Solitary Alignment

Solitary Alignment is the twenty-third episode of the third season of Ben 10: Ultimate Alien, and the forty-third episode overall.
==Synopsis==
Azmuth reveals how old George first got the sword and defeated Dagon, and the crew travels to the Middle Ages to learn the truth.
==Plot==
The episode starts off from where the previous episode ended. Ben, Gwen and Kevin watch as Sir George retrieves his sword and tells them to let the Dagon come.
George speaks to Ben and his team about the Dagon when Azmuth comes and says that the sword was his, that he created it, and he wants it back. Azmuth tells Ben to take it so Ben transforms into Fasttrack and fights George with the help of Gwen and Kevin but fails. Fasttrack then transforms into Humungousaur. After Sir George uses the power of his sword to transform Humungousaur back into his Ben, he creates a portal with his sword and leaves the cave.
Ben demands that Azmuth tell him why he is making it look like he is involved with the Dagon and Forever Knight affair, so Azmuth teleports him, Ben, and the team to a volcano on Primus. The volcano erupts and the team runs away. However, when the lava pours over them, Gwen remarks that they can't even feel it. Azmuth explains that he is immersing them in images and that they are like ghosts who can't be touched by anything or seen by anyone. Azmuth changes the environment to the laboratory where he used to work with his love, another Galvan named Zennith. Zennith walks in and speaks to Azmuth about spending some time outside the lab, so they go outside and have a picnic together. Azmuth speaks to Zennith about harnessing the primal forces of the universe, which she believes isn't right. Azmuth promises that he will try to view things her way as they gaze up at the night sky. Zennith points out a planetary system in perfect alignment which inspires Azmuth to create a sword.
Azmuth shows the sword to Zennith, but she disapproves saying that creating something with that much power is irresponsible. Azmuth goes on to create the sword anyway, but Zennith leaves him before he finishes it. Azmuth then tells Ben that the sword he created was later stolen by an unknown warrior who hoped to use the sword's power to unite the many warring factions of his homeworld. The result was the destruction of the Incursean planet. Seeing the destruction he had caused, Azmuth tells them that he recovered the sword and hid it away, then dedicated himself to peaceful sciences, creating the Omnitrix as an apology for what he built and to Zennith.
However, he then immerses them in a scene of a primitive planet he had encountered in his studies. The planet is revealed to be Earth in the Middle Ages. Azmuth tells them that at this period in Earth's history, an extra-dimensional creature called the Dagon and his servants the Lucubra were invading Earth with hopes to conquer the entire dimension. Many knights had tried to stop the creatures but had fallen under their mind control. Only the strongest knight, Sir George (who had somehow lived for 900 years) was able to defeat the Lucubra, but couldn't stop the Dagon. The invasion of the Dagon convinced Azmuth that the sword must be used again, so he presented the sword to Sir George as he was the only one worthy of wielding its power. George named the sword Ascalon and used it to cut out the Dagon's heart and stabbed the sword through it. The Dagon, however, would not die. So George cast it back into its own dimension, and sealed it in. The violence and gruesomeness of the scene cause Ben and the team to feel great discomfort, and Ben demands that Azmuth return them to the cave, which Azmuth does. Ben asks Azmuth what the trouble is with letting George kill the Dagon, but Azmuth tells him that the sword's power would corrupt George too and that they must stop him. He also points out that Dagon underestimated George the last time and will not likely make the same mistake twice.
Gwen tracks down George using a piece of his hair that Kevin pulled out during their fight. Gwen finds him in Area 51, so the team goes there. While Kevin and Gwen battle the Forever Knights guarding the area, Ben transforms into Humungousaur again, then evolves into Ultimate Humungousaur, to battle George alone. During their fight, George is able to relate to Ben by explaining how their heroic ability is both doubted, so Ben and George make an agreement that if George loses to Dagon, he will give Ben the sword. Ben and the team meet up at the cave again and he tells them what the compromise with George is.
The episode ends with Azmuth telling Ben that the reasons he created the Omnitrix were all true, but he didn't tell him that one of them was that he was hoping that Zennith would notice.
==Noteworthy Events==
===Major Events===
*Azmuth's past and the creation of Ascalon are revealed.
*Azmuth explains that the original reason for creating the Omnitrix was an apology for the creation of Ascalon.
====Character Debuts====
*Zennith
*Incursean Warrior
==Characters==
*Ben Tennyson
*Gwen Tennyson
*Kevin Levin
*Azmuth (flashback and present)
*Zennith (first appearance; flashback)
*Incursean Warrior (first appearance; flashback; silhouette)
===Villains===
*Forever Knights (flashback and present)
**Sir George (flashback and present)
*Dagon (flashback; shadow)
*Lucubras (flashback)
==Aliens Used==
*Fasttrack
*Humungousaur (x3; second time goes Ultimate and reverts; second and third times were cameos)
**Ultimate Humungousaur
==Quotes==
==Naming and Translations==
==Cast==
==Continuity==
*Area 51 is shown to be on top of a cliff, after Sir George teleported it away in Prisoner Number 775 is Missing.
==Allusions==
*The episode's title is based on the term solitary confinement.
*The group compares Azmuth's holographic backstory to A Christmas Carol in particular the past Azmuth seen in the simulation as the Ghost of Azmuth Past.
*The title, planetary alignment scene and Dagon in the episode reference H. P. Lovecraft, being based on Cthulhu rising when the stars are right.
==Errors==
*When Sir George took Ascalon in the previous episode, Ben yelled "Stop him!", but when the scene is replayed in this episode, Ben is silent.
*When George enters the other side of the seal, its pattern is missing.
*When Azmuth says to George "You think I can't?", the black middle stripe on his suit is gone.
*When Ben transforms into Fasttrack, the Ultimatrix's core doesn't pop up. 
*When Fasttrack shouts his name, his mouth doesn't move.
*When Azmuth appears on Primus, he is bigger than usual. This error occurs again when he brings the team to Earth in the Middle Ages.
*When one of the Forever Knights slices a Lucubra in half, the Lucubra's shadow overlaps the fire in the background for a moment.
*When Kevin gives Gwen a lock of George's hair, his overshirt overlaps his undershirt for a moment.
*When George deflects Ultimate Humungousaur's missiles with his sword, the effect is more akin to deflecting bullets than explosive projectiles.
*The end credits misspell Fasttrack's name as "Fastrack".
SA (34).png|Missing pattern
SA (40).png|Missing stripe
SA (47).png|Core doesn't pop up
SA (59).png|Mouth doesn't move
SA (151).png|Size error
SA (358).png|Deflecting projectiles
Solitary Alignment Voice Credits (1).png|Credit error
==Trivia==
*This episode aired in Australia on November 26, 2011.
*Fasttrack's transformation sequence is shown for the first time.
*The scene where Young Azmuth shows Ascalon to Zennith, up until the destruction of the Incursean Homeworld, was storyboarded by Luke Weber.
==References==
===Luke Weber===
===Cartoon Network===
es:Alineación solitaria
pl:Zrównanie planet
pt-br:Alinhamento Solitário
ro:Aliniere solitară
Category:Two Part Episode
Category:Ben 10: Ultimate Alien Episodes
Category:Ben 10: Ultimate Alien Season 3 Episodes
Category:Episodes Directed by Matt Youngberg
Category:Dagon Arc
Category:Episodes with Flashbacks