Rules of Engagement

Rules of Engagement is the eighth episode of the second season of Ben 10: Omniverse, and the eighteenth episode overall.
==Synopsis==
Princess Looma returns to claim Ben as her husband, and she's not going to let anyone stand in her way!
==Plot==
At a jewelry store, Fistina is seen breaking out through the front door with some stolen jewelry. Ben, as XLR8, quickly takes the jewelry and runs off. Fistina fires her hand at XLR8 and attempts to grab him, but XLR8 speeds up, avoiding it. XLR8 taunts Fistina while she attempts to hit him with her fist rocket again. XLR8 then starts to run circles around Fistina and she eventually gets spun around and her head flies off onto a wall. Rook arrives at the scene in his Proto-TRUK and pulls Fistina's head off the wall. Rook warns XLR8 that she is attempting to attack him, and traps her body in a net using his Proto-Tool. XLR8 transforms back into Ben and asks Fistina why she attacked the jewelry store. Fistina says she likes pretty things and starts to flirt with Rook. Ben and Rook stare on confusingly and Ben walks over to some televisions displayed at a store window, noticing Julie is back in town. Ben decides to see her before turning in Fistina.
Over at a tennis court, Julie is practicing tennis while a boy is taking photos of her, impressed with her skills. Ben arrives and asks Julie why she didn't tell him that she was back home. Julie says she has been busy, and the boy walks over, with Ben wanting to know what his name is. Julie introduces him to Hervé, her new boyfriend. Ben looks on shocked and confused. Ben wants to know why Julie found a new boyfriend and Julie says that Ben had broken up with her. Ben is confused, but Julie tells him to remember the last time they spoke together. 
 
In a flashback, 16-year-old Ben from between Ultimate Alien and Omniverse plays Sumo Slammers in his room. He starts talking to Julie while yelling out to the game. Julie, believing Ben broke up with her, turns off her phone and the flashback ends. Ben then admits that he might have broken up with Julie and she says that she now has someone that puts her first and she and Hervé start to walk off. Ben stops them but Hervé says that everything has been said and he and Julie attempt to walk off again. Ben transforms into Bloxx and builds up a wall, stopping the two once again. Bloxx says that he will start to put her first unless the world needs saving. Suddenly, Ester appears saying the Kraaho need his help from an attacker as Bloxx transforms back into Ben. Ben decides to go but Ester, thinking Julie and Hervé are Gwen and Kevin, grabs them and takes them aboard the Proto-TRUK. Inside, Ben introduces Julie to Ester saying she and the rest of her people have been living in Undertown. Ben then says that things are complicated with Julie and Hervé attempts to say something, but Fistina threatens him for blocking her view of Rook. Rook says that she is a thief and unwanted by him, but Fistina just flirts with him more.
The team arrives in Undertown, where the Kraaho are seen being attacked by Looma Red Wind. Ben is shocked to see her while she is happy to see her "husband". Ester attempts to attack Looma but Looma easily throws her off. Looma continues to attack the Kraaho but Ben transforms into Armodrillo. In between attacks, Armodrillo asks her to stop attacking everything, but Looma says she needs a good reason. Looma soon defeats Ester by tying her up with her own arms, and throws her into Julie. Armodrillo transforms back into Ben and yells at Looma wanting to know what she is doing. Looma says that she needs to collect four items for the wedding: something conquered, something bruised, something severed, and something blue. Ben tells her that she is hurting people, but Looma says that the Kraaho could be easily conquered due to them being defeated by Ben already. Ester yells at Looma and Looma looks at Rook noticing him being something blue. Rook tells Looma that he is a Plumber, not a wedding favor.
Looma attempts to grab Rook but Fistina bursts from the Proto-TRUK and fires her fist rocket at Looma, and then another one. Fistina charges at Looma while Julie wants to know how many girls Ben is involved with. Ben doesn't know himself. Looma attacks Fistina and knocks off her fist now noticing something severed. Ben transforms into Humungousaur and charges at Looma. Looma easily tosses Humungousaur away and puts Fistina's arm, Rook, Julie, Ester, and Hervé all in a brown bag and flies off on her spaceship. Humungousaur transforms back to normal and Fistina worries for Rook. Ben tells Fistina they could catch up if she hadn't destroyed the Proto-TRUK, but she just says she did it out of love. Ben, annoyed, transforms into Juryrigg and uses parts of the Proto-TRUK to create his newest ride: the Tenn-Speed. After Juryrigg transforms back to normal, Ben gets on his new cycle and Fistina joins him saying she could track her severed fist. Ben then drives off out into the city. Inside Looma's bag, Hervé complains about Ben, but Julie tells him about the good Ben does and advises him to give Ben a break. Ester questions Julie as to whether she is completely broken up with Ben. 
At Ben's house, Sandra opens the door to greet Princess Looma and confirms to her that Ben is her son. Looma is excited to see her "mother" and introduces herself. Sandra says Ben has never mentioned her. Rook uses the Proto-Tool to free himself, Ester, Julie, and Hervé from the bag and they start to run off. Looma uses her hammer to stop them and Ester grabs onto Looma from behind. Looma tosses her off and grabs onto Rook who was attempting to kick her. Looma also grabs onto Ester's fist but overhears Sandra saying Julie was Ben's girlfriend and drops them, with Looma saying she now has a "rival". Ben and Fistina arrive but Looma quickly tosses Hervé into Ben, knocking him down. Ben gets back up and transforms into Ball Weevil and wraps up Looma in plasma goo. Ball Weevil tells Sandra to head inside and yells at Looma, saying the ritual is over. Looma breaks out of the plasma goo, traps Ball Weevil in it, and tosses him onto a wall. Fistina attempts to attack Looma, but Looma knocks Fistina into Rook and Ester. Looma then challenges Julie to a battle, threatening to destroy the Earth if anyone interferes in the fight. Julie agrees and whistles, summoning Ship from her tennis bag. 
Ship then merges onto Julie, forming the battle suit and Looma begins to attack Julie with an energy blast from her hammer. Julie fires back with an energy blast of her own, blocking the attack. Ball Weevil tells Julie to be careful as Julie and Looma continue their fight. Looma knocks away Julie and an attacking Fistina, but Julie manages to fight back. Ester and Rook attempt to pull Ball Weevil off the goo, with Ball Weevil saying that he can't transform back into normal. Rook then uses his Proto-Tool to start cutting away at the goo while Looma and Julie continue to fight. Hervé is seen taking photographs of the fight while Looma knocks Julie back closer to Ben's house. Ship de-merges from Julie and Looma attempts to finish off Julie. However, Ball Weevil is freed and Rook tosses him near Julie, who uses her tennis racket to send Ball Weevil crashing into Looma. Looma is knocked backwards, with Ball Weevil landing on a nearby car, transforming back into normal and passing out.
Looma says that she is no longer worthy of Ben and says that Julie is now "betrothed" to him. Looma hugs Ben one last time while Rook is surprised that she took defeat well. Looma then threatens Julie once more and leaves on her ship. Ben pets Ship. who is happy to see him, then asks Julie if she wants to go to Mr. Smoothy. Julie retorts that her saving him doesn't mean that they are soulmates. Ben understands and asks if they could still be friends. Julie says that they will always be friends and she walks off with Herve, with both of them agreeing that they don't like Mr. Smoothy. Ben is surprised by this, and Ester decides to go back home to help clean up. Ben agrees to help her out and they both walk off with Ester saying she likes Mr. Smoothy. Fistina continues to flirt with Rook, but Rook arrests her and takes her away.
==Noteworthy Events==
===Major Events===
*Ben and Julie are now officially broken up, but they are still friends.
*Princess Looma returns and is no longer Ben's fiancée.
*Ben builds the Tenn-Speed cycle from Rook's Proto-TRUK as Juryrigg.
====Character Debuts====
*Julie Yamamoto (Omniverse debut)
*Hervé
*Ishiyama (Omniverse debut)
*Sandra Tennyson (Omniverse debut)
*Ship (Omniverse debut)
==Characters==
*Ben Tennyson (flashback 16-year-old and present 16-year-old)
*Rook Blonko
*Julie Yamamoto (first reappearance; flashback 16-year-old and present 16-year-old)
*Hervé (first appearance)
*Ishiyama (first reappearance; flashback; video game)
*Kraaho
**Ester
*Pakmar (cameo)
*Smoothie Vendor (cameo)
*Sandra Tennyson (first reappearance)
*Ship (first reappearance)
===Neutrals===
*Fistina
===Villains===
*Looma Red Wind
==Aliens Used==
*XLR8 (off-screen activation)
*Bloxx
*Armodrillo
*Humungousaur
*Juryrigg
*Ball Weevil
==Quotes==
==Naming and Translations==
==Cast==
==Allusions==
*This episode's title is based on Rules of Engagement, an American sitcom.
*When Ben finishes making Tenn-Speed and is ready to leave, he says "here comes the groom", which is a parody of the phrase "here comes the bride."
*When Ben is flashing back to his unintentional break-up with Julie, he can be seen battling against a Sumo Slammers player with the screen-name of Derrick W, which is a reference to Derrick J. Wyatt, the art director of Omniverse.
**Ben's screen-name, Rob-H is a reference to Robert Haverland.
**The character being controlled by Derrick W. highly resembles a female version of the Marvel Comics character Blackheart.
*Ben's video game console's controller is based on the Xbox 360's controller in terms of design.
==Errors==
*When XLR8 runs, his Omnitrix symbol is missing.
*When Armodrillo and Rook run towards Looma, Armodrillo has no tail.
*When Armodrillo tickles Looma with his drill, the grey on his head is yellow.
*In one shot, the green "10" on the Tenn-Speed is black.
*In one shot, Looma's ship, Tenn-Speed, and the car are in different positions.
*During the second fight scene with Looma, Rook doesn't have his Proto-Tool with him. Right as Ben and Fistina pull up to his house on the Tenn-Speed, Rook has the Proto-Tool with him.
*The end credits misspell Hervé's name as "Herve".
RoE (22).png|Missing Omnitrix symbol
RoE (225).png|Missing tail
RoE (227).png|Color error
RoE (321).png|Emblem error
RoE (353).png|Ship error
RoE (391).png|No Proto-Tool
RoE (402).png|Proto-Tool
ROE Voice Credits (1).png|Credit error
==Trivia==
*It is revealed in this episode that Fistina has a crush on Rook.
*Ester mistook Julie and Hervé for Gwen and Kevin, whom she has not met yet.
*In the U.K., this episode aired after Showdown: Part 2 and before Vilgax Must Croak should have.
*The out-of-universe reason for Ben and Julie breaking up was that the crew wanted to do something different, and some of the producers didn't care for their relationship in Alien Force and Ultimate Alien.
**As a result of the breakup, several of the staff started a letter-writing campaign and even threatened to stop watching the show, but Cartoon Network just didn't care.
*Ester asked Ben if him and Julie had really broken up to see if he was available.
*The third act of the episode was difficult to stage.
*Ben and Julie's breakup scene was storyboarded by Matt Youngberg. He liked the timing and acting better in the storyboards than what ended up in the final animation.
==References==
===Crew Statements===
====Matt Wayne====
====Derrick J. Wyatt====
====Matt Youngberg====
===Cartoon Network===
es:Las reglas del compromiso
it:Le regole di fidanzamento
pl:Powrót narzeczonej
pt-br:Rituais de Noivado
ro:Reguli de implicare
Category:Episodes
Category:Ben 10: Omniverse Episodes
Category:Ben 10: Omniverse Season 2 Episodes
Category:Episodes Aired Out of Production Order
Category:Episodes with Flashbacks