Store 23 is the 19th episode of Ben 10: Omniverse.
Plot
Ben and Grandpa Max are chasing Liam, who has stolen a cart full of eggs, through Undertown; even Ben is wondering if Liam knows he's doing something lame as this. Liam jumps, losing Max, but Ben is still in hot pursuit. Ben turns into Feedback, ready to fight, but gets distracted by a girl wanting a picture of him. He poses, absorbing a laser blast with his antenna and firing it back at Liam. Max tries to warn Ben not to use Feedback as there are aliens vulnerable to him in the area, however, Ben doesn't listen and fries Liam. Getting his picture taken, Ben is scolded by Max for not listening. Ben walks off, complaining that he's been hearing Max lecture him since he was 10. This leaves Max to deal with Liam's arrest.
Back a Plumber HQ, Ben tells Driba and Blukic "It's time." Both drop what they're doing and join Ben on his Tenn-Speed motorcycle, to look for the elusive 23rd Mr. Smoothie's. Driba's GPS finds and loses the location of the shop. Ben gets a message on the Omnitrix, but chooses to ignore it, instead asking for the coordinates that the shop keeps appearing at and quickly pulls up to see it vanish. Examining the wall of the building the shop was at, Ben assures the smoothie-loving Galvans that it will show up again soon. No sooner has he said that, that the shop appears and they all fall through the door as the shop vanishes again.
Inside the shop they see a cow alien and a chicken alien waiting to be served, but they leave in a huff through the door into a light. Both Driba and Blukic realise what they saw was a pinwheel aurora. Ben hears mumbling complaints coming from the back room and finds Professor Hokestar messing with a machine in back. Hokestar is happy to see Ben again, hoping that he will endorse his Mr. Smoothie, which is supposed to exist everywhere at the same time; however, the machine is now busted and they may be stuck in an alternative dimension. They open the door to see a normal Bellwood, which is under alien attack. They watch as Tetrax falls from an explosion, demanding Ben show himself. Ben does, but is questioned by Tetrax as to who he is.
At that very moment, Ben hears his own 11-year-old voice coming from above them and sees a alternate version of his younger self on a roof with flying robot cameras around him. The cameras announce that if anyone can guess what alien "Ben 23" will turn into next, they will win something at Mr. Gyro's. Ben backs away and watches as his alternate self turns into Freezelizard, the Articguana of this dimension, and battle Tetrax. Ben wonders if he should get involved as it could change history. However, Driba points out that this ISN'T time travel (as anyone would have figured out by now) and that they are simply in a different universe that is similar to their own. Ben tells Driba, Blukic and Hokestar to stay inside the shop as aliens are apparently not welcomed in this version of Bellwood.
Tetrax prepares to teleport away, making Ben yell that he will take care of it, turning into XLR8; however, he is too late. Ben 23 changes back to normal and wonders if XLR8 has been sent by the Intellectuary. Ben tells him that he hasn't, changing back, and that they are kind of related. Both Bens are amazed at the possibility of meeting each other. At the same time, Tetrax informs the Intellectuary of Ben 10's arrival.
Ben 23 shows Ben 10 around town, explaining his wealth and fame. Unlike normal Ben, Ben 23 likes to eat at Mr. Gyro's, even advertising it during his fights: "It's Gyro time!" Ben is questioned by his dimensional counterpart about his moniker "Ben 10", wondering if that's how many aliens he can turn into; it's not, Ben can turn into around 70 different aliens. Ben 23 shows Ben a promotional image of Alien 24, which Ben easily guesses the identity of. Ben 23 takes a liking to Ben 10's name for his alien, deciding to use it instead of "Plugman". Ben shows Spidermonkey, Molestache, Wildmutt, Murk Upchuck and other aliens to Ben 23, who has all but Molestache unlocked and named under different names. Robbers pull a heist, making Ben chase after them as Shocksquatch and fry their car engine. Ben suggests calling the Plumbers to collect the robbers, he is shocked to learn that in this reality, there is no Plumbers base.
Tetrax returns with Sevenseven and the Intellectuary with him. Ben turns into Heatblast while Ben 23 turns into his version of Shocksquatch, Electric Yeti. Ben fights and manages to defeat Tetrax and Sevenseven without harming them badly. In the meantime, Ben 23 wonders why there aren't any cameras recording his fight, only to learn that everyone else has learned Driba, Blukic and Professor Hokestar are hiding in the Mr. Smoothie building, and are prepared to launch an attack. Annoyed, he quickly fires the Intellectuary and discovers its a robot piloted by Azmuth. He prepares to kill Azmuth by ripping him in half. However, Heatblast returns and reverts to Ben, who warns Ben 23 that he nearly crossed the line and that Azmuth is the one who created the Omnitrix.
Azmuth recovers and takes the Omnitrix off Ben 23, explaining that it was meant for Max Tennyson, but because Ben 23 had DNA close his, it mistook him for Max. The same thing happened in Ben's universe; however, unlike in this dimension, Max didn't pass away. Ben explains to Azmuth that it's thanks to his Max that he didn't end up like Ben 23, who explains that he became absorbed in wealth and fame to fill the void left by Max's passing. Azmuth forgives Ben 23, citing that fame and money cannot replace what he lost. Ben advises his dimensional counterpart to listen to Azmuth as he's a good second for Max.
With that settled, the only thing left is to get rid of the angry mob outside Mr. Smoothie's so Ben can get home with his friends. Ben 23 faces the crowd and explains that not all aliens are evil, vouching for Driba, Blukic, Hokestar, Azmuth, Tetrax and Sevenseven. Now that the humans are no longer trying to kill them, Hokestar successfully sells smoothies until his supplies run out. Azmuth instructs the two dim-witted Galvans that they are geniuses in human terms, but "remarkably unintelligent for Galvans" as their attempts to fix Hokestar's machine was the equivalent of pressing the accelerator and brakes at the same time.
Ben, Hokestar, Blukic, and Driba return to their respective dimension, much to Hokestar's dismay of losing the opportunity for profit. Ben immediately runs to Max's shop. Max is still mad at Ben for running off after Liam's capture, but Ben hugs him. Max is confused, but happy when Ben asks him to keep yelling at him.
Major Events
- Murk Upchuck makes his Omniverse debut.
- Ben teaches Ben 23 that not all aliens are evil.
- Ben 23 forms a team with Tetrax, Sevenseven, and Azmuth.
Characters
- Ben Tennyson
- Max Tennyson
- Blukic
- Driba
- Blarney T. Hokestar
- Ben Tennyson (Dimension 23) (first appearance)
- Azmuth (Dimension 23) (first appearance)
- Tetrax Shard (Dimension 23) (first appearance)
- Sevenseven (Dimension 23) (first appearance)
- Cow Alien (first appearance)
- Chicken Alien (first appearance)
- K8-E
Villains
- Liam
- Crooks (Dimension 23)
Aliens Used
By Ben
- Eatle (cameo; off-screen)
- Feedback
- XLR8 (x2)
- Shocksquatch
- Murk Upchuck (first re-appearance; cameo)
- Spidermonkey (cameo)
- Molestache (cameo)
- Wildmutt (cameo)
- Heatblast
By Ben 23
- Freezelizard (alternate version of Articguana) (first appearance)
- Rollaway (alternate version of Cannonbolt) (first appearance)
- Electric Yeti (alternate version of Shocksquatch) (first appearance)
Quotes
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Errors
- In one scene Feedback had plugs on his hips, but in the next scene, they're gone.
- While Ben 23 wears the Omnitrix on his left wrist (like the main timeline Ben), the billboard for the Secret of the Hero Watch movie featured the watch on his right wrist.
- While Chicken Alien is facing the counter to order, there is an emblem on the diamond where his two sashes meet. While he is walking towards the door, the emblem disappears. It reappears while he and the Cow Alien are being sucked through the pinwheel aurora.
Allusions
- A poster advertising the movie "Ben 23: Secret of the Hero Watch" is seen in the episode. This is a parody of the original series movie Ben 10: Secret of the Omnitrix.
- Also, the fact that Ben gets to know Azmuth is the creator of the Omnitrix, and Tetrax works along with him, appearance of Azmuth's Suit and appearance of a Sotoraggian (Sixsix then, Sevenseven now) coincides with Ben 10: Secret of the Omnitrix along with the poster parody.
Trivia
- This episode was intended by the producers to take place sometime after Showdown episodes Part 1 and Part 2, because the Tenn-Speed and Feedback were built and unlocked, respectively, somewhere in the episodes before. These episodes however, have aired later, than this episode.[1]
- Cow and Chicken from Cow and Chicken make a cameo appearance in the Mr. Smoothy's 23rd store after Ben goes in and it hops dimensions. The characters' original voice actor, Charlie Adler reprises his roles for the appearance.
- While Feedback was chasing Liam, there was a poster of Pax in the background.