BEN 10: ULTIMATE ALIEN
"Glitch in the Code"
A Fan-Made Episode Script (Original Story)
COLD OPEN
Place PLUMBER HQ — UNDERGROUND BASE — NIGHT
Max Tennyson stands over a holographic table. The display flickers — distorted, glitching with static. GWEN TENNYSON and KEVIN LEVIN flank him. BEN TENNYSON leans against a wall, arms crossed, tapping the Ultimatrix.
MAX
Three Plumber outposts. All their systems corrupted in the last twelve hours. Not hacked — infected.
GWEN
Infected how?
MAX
(grim)
With something that isn't supposed to exist yet. A digital lifeform that can jump between machines, alien tech, even biological circuitry — and it's evolving every time it spreads.
KEVIN
So basically a computer virus that bench-presses servers.
BEN
(grinning)
Sounds like a job for —
GWEN
(flat)
Don't.
BEN
(deflating)
...the Ultimatrix.
The hologram suddenly SCREECHES with feedback. A jagged shape — half code, half shadow — flickers across the table before vanishing.
MAX
That's the signature. We're calling it Null Byte. Last ping came from an abandoned data-relay station outside Bellwood.
BEN
(snapping fingers)
Then that's where we're headed.
ACT ONE
EXT. ABANDONED DATA-RELAY STATION — NIGHT
A squat concrete building bristling with old satellite dishes, half-swallowed by overgrown wiring and dead vines. Ben, Gwen, and Kevin approach. Kevin's arms have already gone metallic.
KEVIN
Place hasn't been touched in years. So why's it lit up like Times Square?
Every window pulses with sickly green light. Gwen raises a glowing mana-shield, scanning.
GWEN
I'm reading energy spikes I've never seen before. It's not magic. It's not tech. It's... both, somehow.
BEN
(activating Ultimatrix)
Great. So let's hit it with someone who's both.
He slaps down the dial. Transformation FX — but the holographic projection STUTTERS, glitching between alien silhouettes before finally locking in.
BEN (AS SWAMPFIRE)
Swampfire! Wait — that's not who I —
He looks down at his hands. They're not Swampfire's. They're translucent, faintly glowing, lined with shifting lines of light like circuit traces.
BEN (CONT'D)
Okay, this is new.
Gwen and Kevin stare.
KEVIN
Dude. You're see-through.
GWEN
(reading her own scanner)
Ben, your bio-signature is reading as... data. Like you're not just an alien right now. You're information.
[NEW ALIEN INTRODUCED: "BITSTREAM"]
Species: Unknown — Codeon, a digital-organic hybrid species native to a planet of living energy networks, sample acquired by the Ultimatrix during the Null Byte incident.
Appearance: A slender, humanoid figure made of glowing blue-white light contained in a faintly visible outline, with circuit-like patterns running across his "skin" and a chest emblem shaped like the Ultimatrix symbol rendered as a glitching pixel icon.
Powers: Can merge with and reprogram any electronic or technological system, turn intangible by breaking down into data-light, move at the speed of a network signal between connected devices, and project concentrated "corrupted code" blasts that scramble enemy tech.
Weakness: Vulnerable to EMP bursts and old-fashioned analog (non-digital) attacks, which Bitstream can't "read" or counter as easily.
BEN (AS BITSTREAM)
(flexing glowing fingers)
Huh. Okay. I can work with this.
KEVIN
You don't even know what you are.
BEN (AS BITSTREAM)
Details.
He turns toward the station. Raises a hand. The Ultimatrix symbol on his chest flickers like a loading icon.
BEN (AS BITSTREAM) (CONT'D)
Let's see what you're hiding.
He presses his palm to the station's outer wall. His arm DISSOLVES into a stream of light that pours into a wall socket, vanishing inside the building's wiring.
GWEN
Ben?!
A beat. Then every dish on the roof SPINS to point at Bitstream's now-headless body standing outside, arm still embedded in the wall.
BEN (V.O., AS BITSTREAM)
(echoing, distant)
I'm fine! I'm IN the building. This is so weird.
INT. DATA-RELAY STATION — SERVER ROOM — CONTINUOUS
Rows of ancient server racks, all glowing the same sickly green. Bitstream's light-form pours out of a wall panel and reassembles, fully inside now.
BEN (AS BITSTREAM)
(looking around)
Whoa.
In the center of the room, a writhing mass of black-green code coils around a server tower like a living shadow — Null Byte, given rough digital form: jagged, shifting, eyeless.
NULL BYTE
(synthesized, glitching voice)
N E W... H O S T...
BEN (AS BITSTREAM)
(backing up)
Yeah, I'm gonna go ahead and say no thanks.
Null Byte LUNGES, splitting into dozens of thin code-tendrils that shoot toward Bitstream. He goes intangible, his form scattering into harmless light as the tendrils pass through him.
BEN (AS BITSTREAM) (CONT'D)
Ha! Can't corrupt what isn't solid, can —
A tendril catches the edge of his glowing form and STICKS, glitching his outline like static on an old TV.
BEN (AS BITSTREAM) (CONT'D)
Okay, correction, it CAN do that.
EXT. DATA-RELAY STATION — CONTINUOUS
Gwen and Kevin force the front door open and rush in, following the glow.
GWEN
Ben, hang on!
KEVIN
(forming a blade from his arm)
On our way, Tennyson!
INT. SERVER ROOM — CONTINUOUS
Bitstream stumbles back, his form flickering and corrupted at the edges, lines of "error" patterns crawling across his light-body.
BEN (AS BITSTREAM)
(strained)
Okay, new plan.
He thrusts both palms forward. From them erupts a blast of jagged blue-white energy — not flame, not plasma, but visible streams of corrupted code — slamming into Null Byte and forcing it to recoil, its form scattering into loose fragments.
NULL BYTE
(glitching)
E R R O R... E R R O R...
Gwen and Kevin burst in.
GWEN
What IS that thing?
BEN (AS BITSTREAM)
A virus with anger issues! Little help?
Kevin charges, but the second his metal arm nears Null Byte's form, the creature's code climbs up his limb like ivy, glitching the metal green.
KEVIN
(yelling)
Okay, bad idea, BAD IDEA —
Gwen yanks him back by the collar with a mana-tendril just before the corruption reaches his shoulder. Kevin shakes his arm; the green fades, leaving faint scarring like pixelated scratches.
GWEN
It corrupts anything it touches! Organic, metal, doesn't matter!
BEN (AS BITSTREAM)
(thinking fast)
Wait — it didn't corrupt ME when it touched me. It just... glitched me. Like it was trying to read me and got confused.
GWEN
Because you're part-data right now. It doesn't know if you're food or family.
BEN (AS BITSTREAM)
(grin spreading)
Then let's give it an identity crisis.
ACT TWO
Bitstream dives toward the nearest server rack and melts into it, his light vanishing into the machine. The rack's lights flare bright blue. Null Byte SCREECHES, sensing him.
NULL BYTE
F O U N D... Y O U...
Null Byte slams a tendril into the rack. The whole tower glitches violently — and then Bitstream BURSTS back out, faster, sharper, his outline now lined with sharp data-spikes like armor.
BEN (AS BITSTREAM)
(surprised at himself)
Oh, that's a thing I can do now. Noted.
KEVIN
Less talking, more winning!
*Bitstream flings another corrupted-code blast — this one a focused beam — straight into the mass of Null Byte's "head." The creature shrieks and begins to fracture into multiple smaller copies, each scrambling toward a different server.
GWEN
It's splitting up to survive! If even one piece escapes onto the network, it'll just regrow somewhere else!
BEN (AS BITSTREAM)
(determined)
Then we don't let it leave the building.
He looks to Kevin.
BEN (AS BITSTREAM) (CONT'D)
Kevin — analog. You're basically a rock with attitude. It can't corrupt what it can't read as data. Smash anything it tries to hide in.
KEVIN
(smirking, absorbing concrete from the wall)
Finally, a job description I respect.
BEN (AS BITSTREAM)
Gwen, seal every exit point — physical AND wireless. Mana doesn't run on code, so it can't infect your shields.
GWEN
(already weaving a glowing barrier around the room's vents and doorways)
Already on it.
BEN (AS BITSTREAM)
And me?
His chest emblem flickers, a small loading icon spinning.
BEN (AS BITSTREAM) (CONT'D)
I'm going to go make sure this thing never finds a network again.
INT. SERVER ROOM — MOMENTS LATER
Three fragments of Null Byte scatter across the room. Kevin SMASHES a server tower with a concrete fist the instant a fragment dives inside, the shard sparking and dissolving with a pathetic glitch-whimper. One down.
A second fragment shoots toward a vent. Gwen's barrier flares as it hits — the fragment recoils, screeching, unable to pass through the non-digital energy.
GWEN
(strained, holding the shield)
Nice try.
The third and largest fragment — the "core" — makes a desperate dash for the main router stack in the back of the room. Bitstream intercepts, sliding through the floor wiring and reappearing directly in its path.
BEN (AS BITSTREAM)
Not today.
NULL BYTE (CORE FRAGMENT)
(desperate, glitching)
M E R G E... W I T H... Y O U...
BEN (AS BITSTREAM)
Yeah, I'm gonna have to hard pass.
He raises both hands — and instead of attacking, he reaches out and grabs the fragment directly, his own data-form wrapping around it like a digital net.
KEVIN
(from across the room)
Tennyson, what are you doing?!
BEN (AS BITSTREAM)
(through gritted teeth, light flickering violently)
If I'm half-data... maybe I can out-argue a virus that's ALL data.
The two forms glitch and strain against each other, light flaring white-hot. Null Byte's screeching distorts, garbling.
NULL BYTE
(weakening)
C A N N O T... P R O C E S S... H Y B R I D...
BEN (AS BITSTREAM)
That's the idea. You're built to corrupt one type of system. I'm not just one type of anything.
With a final burst, Bitstream's form FLOODS the fragment with clean, stable light — overloading it. Null Byte's last piece convulses, shrinks, and collapses into a small inert chip of dark glass, clattering to the floor.
Silence. The server room's sickly green glow fades to normal dull fluorescent light.
KEVIN
(exhaling)
...Please tell me that's over.
Bitstream straightens, looking down at the dead fragment, then at his own glowing hands.
BEN (AS BITSTREAM)
(quietly impressed)
That's over.
ACT THREE
EXT. DATA-RELAY STATION — LATER
Dawn light. Max arrives with a containment unit, two Plumber agents sealing the inert chip inside a lead-lined case. Ben — back to human, hoodie rumpled — sits on the station steps next to Gwen and Kevin.
MAX
Good work, you three. Null Byte's been a ghost story among the Plumbers for years — first confirmed sighting in decades, and you didn't just survive it. You beat it.
BEN
(stretching)
To be fair, the new guy did most of the heavy lifting.
GWEN
"Bitstream." It actually suits you. Kind of.
KEVIN
(checking the faint pixel-scarring on his arm)
Yeah, well, "the new guy" also almost let that thing turn my arm into a Windows update. So I'm reserving judgment.
BEN
(grinning)
You're welcome, by the way.
KEVIN
For what?
BEN
For me not letting it happen.
Kevin rolls his eyes. Max chuckles, walking back toward the Plumber vehicle.
MAX
(over his shoulder)
Get some rest. Something tells me this won't be the last digital headache we deal with.
Gwen watches the sun rise over the dead satellite dishes, arms crossed.
GWEN
You really didn't know what that alien could do until you were already mid-fight, huh?
BEN
(shrugging, standing up)
Story of my life, Gwen.
He taps the Ultimatrix, and for just a second, the dial flickers — a small loading icon, the ghost of Bitstream's symbol — before settling back to its usual green glow.
BEN (CONT'D)
(smirking at it)
Don't get comfortable. We're definitely doing that again.
He walks off toward the car. Gwen and Kevin exchange a look, then follow.
FADE OUT.
END OF EPISODE