He woke up to sunlight filtering through his eyelids, warm and oddly gentle, like a soft touch on a child's skin. His eyes opened slowly, and the world around him came into focus — too bright, too colorful, too clean. The trees swayed without rustling. The clouds floated with perfect outlines. The grass glistened like it had been drawn that way.
It wasn't the real world.
It was something else.
Something he recognized.
He sat up and stared at his hands. Smaller than they should've been. Freckled. Soft. He scrambled toward a puddle by a worn-out sidewalk and peered into it, gasping when he saw his reflection.
"...No way."
A freckled face. Messy brown hair. Green eyes too big for his head. His voice was light, childish.
Ben Tennyson. But not from the outside. From within.
He still remembered everything — his old name, his life on Earth, his teenage body, the shows, the theories, the lore. He remembered Ben 10.
And now… he was Ben.
"Holy crap," he muttered. "I've been reborn in the Ben 10 universe."
But not just that. Something was off. His house wasn't the Rustbucket. This wasn't summer. He wasn't ten.
He looked down again.
Five, maybe six years old. Definitely not ready for the Omnitrix yet.
> That means I've got five years. Five years before it falls. Before canon begins. Before everything starts.
He stood there silently for a long moment, heart racing, brain running wild.
Then… he smiled.
---
Day 1: The Plan Begins
He didn't waste time panicking. He went inside the house — Ben's house — and confirmed what he suspected. Everything matched the show's details, down to the wallpaper, the photos, the books on the shelf. But the dates were earlier. He wasn't even in school yet.
Perfect.
> Time. That's the advantage I have. Time, knowledge… and a plan.
Step one was clear: prepare. Canon Ben had stumbled into the Omnitrix like a child winning the lottery. He wasn't going to do that. He would study every alien DNA strain. Map out the future battles. Build tech. Train his body. Learn magic. And when the Omnitrix came, he would already be ten steps ahead.
Not just a wielder.
A master.
And then there was the other matter.
Gwen.
His cousin. His eventual teammate. His intellectual rival. She'd always been smarter than him, more disciplined — and in some timelines, arguably stronger. In canon, they bickered endlessly. But now?
He wasn't going to make that mistake.
> She'll be a mage. A genius. A powerhouse. If I can earn her trust now… maybe even something more…
It wasn't manipulation, not entirely. He didn't want to control her. He wanted to walk beside her — as her equal, maybe more.
He just had to start early.
---
Year One: Training the Mind and Masking the Genius
For the first year, he kept up the facade of being a normal five-year-old. He made jokes. Laughed too loud. Played with toys. But in private? He trained relentlessly.
He began drawing the Omnitrix's structure from memory on old sketchpads. He wrote down alien names and species, mapped them by potential power tiers. He started simple workouts — basic push-ups, sit-ups, stretching, breath control. Nothing to alert his parents.
He even began teaching himself meditation, focusing on mental shielding — something he'd need when telepaths entered the scene.
And Gwen? She visited often.
At first, she treated him like a brat. But he was different this time.
He listened when she spoke. Asked her about her books. Shared his own ideas. Slowly, subtly, he made her feel seen — like someone who mattered. He noticed her smile lingered a little longer each time. She didn't insult him as much. Sometimes she'd even come to his room just to sit and read while he drew "space stuff."
> She's starting to trust me. Good. Very good.
---
Year Two: Secret Lab, Public Persona
By age seven, he had converted the family shed into a rudimentary lab. Nothing fancy — just a few salvaged electronics, some soldering kits, and lots of paper. But for a child? Genius.
He called it the Proto-Lab.
He began creating simulation models of alien biology. Using toy parts, he built simple circuits mimicking energy transfer. He mapped potential override codes from memory. He even attempted crude encryption algorithms for data storage — paranoid about someone (like Gwen) stumbling across his notes.
His body was improving too. Still short, but stronger. Faster. More agile than any kid his age had the right to be.
Gwen started picking up on it.
"You've been working out or something?" she asked one day, watching him climb a tree in seconds.
He smiled innocently. "Just trying to impress you."
She rolled her eyes, but her cheeks turned pink.
---
Laying the Foundation of a God
He knew the future. He knew when the Omnitrix would fall. He knew every villain who would try to take it. He knew how Ben Prime had fumbled through it, overconfident and reactive.
But this version of Ben — the real him — would be nothing like that.
He'd be ready.
He'd train. Plan. Manipulate. Inspire.
And when the watch came, he wouldn't just wear it.
He would become it.
He would evolve with it.
He would transcend it.
> This time, the universe isn't getting a child with a toy. It's getting a war strategist, an alien biologist, a cosmic manipulator with five years of preparation and the entire story in his head.
He looked out the window that night, Gwen asleep down the hall, and whispered to himself:
> "I'm not just Ben 10.
I'm Ben Infinite.
And the countdown has already begun."