Ben meets Vilgax face to face.
 * It is revealed that Max is an intergalactic police officer.
 * The Rust Bucket is revealed to have a array of weapons built into it.
 * It's revealed that there's a bunker loaded with high-tech weapons under Mt. Rushmore.

Characters

 * Ben Tennyson
 * Gwen Tennyson
 * Max Tennyson

Villains

 * Vilgax
 * Vilgax's Drones

Aliens Used

 * Diamondhead (3x)
 * Upgrade (2x)
 * Heatblast (2x)
 * Stinkfly
 * XLR8 (x2)
 * Wildmutt (x2)
 * Four Arms
 * Ghostfreak (x2)
 * Grey Matter
 * Ripjaws

Errors

 * Right before the Omnitrix malfunctions, Ben's middle stripe is white.

Trivia

 * The Tennyson's thirteenth stop is Mount Rushmore, although it seems it was a detour.
 * All 10 aliens are used in this episode,.
 * It's revealed Vilgax teleported out of the ship to escape its explosion.
 * This is the first time an alien transformation is seen without the normal transformation sequence and is done while moving. (Ben was running when he was turning into Heatblast).
 * This is the only episode in which Ghostfreak was used twice.
 * The first alien Ben turned into was Heatblast, his last transformation of the season was also Heatblast.