The screen flickered to life. But it wasn't an episode. It was a live feed. A grainy, security-camera angle of his own living room. He saw himself on the screen, sitting on the couch. But on the screen, his couch was empty. He was not there.
And the last thing Leo Kincaid heard was the voice of a sixteen-year-old cartoon hero, stretched and corrupted into a death rattle: "It's hero time."
"Leo… you spent six years trying to be like him. The watch. The watch you bought off eBay. You wore it to your junior prom." Ben 10 Ultimate Alien Full Episodes-
Three… two…
He clicked.
Leo's blood ran cold. He had done that. A cheap, plastic knock-off of the Ultimatrix. He’d thought it was ironic. It wasn't.
In the corner of his actual, real-life living room, the air shimmered. A figure materialized—not Ben Tennyson, but a gaunt, gray-skinned version of him. His jacket was torn. The Ultimatrix on his wrist was cracked, glowing a sickly amber. He wasn't a hero. He looked like a survivor. The screen flickered to life
"The Ultimate function doesn't make you stronger," the gray Ben whispered, his voice now coming from behind Leo's actual shoulder. "It just simulates the worst possible future for a species and forces it to survive. I've been in that simulation for you, Leo. For the last eleven years. And I'm tired."