Washington B.C.

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

Plot
There is a fire in a building in the Washington D.C. area; people are out on the streets, speculating the view. Within it, a woman and her son are trapped by the surrounding flames. To make their situation worse, they look up to see the ceiling about to collapse onto them. They brace for the impact, only for nothing to happen. The little boy looks up to see 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 absorbs all the fire in the room and tries to lead them to safety. They are reluctant at first, but go with him anyway to live. The three attempt 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 cuts through a wall at the end of the hallway. He then transports them to the street below by encasing them, as well as himself, in a tornado of fire.

Outside, all the onlookers are impressed. 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. He sits by the kid and asks where he found the cards. The kid replies by saying that they were a prize in a box of Sumo Smacks Cereal. Gwen and 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 Max pursues the thieves, he notices smoke coming from the seat next to him. Heatblast is there and his fiery body is burning the leather seat. Max comments that he should have installed asbestos seats when he had the chance. Gwen responds by spraying Heatblast with an extinguisher. 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 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 and threatening to give them a sunburn. He starts to berate the criminals afterward, but ends up reverting back to Ben before he finishes what he is saying. 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 annoyed.

In a different part of the city, a man name Roger in a suit is knocking incessantly on an apartment door. 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 Roger. 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. Roger 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 makes the frog grow many times its size as well as gain horns and more eyes. The frog grabs Roger 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 as a source for his missing components.

Inside the M-Mart, Ben notices the cereal aisle and the boxes of Sumo Smack cereal. Meanwhile, Max is searching for canned octopus and is complaining about the store's reputation for their wide variety of food. Gwen tries to convince him to buy some normal food, but Grandpa won't listen. As he walks off, Gwen hears the 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. When Gwen asks what he is doing, Grey Matter tells her that he is looking for the gold Sumo Slammer card. An employee finds her with the huge mess, which then causes her to blame it on Grey Matter. The employee mentions that someone will have to pay to make up for the mess.

Grandpa 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 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, where she hopes they are not buying their food from. Ben admires the gold card among the collection, 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 and with the Omnitrix still in Recharge Mode, Ben 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 in the pet section, Dr. Animo arrives and feels the need to make more minions. He turns the hamster and a nearby bird into giant mutants. 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 mutant hamster then pursues Ben, Gwen and Grandpa. It ends up going past Ben and corners Gwen and Grandpa Max. Still unable to transform, Ben improvises with a football and a motor scooter. He attracts the mutant hamster's attention and manages to trap it under some shelves. This angers Animo, but he does nothing about it. He rants about turning Washington D.C. into Washington "B.C." and leaves on the giant bird with the electronics Ben saw him stealing earlier. The giant frog then follows. The store owner offers a reward for their work, which Ben intends to use to get his gold Sumo Slammer card, but Grandpa drags him off to continue their pursuit with Animo.

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

Gwen pops in to report what she's found out about 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 believes it should have. 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, 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 formerly dead animal. He leaves the mammoth to deal with them while he escapes. Ben stays to deal with the mammoth as Four Arms while Gwen and Grandpa go after Animo.

As Gwen and Grandpa chase Animo, they are deterred by the mutant bird. Using a nearby spear, Gwen knocks it out. She comments that Ben isn't the only one with skills. They catch up to Animo, only to the point where he reanimates a T-Rex. Although the T-Rex is brought back to life, several large pieces of its skin and flesh are missing. Meanwhile, Four Arms is still fighting the mammoth and eventually defeats it after being tossed around a few times. As Animo escapes with the mutant T-Rex, the mutant bird swoops in and kidnaps 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 Ben just after crashing into the street.

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

Stinkfly is able to save Gwen before she hits the ground. This leaves him hindered, however, since the mutant bird decides to attack him. He attempts to battle the bird with Gwen in tow while Grandpa Max heads to the top of the monument. Seeing Grandpa at one of the observation windows, Stinkfly takes the opportunity to drop Gwen off there. Without the extra weight, he is able to take the mutant bird down easier. Grandpa then tells him to follow Animo.

Meanwhile, at Kelly Industries, Kelly is leading a group of people on a tour. Animo arrives on the mutant T-Rex to steal the award, and promptly does so. After giving a short and pointless speech, he has the mutant T-Rex attack Kelly. Stinkfly arrives just in time to save him. The mutant T-Rex uses its tail to smack Stinkfly down to the floor, where he notices the gold Sumo Slammer card. As he's about to take the card he sees that the mutant T-Rex is about to eat Kelly. Like any superhero would, he remembers what Grandpa had told him, and realizes that some things are more important than a card. He then flies off to save Kelly, as the card gets buried in debris. After saving Kelly, Animo tries to use his Transmodulator to blast Stinkfly, but he is too agile to be hit. Stinkfly then fires some slime at the mutant T-Rex, causing Animo to drop the award and breaking it. Distracted by the destruction of his award, Animo loses the Transmodulator to Stinkfly. Stinkfly tosses it to the floor, and it emits a pulse changing every creature Animo had used it on back to normal.

Later on, as the police drag 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 Animo's Transmodulator as a reminder, though. On reflection, Ben 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 first transforms into Grey Matter, Four Arms and Stinkfly.
 * Ben and the gang first encounter Dr. Animo.

Omnitrix Alien Debuts

 * Grey Matter
 * Four Arms
 * Stinkfly

Characters

 * Ben Tennyson
 * Gwen Tennyson
 * Max Tennyson
 * Dr. Kelly
 * Roger
 * Regis
 * Sumo Slammer Collecting Boy

Villains

 * Dr. Animo
 * Mutant Frog
 * Mutant Hamster
 * Mutant Bird
 * Mutant Mammoth
 * Mutant Tyrannosaurus
 * The Two Robers

Aliens Used

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

Errors

 * When Ben fell from the sky as Four Arms, he created a large crater, but when the Omnitrix timed out and Ben was in his normal form, the size of the crater was too large for Four Arms to create.
 * When Ben hit the mutant hamster with a football and began to lead it away, for a split second it can be seen that there is a black line on the back of Ben's shirt.
 * When Four Arms grabs the Mutant Bird, his Omnitrix symbol disappears for a few seconds.
 * When Ben turns into Four Arms, he doesn't activate the Omnitrix (the dial just popped out)
 * Even though Grandpa Max was careful not to show any kind of knowledge of Ben's identity in public while he was in alien form in And Then There Were 10, Gwen openly called Heatblast and took into the Rustbucket in this episode.

Allusions

 * The title is based off of the location this episode takes the trio to: Washington D.C..

Trivia

 * The trio's second stop is Washington D.C..
 * The scene where Ben is chased by the Dr. Animo's mutant animals is similar to how Jimmy was chased by Plant Clone Humungousaur in the episode The Big Story.
 * The pop-up version of the episode reveals that Dr. Animo was inspired to complete his work and makes his own monsters after seeing news footage of Ben saving the campsite in And Then There Were 10.
 * Another version of this episode exists, but it's the unaired pilot of the show.