War of the Worlds

War of the Worlds is the first Ben 10: Alien Force chapter book created and published by Scholastic. It is a novelization of the episodes War of the Worlds: Part 1 and Part 2.
==Plot==
The Highbreed fleet appears in the skies above Galvan Prime, having shut down their planetary defenses. Azmuth, looking on from his tower, is visited by Paradox, and laments the defeat of the Galvan, noting that without them, the rest of the galaxy stands no chance against the Highbreed. Paradox disagrees and suggests that the Omnitrix could give the universe a fighting chance, and insists that Azmuth come with him to Earth. A Highbreed ship fires at Azmuth's tower, and Paradox teleports them both away just as it is destroyed.
On Earth, Ben is practicing soccer with his team when Paradox and Azmuth appear to retrieve him. They meet up with Gwen and Kevin at Mr. Smoothy and go over the imminent Highbreed plan to use the Hyperspace Jump Gate to transport their fleet to Earth. The team resolves to destroy the Jump Gate as quickly as possible, and Ben decides that they ought to call in the help of the other Plumber's kids whom they have aided in the past. Azmuth asks that Gwen and Kevin be responsible for their retrieval, as he wants a word with Ben.
Gwen and Kevin visit Alan Albright and recruit his aid as he is capturing a DNAlien, then meet Cooper at his lab and ask him to join forces with them as well. Cooper dons robotic armor and agrees to do whatever he can to help. The team then travels to the Plumber base at Mt. Rushmore in South Dakota and release Michael Morningstar from the Null Void. They make a deal to release Michael on the condition that he help them stop the invasion; when Michael asks why Kevin would trust him, Kevin points out that if Michael doesn't help stop the invasion, he won't survive either when the Highbreed destroy the Earth.
Meanwhile, at Mr. Smoothy, Azmuth reveals that he has withheld information about the Omnitrix's true purpose from Ben. He explains that the Omnitrix contains DNA samples from over one million sentient life forms in the Milky Way Galaxy, including humanity, and that if any of these species were to be destroyed by the Highbreed, the Omnitrix could restore them to life a la Noah's Ark. However, if the Omnitrix is destroyed, then there is no hope of restoring any species destroyed by the Highbreed. Azmuth insists that Ben not participate in the final battle due to this risk, but Ben refuses, and threatens to fight Azmuth if he attempts to take the Omnitrix from Ben. Realizing Ben will not yield, Azmuth reluctantly activates the Omnitrix's Master Control, granting Ben access to every alien, as well as the voice command within the Omnitrix.
Gwen and Kevin then arrive along with Alan, Cooper, Darkstar, and Julie, who brings Ship with her to fight in his battleship form. The team makes their way to Los Soledad and enters the cloaking field. Ben transforms into Cannonbolt, and they fight their way through hundreds of DNAliens in an attempt to reach and destroy the Jump Gate. Michael is injured during the battle and attempts to drain the life force of numerous DNAliens. Ben stops him, reminding him that the DNAliens are humans possessed by alien control. He is then given the idea to use the Omnitrix to revert the DNAliens to their human forms; however, having reverted as many DNAliens to human as possible, this depletes the Omnitrix's power, reverting Cannonbolt back into Ben. After seeing the Omnitrix's genetic damage repair at work, Cooper transforms his robot suit into several DNA repair guns, which can instantly turn DNAliens back into humans.
With the DNA repair guns in hand, Ben and the team continue the fight, making their way to the Jump Gate. Once they reach it, they attempt to destroy it but causes no damage. Ben, as Upchuck, transforms into Way Big and attempts to pull the Jump Gate out of the ground, but before he can finish, the Gate activates and Ben is severely injured, transforming back into his human form just as the Highbreed fleet arrives on Earth.
Ben awakens in the crater formed by Way Big, and his teammates rush to his side. Ben devises a plan to capture the Highbreed commander and force him to order a full retreat. Ben, Gwen, and Kevin fight their way to the Highbreed control tower, and confront the Highbreed commander whom Max previously attempted to destroy with a makeshift Null Void grenade in Max Out.
In the ensuing battle, Ben turns into Swampfire, demanding that the commander call off the attack on Earth, but the Highbreed merely laughs, telling them that only the Highbreed Supreme has the authority to do so. Kevin is seriously injured by a Highbreed; in response, Gwen transforms into her Anodite form and easily defeats the Highbreed attacking Kevin. Gwen insists that she can stop the entire Highbreed invasion by herself, but Kevin talks her down, reminding her that she’ll lose her humanity if she does so and saying that he can’t lose her, and that Ben will find another way to end the fight. 
A group of DNAliens surrounds the team, but the Plumbers' Helpers and Max appear and defeat them, having returned from their duties in the Null Void. With the Highbreed commander in custody, Ben, Gwen, Kevin, and Azmuth board Ship and head toward the Hyperspace Jump Gate, planning to confront the Highbreed Supreme. After traveling through the gate, the team arrives on the derelict planet of Augstaka, where they crash-land and are captured by the Highbreed.
Ben and the others wake up in chains in a Highbreed dungeon. Ben activates the Omnitrix voice command and turns into Humungousaur, and the team breaks out and makes their way to the chamber of the Highbreed Council. The Highbreed Supreme refuses to recall the fleet, espousing the genetic purity of the Highbreed and their mission to eradicate all lesser beings. Azmuth reveals, however, that the Highbreed obsession with racial purity has led to inbreeding, loss of disease resistance, and sterility. As a result, they are the last generation of their species, not intent on perishing alone. The Highbreed Supreme reveals that the destruction of Galvan Prime was the signal for the Highbreed to attack every known inhabited planet in the entire galaxy, with the intention of eradicating all life in the universe.
Seeing a way to save the Highbreed species, Ben uses the Omnitrix to send out an energy wave that fuses the DNA of every Highbreed in the galaxy with random species from the Omnitrix, repairing their genetic damage. The council is stunned and horrified at the loss of their genetic purity and immediately considers mass suicide as their only honorable option. However, Reinrassig III enters the council room and convinces the Highbreed Supreme that their new impurity is not undesirable and that they now have a chance to live. The Highbreed Council elects Reinrassig the new Highbreed Supreme, and Reinrassig recalls the Highbreed fleet from Earth.
After the Highbreed fleet leaves, Max decides to become the mentor of the Plumbers' Helpers and the new Plumber's Kids. Julie decides to go home, and Ben promises to walk her to school the next day. Darkstar is nowhere to be found, but Kevin says they won't catch him today, and that he wants to go to the auto show instead. Gwen goes along with him, and Paradox takes Azmuth back to Galvan Prime. As a side effect of modifying the Highbreed species' DNA, the Omnitrix reboots, re-locking the Master Control. Ben also finds that it has also unlocked new aliens and transforms into one of them in the last moment of the book.
==Characters==
*Ben Tennyson
*Gwen Tennyson
*Kevin Levin
*Julie Yamamoto
*Azmuth
*Cooper
*Alan Albright
*Professor Paradox
*Darkstar
*Ship
*Helen Wheels
*Manny Armstrong
*Pierce Wheels
*Max Tennyson
*Reinrassig III
===Villains===
*Highbreed
*DNAliens
*Highbreed Commander
*Highbreed Councilors
**Former Highbreed Supreme
==Aliens Used==
*Cannonbolt
*Jetray
*Swampfire (x2)
*Murk Upchuck
*Way Big
*Brainstorm
*Humungousaur
*Lodestar (off-page)
==Errors==
*Alan's age is incorrectly stated to be 12 instead of 11.
==Trivia==
*The book contains a preview of the Ben 10: Alien Swarm chapter book.
==References==
===Dwayne McDuffie===
Category:Books
Category:Merchandise