The Paradox

The Paradox, written by Roads, is the second episode of the first season Ben 10: Revamped, and the second episode overall.


 * See also: The Paradox/Info

Previously...
(Unseen): Is it ready?

View focuses on Omnitrix capsule.

(Azmuth): Yes, it is.

Door opens.

(Vilgax): Give me the Omnitrix now!

(Azmuth): Never!

Space station explodes; Omnitrix pod crashes into forest.

(Ben): What the...?

''Ben turns into Heatblast and starts screaming. Then cut to him meeting the Plumber a few days later.''

(Plumber): Give me the Omnitrix!

View switches to the face-off with Vilgax.

(Omnitrix): Omnitrix in lockdown mode!

(Plumber): Undo this immediately!

(Vilgax): Give it to me, or you both die!

''He does so, and Vilgax tries to use it, though it was the decoy, and so it blows up. Ben turns into Copycat, and uses his duplicates to throw him into space.''

(Plumber): You keep the Omnitrix.

(Ben): So, are we gonna look for Azmuth?

View switches back to Azmuth in his ship talking to the unseen guy.

(Plumber, heard over the view): You bet!

(Unseen): We are all ready. Do not fail us or our plans will be ruined!

View switches back to space, where Vilgax sees the mysterious Black Box.

(Vilgax): The prophecies were true!

Plot
The beginning of this episode picks off from where the last one left off. We see the Box hurling through space, now entering Earth's atmosphere, and heading right for downtown Bellwood. As it got close, it actually started to steer itself, pulling up to make a smoother landing. It clipped the corner of a skyscraper, though, messing up its course and making it crash in the middle of a street. We then switch to the view of a news camera a few hours later. Will Harangue is the reporter.

(Harangue): We're here in downtown Bellwood, where a mysterious box has crashed into the middle of 23rd Street. All eyewitnesses say it came straight down from space, but nobody has any idea what it is. It appears to be indestructible. *camera moves to show work crews trying and failing to drill or blowtorch through it* Stay tuned for updates.

We see a mysterious purple, glowing figure standing on a nearby roof, watching. It appeared to be made completely out of energy. Then, just like that, it was gone!

The view changes to Ben, as XLR8, running up to a house and then changing back. The Plumber followed, flying with his rocket boots.

(Plumber): These rocket boots aren't that fast, you know.

Ben knocked on the door, and Gwen answered. Clearly, it was her house.

(Gwen): Ben? What are you doing here, and who's this guy?

(Ben): We need your help.

Theme song!

We skip ahead in time (nobody needs to hear an explanation when you can just read the last episode) to the three in Gwen's living room, with Ben and the Plumber finishing their explanation.

(Gwen): You want me to use my powers to help you look for the alien who made the Omnitrix?

We flash back to 11-year-old Gwen using her powers to walk around in circles on her pink platforms in her backyard.

(Ben): Yes.

(Gwen): I don't know...

(Ben): The Plumber and I can't find him ourselves. We need help.

(Gwen): I'll do it, but only with my boyfriend Kevin!

(Ben): Oh no, not Kevin!

(Plumber): What's wrong with Kevin?

(Ben): You don't want to know...

''We flash back to 12-year-old Kevin chasing 11-year-old Ben around in front of Ben's house. Kevin had absorbed the metal from a streetlight and had shaped his right hand into a hammer.''

(Ben): Stop!

(Kevin): You're gonna get tired eventually.

End flashback.

(Gwen): Come on, Ben, Kevin doesn't do that to you anymore. He hasn't for years!

(Ben): Alright, we'll ask him...

The view changes to a dark alley in a crummy part of town. A man had backed a woman against the wall and was mugging her. We see the man from the front, and suddenly, something hit him from behind, and he fell to the ground. This revealed Kevin, having absorbed some of the brick wall, who knocked the man out.

(Kevin): You're welcome.

Kevin changed back and walked out of the alley and around the corner, right into Ben and Gwen!

(Kevin): Gwen? Tennyson? What are you doing here?

(Gwen): We need your help tracking down an alien who made a device that's stuck to my cousin's wrist.

One explanation later, the three, along with the Plumber, were all sitting in a room.

(Kevin): So Gwen won't help unless I also help?

(Ben): Yeah, apparently.

(Kevin): Sounds interesting, but where are we going to look?

(Paradox): I can answer that.

A complete stranger had teleported in with a blue flash! We know him as Paradox, but the gang had never seen him before.

(Paradox): All of this will become clear. Now go to 1313 Stenton Avenue.

And just like that, he was gone!

(Ben): Who was that?

(Kevin): He just... teleported in and out? Man, what'd he use to do that? I want one!

(Gwen): I didn't see anything on him. Maybe he's a time-travelling alien or something?

(Plumber): Can we even trust his tip?

(Ben): We don't have a choice. We have nothing else to go on.

(Plumber): I suppose you're right.

They headed for downtown in Kevin's car, but on the way, the same stranger (Paradox of course) teleported into the middle of the road right in front of them! Kevin slammed on the brakes, stopping just a foot in front of the stranger.

(Paradox): Hello, Ben Tennyson! I need your help.

Commercial!

(Paradox, standard post-commercial repetition): I need your help.

(Ben): It's you, that guy who teleported into the room earlier and told us that "all will become clear."

(Paradox): I didn't do that! ...yet, I suppose. Time travel can be confusing.

(Kevin): Did... you just say time travel?

(Paradox): That is what I attempted to say. Did it not come out that way?

(Ben): Point is, who are you? Do you have anything to do with the box that crashed into downtown?

(Paradox): Ah, yes, my identity. I can't tell you much, but I can tell you this: there is a purple energy monster that is about to terrorize the city looking for you. You must lead it to the deep storage of Fort Soledad, where we will have set up some tech to... deal with it.

(Plumber): Are you suggesting that we break into an active army base? Are you kidding me?

(Paradox): We don't really have a choice, unless you're suggesting that we steal the Black Box and all other necessary technology, which will be much harder.

(Kevin): Either way, we need a plan. How are we going to get in and set everything up?

Just like that, Paradox teleported them all into the massive underground deep storage chamber, bypassing all the security.

(Paradox): That's how.

(Plumber): Whoa!

(Gwen): What does all this stuff do?

(Ben): Nobody push any buttons!

(Kevin): If someone stole this and managed to sell just once piece of this tech, they'd be a billionaire already.

(Ben): What's behind that big door over there? *points at a large garage-style door on the far wall*

(Paradox): Not important. Focus on what is!

(Gwen, pointing): There's the Box!

It was isolated from the rest of the tech on a platform.

(Paradox): We need to move it towards the Entropy Pump over there.

They all looked towards an odd donut-like circle made of quartz crystal. It had a ton of machinery wired up to it.

(Ben): What is that?

(Plumber): I believe it was an old time machine experiment, but when it didn't work, it was locked up here.

(Paradox): That is correct. We need it to get rid of the monster.

In the background, Ben turned into Humungousaur and began pushing the Box over to the Entropy Pump.

(Kevin): Why are we trusting you anyway?

(Paradox): Because I'm the key to the answers you all are looking for.

(Ben/Humungousaur): He's right. Besides, there's the energy monster after us.

Ben changed back, and they hooked up controls to the Pump and the Box.

(Gwen): Uh, guys?

She was watching the news on a TV that was on the wall for no apparent reason. It was showing the same purple energy monster from the beginning of the episode terrorizing the city. It was gliding around, leaving a rut of aged ground behind it, zapping anyone in its way with a beam of energy that aged them to dust, which dissipated into the air.

(Plumber): We need to get down there, fast!

Paradox teleported them all over. Ben turned into Diamondhead.

(Ben/Diamondhead): Come get some!

He shot diamonds at the monster, but it held up its hands in the projectiles' path. When they hit him, they disintegrated! Everyone's jaw dropped. Ben then changed back.

(Kevin): ...Did he just age away diamond?

(Paradox): Stronger than diamond, actually, but yes. That monster is a temporal anomaly that was never supposed to exist. It and everything that touch it will rapidly and infinitely age all at once, though the creature itself is never destroyed. That's what we need to change. Let's lead it back to Fort Soledad.

Paradox teleported them all back to the base, including the monster! He then bent over, hands leaning on his knees, out of fatigue, and for a split second he looked like the monster.

(Ben): Paradox, what's happening to you?

(Paradox, getting up): No time for explanation, lead it to the Pump. Don't get close to it or you'll get sucked in after it!

They all hid except Ben, who turned into Ghostfreak.

(Ben/Ghostfreak): Time I gave this guy a try against a baddy. He freaks me out most of the time. *to monster* Hey, big ugly energy thing! Over here, I'm ripe for the aging!

He flew right up to the Pump, leading the monster to it. Then, at the last minute, he pushed a button on the machine and flew away as it fired up. A portal-like window out of time appeared in the hole in the center. It stopped the monster in its tracks, and the monster started deforming into a mass of energy that was then sucked into the portal. You could see the monster through it, pounding at the one-way, inescapable wall of the portal. The machine then deactivated, though the portal was still visible. Everyone else except Paradox came out and joined Ben/Ghostfreak in discussing it.

(Gwen): What was that thing, Paradox? ...Paradox?

They all heard the machine fire up behind them, and Paradox was standing just in front of the area from where he would be sucked in.

(Ben/Ghostfreak): Paradox, don't!

(Paradox): There's no other way. You wanted to know what that thing was, right? Well, it was me!

Commercial!

(Paradox, post-commercial repetition): That thing was me!

(All others): What?!

(Paradox): Not quite, but it was a corrupt clone of me that happened completely by accident as I came here with the Black Box. Energy from inside it accidentally gave me my powers. A slight de-sync in time along the way created the corrupt clone. I'm already decaying into another version of that as we speak, which is why we need to stop it.

(Kevin): Why this way? Can't we merge you back together or something with the tech in here?

(Paradox): Maybe, but no other process will fix the paradox created by all this. Besides, I'm destabilizing anyway. It's only a matter of time before I turn into that myself. *looks toward the monster in the portal*

(Ben/Ghostfreak): But you can't help us find answers if you do this!

(Paradox): I'm a time-traveler. I've seen you through more than you can possibly imagine. Even the first time I meet you will happen fairly soon. Goodbye, Team Tennyson!

Paradox took one step back, and then was sucked into the portal, which started glowing bright white. The portal then detached from the center of the Pump in the form of a purple energy beam that shot straight back towards the Box, the carvings on which then glowed purple before fading to black again. Presumably, they were both absorbed by the Box. Everyone was silent.

(Gwen): He said we'd see an earlier version of him soon. I wonder how soon?

(Ben/Ghostfreak): Pretty soon, I'll bet.

(Plumber): He called us "Team Tennyson." I like it!

(Kevin): Uh, I'm not a Tennyson and neither are you...

(Plumber): You have a better idea?

(Kevin): Umm... the Plumbers? No, that's stupid... How 'bout-?

(Plumber): Team Tennyson it is!

They disassembled the machinery they set up, leaving the Pump and the Box there.

(Gwen): Okay, but how are we going to get out of the base without Paradox? Ben, why don't you turn into something else?

(Ben/Ghostfreak): Who?

Everyone else stared at him for a second, which snapped Ben/Ghostfreak out of whatever he was in.

(Ben/Ghostfreak, shaking his head): Oh, alright.

He turned into Big Chill, and used a new power to grab hold of everyone and turn them intangible as well as him, so he flew through the ground and out of the base. When they were safely out, Ben changed back.

(Ben): I don't know what that was about. Either way, let's go to 1312 Stenton Avenue like Paradox said. Maybe we'll find some answers there.

They drove to the address in Kevin's car. It was in a rowhouse in a residential part of the city. The door was slightly open, and all was dark inside.

(Kevin): This is the place. I sure hope we find something.

They walked in. Then, the door shut, and they were all tazed from behind! They fell to the floor, unconscious.

THE END?