California, the west coast’s state of weird, and the current source of Plumber activity. Founded by George Washington himself, the capital P Plumbers became intergalactic police officers. One of the most famous Plumbers was Max Tennyson, semi-retired these days as his grandson, Ben Tennyson, was continuing the work. Armed with a watch that can turn him into any alien, the Omnitrix, Ben made a name for himself as Ben 10! Right now, he and his ex-girlfriend, Julie Yamamoto, were in California, looking out to sea. “I still don’t know why we were called,” muttered Ben. “I was enjoying some Sumo Slammers!”
“Look, we get calls about the weird stuff from time to time,” replied Julie.
“Yeah, but tremors? I thought California gets that stuff all the time and the locals don’t bat an eye.”
“Not when the tremors aren’t from shifting tectonic plates,” interjected a woman’s voice. A Japanese woman approached them. “Mr. Tennyson, Ms. Yamamoto, I am Dr. Sato, Chief Scientific Advisor for UNIT’s Japanese branch.”
“UNIT? The Plumbers and UNIT aren’t exactly friends,” remarked Julie.
“No, but I felt the need to collaborate on this issue,” explained Dr. Sato. “We’ve recently detected a surge of chronons and something appeared in the Pacific Ocean. Believe it or not, our parent United Kingdom branch has dealt with temporal messes before, but we needed a more proactive approach. That’s where you Plumbers come in.”
“I guess that makes sense,” replied Ben, “but we don’t exactly cover things up like you UNIT guys do. We’re…anyone hear that?” A strange noise was filling the air.
“…I see the object making that noise!” called Dr. Sato. Ben and Julie turned to see the TARDIS materializing.
“I don’t believe it!” gasped Ben.
“…It says ‘Police Box’ on it,” remarked Julie.
“It’s not a police box!” replied Dr. Sato.
“You met her before?” asked Ben.
“Yes! During an incident on Monster Island! You?”
“I was fighting Sontarans inside a time loop!”
“If it’s not a police box, what is it?” asked Julie.
“It’s a TARDIS, Yamamoto-san!” replied Dr. Sato.
“More than that!” supplied Ben. “It’s THE TARDIS! The Doctor’s coming!” The TARDIS fully materialized and Ben and Dr. Sato rushed forward. The doors opened and Lurra Rus stepped out.
“Doctor, are you sure-?” asked Lurra Rus before she was tackled by Ben and Dr. Sato.
“EEP!” yelped Dr. Sato. She then bowed. “Gomenasai!” she apologized.
“Yeah, I’m sorry too!” agreed Ben. “I thought you were someone else!”
“Oddly, so did I,” replied Lurra Rus. “In fact, I AM someone else.”
“Tennyson-san and I could have sworn this was a TARDIS,” said Dr. Sato. “THE TARDIS. The only TARDIS we know about.”
“And we were kinda hoping the Doctor would be here,” admitted Ben lamely.
“Oh, she is!” replied Lurra Rus. “Are you friends of hers? She and our friend, Amy Rose, are inside.”
“No they’re not,” corrected the Doctor as she and Amy left the TARDIS. “They’re coming out.” The Doctor then clapped eyes on Ben and Dr. Sato. “Ben! Dr. Sato! How wonderful to see you two again!”
“…I’m afraid I haven’t the pleasure, Ma’am,” replied Dr. Sato.
“Ah, you met the Doctor with her old face, have you?” asked Amy.
“Amy! You’re here!” said Ben. “And…is that really the Doctor?”
“Yeah, she just regenerated. An unfortunate hazard in her life.”
“You scanned me and got Time Walker, remember?” asked the Doctor. “I’m surprised you, of all people, forgot about regeneration.”
“Holy crap, it IS you!” yelped Ben. He then turned to Julie. “Julie, this is the Doctor I was talking about. And that’s Amy Rose. …I just don’t know the Twi’lek.”
“I’m Lurra Rus,” replied Lurra Rus. “You’ll have to excuse our sudden arrival. We just followed the path to a chronal surge.”
“…Did you find out if anything came through that surge?” asked Dr. Sato.
“Ah, so that’s why you’re all here,” said the Doctor. “We’re tracking these surges as they have a tendency to bring time zones together. My friends on Gallifrey warned me that something from 1995 came here. There are multiple surges like this one, creating an event known as the Grouping.”
“So you’re trying to fix it?” asked Ben.
“That’s the plan,” replied the Doctor.
“Would you like help?” asked Dr. Sato.
“If you’re offering,” answered the Doctor. “Perhaps, along the way, we can fix your issues.”
“We’ve set up a base on Alcatraz Island,” said Dr. Sato.
“Ah, Al Capone’s old home,” remarked the Doctor. “Nice guy if you overlooked his crimes, especially his tax evasion.”
Team TARDIS was brought to the base on Alcatraz where the Plumbers and UNIT soldiers were working together. “So the chronal surge was first detected here and so were the tremors?” asked the Doctor.
“We had to set up this base nearest to the tremors,” replied Dr. Sato.
“Gives me more of a chance to get right into the fight!” cheered Ben as he punched his hand.
“You Plumbers really do love getting into it, don’t you?” muttered Dr. Sato.
“The Plumbers have been around longer than UNIT,” said the Doctor. “Now…” the place was starting to shake. “…are those the-?”
“Yes!” replied Dr. Sato.
“…There seems to be a rhythm to it,” remarked Lurra Rus. “Like some…beast.”
“I’d almost liken it to a frog,” said Amy. “And I had to fight some frogs, let me tell you.” A UNIT soldier then burst in.
“We need to evacuate! There’s a giant frog hopping to the island!” he said.
“Hang on, soldier,” said Ben, “does this frog have four red eyes and horns?”
“Yes, but how important is-?!”
“He’s STILL around?!” protested Ben. He then thought. “…Then again, supposedly, he has his head put into a jar and puts said jar onto a gorilla body in the future.
“You know how this frog came to be?” asked Dr. Sato.
“Yeah, one of my enemies, Dr. Animo,” explained Ben. “A mad scientist that mutates animals into his monster slaves to conquer the world.”
“What is it about mad scientists that causes them to look to mutating life-forms?!” snapped the Doctor. “Is he in correspondence with Davros?!”
“We’d better ask him some questions,” suggested Amy.
“Right,” replied the Doctor. The group then went outside to see an elephant-sized four-eyed frog with an old man riding it. He wore a brain case that had antennae and exposed his brain, wore red goggles, had pale-green skin, and wore a long lab coat.
“Attention, UNIT and Plumbers!” announced the old man, Dr. Animo. “Surrender San Francisco to me or be trampled by my newest acqui-!” he stopped when he saw Ben. “Oh, for-! Can’t you just let me take over the world in peace, Tennyson?!”
“Come on, Doc, you know that’s not how this works,” replied Ben. “You show up, threaten to take over the world with your mutant animals, I turn into an alien that beats you, you get carted off to prison, that’s the whole thing. It’s kind of boring, now that I think about it.”
“Then mix it up a little and stand down!” snarled Dr. Animo.
“I think I’d prefer it if Ben stuck to routine,” called the Doctor.
“And just who are you?!” demanded Dr. Animo.
“I’m the Doctor.”
“…Doctor who?”
“Just the Doctor. Look, surely Mr. and Mrs. Animo wouldn’t want you to-.”
“Oh, here we go, the ‘my parents would be spinning in their graves if they knew what I did’ angle. Listen, sweetheart, I obtained emancipation from them when I was 18! I would have gotten it earlier, but those two WERE geniuses when it came to law, hence them having taken jobs as lawyers when they were alive.”
“…Okay, I’m not sure who’s the bigger villain in THAT scenario,” mused the Doctor. “But look, with your knowledge on genetic experiments, you could cure cancer, give humans the ability to regrow lost limbs, maybe-!”
“Except I don’t WANT to cure cancer or give humans the ability to regrow lost limbs,” interrupted Dr. Animo, “I want to make mutant animal slaves to help me conquer the world!”
“…Single-minded, that’s what you are,” muttered the Doctor.
“I prefer the word ‘driven’!” replied Dr. Animo.
“Well, I’m driven too,” remarked Ben. “Driven to put you back in prison. Let’s see, when we first met, you were trying to bring back extinct animals like dinosaurs, right?”
“I was set to call America’s capital ‘Washington B.C’, yes,” confirmed Dr. Animo.
“Then let’s see how you handle a living dinosaur,” chuckled Ben.
“A living dinosaur?” asked the Doctor.
“You ever heard of a Vaxasaurian, Doctor?” asked Ben.
“Oh, you have Vaxasaurian DNA on that thing?” quizzed the Doctor. “Nice people. Bit fist-happy though.”
“Just need to take down the frog!” replied Ben. “Dr. Animo, it’s time for Humungousaur!” Ben slammed on the Omnitrix, he then bulked up…got an orange and black striped fur pattern, grew a claw on the back of each wrist, his face became more feline, and a green and black luchador outfit appeared over him. “HUMUNGOUSAUR!” shouted Ben in his new form. He then looked down. “Oh for-! I MEAN RATH!”
“That’s an Appoplexian, Ben, not a Vaxasaurian,” groaned the Doctor as she pinched the bridge of her nose. Rath got up close to the Doctor’s face, saliva spattering all over the Doctor’s face as he screamed.
“LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING, DOCTOR, TIME LORD OF GALLIFREY! RATH ALREADY KNOWS THAT!” He then turned to Dr. Animo. “AND YOU! RATH IS STILL GONNA KICK YOUR FROG’S BUTT ALL THE WAY INTO THE SNOW!” Rath then leapt at the frog and wailed on it. The Doctor simply wiped the saliva off her face.
“…Lovely,” she grumbled.