A building in Washington, D.C. is on fire; a woman and her son are trapped inside.

Heatblast appears and saves them: catching debris and using his fire powers to
return the two safely to the ground. He tries to be stoic and heroic but quickly gets
amazed by the boy he saved, who has a rare gold Sumo Slammer Card he got as a
cereal prize. Gwen and Max drive up in the Rust Bucket to pick him up, as the fire
was a planned diversion to distract from a jewelry store robbery. Heatblast rides in
the RV as it chases after the robbers' car. Hanging out the side, he nails the car
with a fireball, causing it to crash. Just before the police arrive, Heatblast
intimidates the robbers to get out of the car and surrender -- until the Omnitrix
beeps red and turns Heatblast back to Ben, who is not intimidating at all. As Ben
modestly starts taking credit for stopping them, a cop tells him to step aside. Ben
gets angry as, of course, no one will believe that he was the hero.

In a different part of Washington, a man named Roger knocks incessantly on an

apartment door but gets no response, so he lets himself in. Inside the room, he
passes many ominous cases and cages housing all types of animals. An angry pale-
skinned figure surprises him from behind: the resident of the apartment, a Dr.
Aloysius Animo. He barks orders to get out and not disturb his work and research.
Roger, who is his landlord, puts his foot down and demands he pay his overdue
rent. Dr. Animo places down a frog and decides to show Roger what he's been
working on; he wears a machine made of an odd-looking helmet and vest. After
Roger takes a laugh at it, it is explained to be a Transmodulator, capable of
creating genetic mutations. Dr. Animo uses it on the frog, which grows to a
gigantic size. The doctor cackles as it plays with Roger in its mouth, then remarks
that he only needs a few more components to complete his work. At that moment,
a commercial comes up on his TV advertising a new superstore called
"MegaMart", and it catches his eye.

The Tennysons are shopping at the MegaMart themselves, and Ben spots the cereal
where the Gold Sumo Slammer card could be won. Ben transforms into Grey
Matter, an alien small enough to climb inside the boxes. Gwen catches him
opening almost every box in the aisle and starts reprimanding him, but the store
manager comes up behind her, and Gwen is forced to hide Grey Matter and take
the blame. As Max now has to buy a mountain of open cereal boxes, Ben feigns
feeling bad, thinking he deserves that card for his heroics. Max and Gwen leave
Ben in the department, where Dr. Animo suddenly breaks in with his mutant frog
and steals items. Ben's stunt as Grey Matter has left the Omnitrix in Recharge
Mode, so he can't stop him. Animo moves to the pet section, where Gwen and Max
are, and starts mutating a hamster and parrot, terrifying them. Ben arrives just as
the doctor introduces himself and his plan to reclaim what is "rightfully his". Ben
improvises with a football and motor scooter to get the hamster's attention and trap
it. The angered Animo proclaims he will turn Washington D.C. into "Washington
B.C." and leaves on the back of the mutant parrot. The store owner offers a reward
for saving the store, but Max drags Ben away before he could ask for the Gold
Sumo Slammers card.
Following the mutant parrot in the Rust Bucket, Max comments about how the
chase reminds him of the days before he retired, which confuses Gwen, as Max
worked as a plumber. Ben pouts about not getting anything for his troubles, to
which Max advises that being a hero, and knowing that you've done something
good, is itself a reward. Gwen pops in to report what she's found out about Animo:
he was a veterinary scientist who performed genetic experiments and became
enraged when he didn't win an award. Max loses the trail on Animo, but reflecting
on the doctor's words makes Ben realize he's headed to the Natural History
Museum. They head inside the museum, where Animo has completed his work on
his Transmodulator. Now with the power to reanimate dormant cells, he revives a
mammoth in the exhibit and leaves it to deal with them while he escapes. Ben
transforms into Four Arms, which he uses to wrestle the mammoth to the ground
while Gwen and Max go after Animo. They find him reviving a Tyrannosaurus
Rex from its bones and escaping the museum on its back. The mutant parrot
swoops in and kidnaps Gwen. Four Arms chases after, but fails at getting Gwen
back.

Ben and Max look for Gwen, as Animo rampages on the T-Rex, going through a
Sumo Slammers card stand on the way and catching a gold card in the T-Rex's toe.
Max hands Ben a slip of paper that Animo had dropped during his escape from the
museum. It addresses the information about the person that received the award in
Animo's place - a man named Dr. Kelly. They realize that this is who Animo is
after. At the same time, the mutant parrot perches itself on the Washington
Monument, Gwen still in its clutches. She uses her emergency cell phone to tell
Ben and Max her location. As she is about to fall, Ben turns into Stinkfly, a flying
alien, and saves her. The parrot attacks Stinkfly, and he attempts to battle the bird
with Gwen in tow, while Max heads to the top of the monument. Seeing Max at
one of the observation windows, Stinkfly drops Gwen off there. Without the extra
weight, he is able to take the mutant parrot down. Max then tells him to go after
Animo.

Meanwhile, Dr. Kelly is leading a group of people on a tour of Kelly Industries,

when Animo arrives and steals the award. Stinkfly arrives just in time to save
Kelly from the T-Rex. The T-Rex smacks Stinkfly down to the floor, where the
gold Sumo Slammers card is as well. He could grab it, though he sees the T-Rex is
about to eat Kelly. He laments having to choose between the two, and decides to
save Kelly, burying the card in debris in the process. Stinkfly evades Animo's
attacks, breaks his award, and nabs the Transmodulator. He tosses it to the floor,
and it emits a pulse that changes every creature Animo had used it on back to
normal.

Later on, as the police drag Animo away, he continues to rant about how the award
should be his. His words resonate with Ben, making him realize just how obsessed
he was. Ben keeps the Transmodulator as a souvenir, and admits saving the city
really is its own reward. Gwen thanks Ben for rescuing her, to which he calls her a
dweeb, and the two call each other names as they drive off.