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Plumbers' Helpers X = Ben + 2
Paradox
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Prologue

Speaker Dialogue
In 1952, at a flat clandestine town, inside a house doubling as a research facility, a government experiment is underway.
General Sure this thing is gonna work? Your time machine has cost the US government a pretty penny, Doctor.
The general speaks into a microphone, behind a glass shield, to be heard inside the other room full of equipment. A large round ring of quartz crystal is suspended at the center of it as two scientists work on a couple of control panels.
Mysterious Doctor The Chronolauger is hardly a time machine in the sense of a vehicle, but rather a subatomic drill designed to bore a tunnel in the fabric of space-time. As to cost, I think the alleviation of untold human suffering throughout history is ample justification, General.
General (muttering; to other scientists) It'll also give our red buddies overseas a thing or two to think about.
The general then puts on his protective goggles, as do the scientists beside him, before looking at the mysterious doctor.
Mysterious Doctor But to answer your first question, there is only one way to find out.
The mysterious doctor puts on protective goggles and pulls a switch. The Chronolauger activates, and both scientists working on it turn to look at it as it generates a vortex-like portal.
Second Scientist You're certain we're safe, Doctor?
Mysterious Doctor I'm not certain of anything, Hugo. But the chronomagnetic field we generated should protect us.
The portal grows stronger with flashing lights and fuzzing electricity.
Hugo Doctor, I…I'm frightened!
Mysterious Doctor (pulls out a paper bag) Have a gumball, it'll calm your nerves!
Hugo backs up as the mysterious doctor smiles. The readings in the control panels go nuts as the vortex starts tugging harder and harder on the Doctor himself. Nearby lamps get pulled; control panels get stretched; all the equipment in the room spaghettifies and gets sucked into the Chronolauger's vortex. The doctor tries running away, but is swept up off his feet and swallowed by the portal. A large, offscreen figure rises to the General and other scientists' horror.
Figure (roars)
Theme Plays

Act 1

Speaker Dialogue
In the present, at dusk, Kevin's car speeds down a motorway. Kevin's eyes peer at the backseat through his rearview mirror.
Kevin You didn't need to come. Gwen and I coulda handled this alone. It's nothing, really.
He parks in front of a brick-walled compound and steps out with Ben and Gwen.
Ben It doesn't sound like nothing, weird noises, unearthly lights...rumors of weird creatures around here.
Kevin Yeah, the dudes I heard it from aren't - totally reliable.
Gwen Isn't that like a big 'bad boy' thing to do? Come out here to the ghost town to drag race?
Kevin How should I know? I just know them from auto shop.
Ben and Gwen spot red graffiti on the wall that says "KEVIN RULES!".
Ben Grandpa Max said Los Soledad used to be a big military base back in the '50s. Some kind of research facility.
Kevin Yeah, must have been some pretty serious research. Check out these walls, 50 years later and there's still no way in.
The team turns to look at several big holes in the wall.
Kevin No way. These weren't here...!
The car drives through the base, passing dilapidated buildings with shattered windows. They get out in the center of town.
Gwen Did anyone notice some of them are vaguely person-shaped?
Ben Weird... Maybe something, I don't know, burned through the wall.
Kevin Like what?
Ben The same thing that burned these weird trails everywhere.
Large, ash-covered trails travel through and intersect each other on the ground.
Gwen (pointing) Look!
At the edges of the trails lay the intact skeletons of small animals.
Ben This is a bird, (picking another up) and these are lizard bones. They're fossilized...!
Gwen And they're not the only thing.
The trio spot a demolished telephone box.
Gwen (inspecting) It's like someone turned the slate into sand just by standing on it.
Kevin He was probably on hold.
Ben The trail goes to the police station, then to those...I guess they're apartments.
Kevin Just to review: someone stood here a million years ago and then walked to those buildings that were built 50 years ago?
Ben You are not helping! These could be signs of serious DNAlien activity, and it's up to us-!
Gwen DNAliens are not doing this! (points) Does that look like a DNAlien to you?
She points at a shifting silhouette in the distance. A dark blue shifting entity with a neon blue skeletal-like body; it seemingly glides across the ground as it digs out a trail in it, leaving static afterimages of itself as it rapidly approaches the trio.
Kevin (absorbs stone from pavement) Finally something worth the gas.
Gwen manifests Manna orbs around her hands as Ben activates the Omnitrix and transforms into Chromastone.
Chromastone Chromastone!
The creature then moves around the trio with ease. It gets away with grazing a building on its side as it moves. The building then starts to collapse.
Chromastone Look out!
Chromastone, Gwen, and Kevin jump out of the way before the building falls apart. Once Chromastone gets up, there’s no sight of the creature.
Chromastone (VO) Gone.
The Omnitrix times out and Chromastone reverts into Ben before he steps forward.
Gwen At least the building that was destroyed wasn't the library.
Kevin discards his stone coating.
Kevin You really love the books.
Ben She's saying we have to research, find out what that thing is. All we know so far that it's looking for something here on the base.
At the library, the team researches the facility on a microfilm reader.
Gwen These films are really corroded, (inspecting a fact file on the mysterious doctor) but it looks like this base was built for some kind of time experiment called "Project Paradox".
Kevin Who wouldn't pick the desert outside Bellwood to do top secret research?
Ben They built it here because of the huge quartz deposits.
Kevin Quartz, time, maybe they were trying to build the world's biggest wristwatch.
Ben His name's been censored, whoever he was, his Paradox theory was the basis of some kind of experimental tunnel through time.
The trio observes the remains of the experiment with the old equipment spaghettified towards The Chronolauger. Some of the lamps even levitate in the air as if they were unaffected by gravity.
Kevin Looks like my place after that big party I threw last weekend.
As the trio inspects the area of the experiment looking at the stretched out equipment, Gwen glances at the floor and notices the same trails that were outside.
Gwen Look, that thing's been here too.
Ben Only one trail. It either came in here and vanished…
Gwen Or it was born here.
Some rustling, something akin to a roar and a loud crash through a wall are heard. Ben activates the Omnitrix and transforms into Swampfire.
Swampfire Swampfire!
Swampfire investigates the site of the noise and grabs someone.
Swampfire Gotcha!
The person is revealed to be the mysterious doctor from the 1952 experiment.
Mysterious Doctor "Swampfire"! That takes me back, or is it forward? It's so "hard" to tell, Ben. Have we met?
Swampfire "How" do you know my name?
Swampfire proceeds to let go of the mysterious doctor.
Mysterious Doctor “Have we met yet?” I suppose the question was.
Kevin (covered with stone) Hey, it's that dork from the photo. The Paradox guy.
Gwen You haven't changed at all, in 50 years.
Mysterious Doctor Oooh, considerably more than that. (reveals a paper bag; offers one to Swampfire) Gumball?
Swampfire No thanks. Who are you? What's your name?
Mysterious Doctor You just read my file, I was rather hoping you could tell me. It slipped my mind several hundred years ago.
Kevin Did he just say several hundred years?
Swampfire Did you just say... (notices the scientist has vanished) Hey.
Mysterious Doctor By the way, you didn't happen to see a space-time anomaly around here, did you? About yay-big? Incredibly destructive? Virtually unstoppable? No? I must've been thinking of another moment. Taraah!
The scientist goes through a door frame. Kevin runs over to follow him, but finds out he is no longer present.
Kevin Where'd he…?
Gwen (looks through window; spots him) He's out there!
The mysterious doctor is leaning on a pole across the street.
Swampfire He's obviously connected to that creature. We need to talk to him!
Kevin Oh yeah! We'll talk.
Kevin plows through the wall and charges up to the mysterious doctor.
Kevin Right after the pounding!
The mysterious doctor walks behind the pole and vanishes.
Kevin Huh?
The mysterious doctor waves from inside of a house and closes the door. Kevin destroys the door and chases plowing through the walls of a couple of houses, throwing a chair up and far away through a roof. The mysterious doctor steps forward in front of Swampfire and Gwen.
Mysterious Doctor Was I in there?
The mysterious doctor continues to levitate through Los Soledad and stops as Swampfire bursts a hole through a house.
Mysterious Doctor (offscreen) That was public property you know.
Swampfire How does he move so fast?
Mysterious Doctor (offscreen) You mean (onscreen; now across the street) how do I move so quickly? It's called walking. (walks offscreen, reappearing next to Kevin) Strolling, really.
Kevin (grabs the scientist's jacket) That's better?
Mysterious Doctor Easy on the jacket, it's twelve-hundred years old. Anyway, thanks.
Swampfire Thanks? For what?
Mysterious Doctor Well, I had a felling that if you made a loud enough racket, he'd show up.
The creature can be heard offscreen.
Kevin Finally, something we can hit.
Mysterious Doctor Oh, I really don't think that's a good idea.
The creature moves towards the four.
Gwen (offscreen) Those trails, they're not burn marks, (onscreen) they're... age. The creature accelerates time!
Kevin runs towards the creature.
Mysterious Doctor (to Gwen) Very good.
Kevin (charging up to the creature) Not so fast, ugly!
Kevin punches the creature, but it is unharmed. Kevin's coating fades as his hand wrinkles. Kevin falls onto the ground, unconscious. Gwen and Swampfire rush towards Kevin while Paradox leads the creature away from the trio.
Swampfire (gasps) Kevin!
Swampfire turns Kevin's body to discover that Kevin has rapidly aged 80 years.

Act 2

Speaker Dialogue
Gwen Kevin!
The Omnitrix times out and Swampfire reverts into Ben.
Ben Just touching that thing aged him... 60? 80 years? (picks him up) We've gotta get him to a hospital.
Old Kevin (regains consciousness) What are you doing? Get your hands off of me.
Gwen Come on Kevin, we're gonna get you some help.
Old Kevin Whaddya mean help? I'm gonna kick that thing's keister. (kicks the air; feels back pain)
Gwen Are you okay?
Old Kevin My back is killing me, my legs ache, and what up with these shoes? Is it too much to ask for a little support?
Gwen He's like a real irritable, short-tempered, crotchety old man.
Old Kevin Why are you whispering?
Ben In other words, aside from the male pattern baldness, he's pretty much the same as always. Come on, old man.
Kevin is trying to use his keys to unlock his car.
Ben (grabs keys; offscreen) I'll take those.
Old Kevin What do you think you're doing?
Ben (onscreen) Driving.
Old Kevin Don't even think about it, you don't have a license.
Ben Grandpa Max taught me and it's an emergency. (offscreen) You're near-sided, arthritic, your reflexes are shot, (onscreen) and you're trying to unlock a cactus.
The trio have entered the car, Ben inserts the keys.
Old Kevin (to Gwen) You should've gone out with me when I was young and handsome.
Gwen You were too immature.
Old Kevin What about now?
Gwen Too old.
Ben starts the car, accidentally puts it in reverse, and crashes over some trash cans.
Ben Whoops!
Old Kevin It's not a bumper car!
The creature appears, crashing through a house, and turns to the car.
Gwen (to Ben; offscreen) Back up, back up, (onscreen) back up!
Ben then puts the car back in action and starts driving away backwards as the creature chases the team.
Gwen Ben, (offscreen) on the right!
Ben turns the car the other way as the creature chases the car through the houses of Los Soledad. As Ben continues to retreat from the creature, it puts it's hand on the back of the car and ages the car, causing it to become brown and rusty.
Old Kevin No, no! Not the car, not the car!
Ben Hang on!
Ben rides up a building with a ramp and stops the car on the rooftop.
A short while later, Ben and Gwen have exited the car and are carrying Kevin by his arms.
Old Kevin (to Ben) You are never driving my car again!
Kevin's car then falls apart.
Ben True.
Mysterious Doctor (offscreen) Where have you been? (onscreen) You were supposed to get here six seconds ago, (about his pocket watch)’’ or it is this thing running fast?
Ben Who are you, anyway? What are you doing here?
Gwen What is that creature?
Old Kevin Can you fix my car?
Mysterious Doctor (to Kevin) There's something different about you, is it your hair?
Old Kevin Yeah, I'm parting it down the middle now and I also got REAL OLD!
Mysterious Doctor Don't talk to me about old, I walk in eternity!
Old Kevin Well you better start (shakes fist) running in eternity, smart guy!
Mysterious Doctor Hmm, you might slow us down, I need to fix that. We'll come back right over there. (points)
Kevin and the scientist emerge from the rooftop entrence. Kevin has now been restored to his teen self again.
Gwen Kevin! (runs to Kevin; hugs him excitedly) I can't believe it, you're good as new.
Kevin Well, my back still hurts a little, if I could just lean on you...
Gwen releases Kevin from her arms.
Kevin Alright, Professor, if you wouldn't mind fixing my car...
Mysterious Doctor How exactly do you expect me to do that? I'm a time traveller, not a body shop. (offscreen) Regressing a car would break all the laws of space-time, and-
Ben Okay, enough! I want answers now!
Mysterious Doctor Same old Ben Tennyson. Even more like yourself now than you were in the future, which for obvious reasons I can't really tell you about.
Kevin (to Ben and Gwen) You want me to hurt him?
Gwen What can you tell us Mr... Paradox?
Paradox Paradox! Oh, yes, that'll do, that'll do very nicely. I'll tell you my story in a way you can understand, with a beginning, middle and end. We'll start in the middle.
Paradox uses his pocket watch to show the trio his past.
Flashback to Los Soledad, 1952
Paradox (VO) Los Soledad was built entirely because of my ingenious theory, a time tunnel utilizing the properties I discovered in quartz crystals which would allow us access to past and future events.
The incident in 1952 shown earlier in the episode replays, now in color.
Kevin (VO) Yeah, well for a genius, it looks like you blew it.
Paradox (VO) You don't know the half of it. Some tiny miscalculation on my part destabilized the experiment and ripped a hole in the fabric of reality.
The scene shows Paradox getting sucked into a time vortex after the Chronolauger accident.
Paradox (VO) I was hurled into the event horizon. I must've spent 100,000 years there. I didn't age or need to sleep or eat, just exist.
Kevin (VO) (scoffs) Sounds pretty boring.
Paradox (VO) At first I went mad, of course, but after a few millennia, I got bored with that too, and went sane. Very sane. I began to learn, I now have total understanding of the space-time continuum...
The flashback ends and Paradox closes his pocket watch.
Paradox ...allowing me to travel anywhere and anywhen I want, within reason.
Kevin So where's your time machine?
Ben He doesn't have a time machine. He has a map, in his head.
Paradox Exactly, I know where all the shortcuts are. I spent a dozen lifetimes criss-crossing the timestream, making it a better place.
Kevin And how does that pay?
Paradox At the moment, not even in job satisfaction.
Paradox and the trio are now inside. Paradox walks towards a chalkboard while the trio look around in shock.
Paradox You see, I recently discovered that some kind of extradimensional creature is going to wreak havoc across the universe.
Ben So? The way you talk, you take monsters like this all the time. Why is this one so bad.
Paradox (using chalk to draw on the board) Because unlike the thousands of foes I faced before, this... extradimensional creature came into our plain of reality, the moment my experiment went awry.
Kevin Oh. So, just to be clear, it's your fault.
Gwen This creature hasn't been lurking around here for 50 years. We would know about it.
Paradox Time is like a river. It moves, flows and bends. (offscreen) 50 years ago, I accidentally set off a depth charge in that river. (onscreen) The creature I released was blasted 50 years through time to your present, doing (scribbles over his diagram) this to your future.
Gwen (offscreen) But all it's doing is (onscreen) messing up an old army base, why is that a problem at all? Why not just leave it alone?
Paradox That's a better question for the man on the moon.
Ben What? Who's the man on the moon?
Paradox and the team are now on the moon.
Paradox I am.
Ben We're on the moon.
Paradox No, we're on the moon in your distant future.
Kevin What?! How are we not suffocation?
Paradox Good question. Not remotely the point, though. Imagine what the Earth would look like in 200 years, say, with that time monster wandering all over it, aging everything across it's path to dust. For those of you with no imagination, the earth is up there.
Paradox gestures at the Earth, and he and the trio look to see the Earth dead and with a red aura surrounding it.
Ben You brought us to the worst possible version of the future.
Paradox No, should I fail to stop that creature, this is your best possible future.

Act 3

Speaker Dialogue
Paradox Not a pretty sight, is it? (to someone offscreen) What are you doing here?
The someone in question is revealed to be an alternate Paradox.
Paradox (Failure Timeline) I'm allowing myself to feel the full impact of my failure.
Kevin Okay, who's he?
Ben He's a parallel Paradox.
Paradox (Failure Timeline) Young Ben has an innate sense of trans-temporal metaphysics, which will serve him well in his future. Or should I say past?
Ben And I drive good too.
Kevin We can breathe on the Moon in the future, but you can't fix my car?
Paradox What should I do?
Paradox (Failure Timeline) Well obviously not what I did. But whatever you do, you've gotta do it quickly. Time is running out.
"Our" Paradox activates his pocket watch.
Paradox and the trio transport back to the present.
Gwen (to Paradox) Why come back here? Why not travel back in time and stop the time experiment from ever happening?
Paradox Isn't it just like an energy being to think outside temporal conventions?
Gwen I'm not an energy-
Paradox The experiment that releases the creature also unsticks me in time. And that must happen, because, (scoffs) in all modesty...
Ben You saved the world dozens of times.
Paradox Hundreds, actually. In fact, on one occasion, you and I worked together to save the entire univer- never mind. (about the transdimensional creature) It should be here any-
The team hears the creature nearby.
Paradox You could set your watch by it.
The extradimensional creature wrecks down the house, exposing it's presence. Ben activates the Omnitrix and transforms into Jetray.
Jetray Jetray!
Jetray proceeds to fire neuroshock rays on the creature but Jetray's lasers are ineffective. Paradox throws gumballs at the creature, causing it to halt.
Jetray They hit it? Doesn't everything age into oblivion as soon as they touch it?
Paradox Gumballs last a very long time. Look under your desk at school, (warning Jetray) now get back!
Jetray jumps out of the way as the creature starts moving again. Gwen manifests Manna orbs around her hands, but stops hen Paradox jumps and holds the creature to restrain it.
Gwen Let go, he'll age you into dust!
Paradox I exist outside of time. (groans) Well, I can still feel the eons passing!
The Omnitrix times out and Jetray reverts into Ben.
Ben Paradox, take us back to the accident, now!
Paradox But I told you-
Ben Just do it!
Paradox then transports himself, the trio, and the creature back to the accident in 1952, as the former continues to hold the creature in place.
Ben Kevin, Gwen, the lab, quick!
Gwen and Kevin set off to the lab.
Ben (to Paradox) You just keep that thing occupied.
Ben runs offscreen.
Paradox K-Keep it occupied?! I'm a time travelling hero, I don't keep things occupied!
Paradox loses his footing and is dragged around the base by the creature. Ben, Gwen and Kevin enter the lab, at the same time as the prologue.
General Sure this thing is gonna work? Your time machine has cost the US government a pretty penny, Doctor.
As the conversation persists, the team sneak through the lab.
Paradox (past) (offscreen) As to cost, I think (onscreen) the alleviation of untold human suffering throughout history is ample justification, general.
Ben Why would it use the phone?
Gwen What?
Ben The creature, it tried to use the payphone, then it went to the police station, then the dorms. It didn't act like some unfathomable transdimensional creature, it did everything a normal person would do.
Gwen If they suddenly found themselves in an abandoned military base.
The Chronolauger is activated. We see Hugo, who accidentally bumps into a switch panel and destroys it while trying to keep away from the suction.
Ben Look there, the assistant.
The panel Hugo backed away to explodes.
Hugo Ah!
The portal suction starts to exacerbate and then stuff starts to get sucked inside and "stretched towards the Chronolauger. Paradox then gets sucked inside the portal. Then, Hugo gets caught in the suction range and then grabs onto one of the objects but is close to the portal.
Hugo (screams)
Ben crawls forward and reaches towards Hugo.
Gwen Ben! You'll get sucked in along with him!
Ben I need to put on a little weight.
The Chronolauger sucks Ben into the air, before Ben activates the Omnitrix and turns into Humungousaur, revealing that Humungousaur was the figure roaring in the prologue.
Humungousaur (groaning) Humungousaur!
Hugo then loses his grip and is about to get sucked in.
Hugo (screams)
Humungousaur grabs Hugo before he can be caught inside the Chronolauger.
Humungousaur Trust me, this beats the alternative.
Humungousaur then pulls himself and Hugo away from the portal. Gwen then uses her Manna blasts to destroy the Chronolauger and stop the portal. Meanwhile, Paradox is still outside being dragged the transdimensional creature. Suddenly, the creature disappears and turns back into Hugo, as Hugo never got sucked into the portal.
Paradox Hugo, of course! If it were a snake, it would've bit me.
The team walk up to Paradox and Hugo.
Paradox (to Ben) But, don't look so smug! I would've figured it out eventually.
Ben You had a hundred thousand years.
Paradox and the trio transport back to the present. Hugo watches in disbelief.
Paradox (to the trio; offscreen) Well, I have to admit it, I'm impressed. All those (onscreen) centuries trapped into the event horizon and it never occurred to me that the accident wasn't my fault (to Ben) You're much smarter than you were when I met you later.
Ben ...Thanks, I guess.
Gwen (about Hugo) What happened to him? Your assistant.
Hugo I... live my life.
Present Hugo then appears, now an old man.
Paradox (excited; offscreen) Hugo! (onscreen) How are you? (shakes Hugo's hand)
Hugo Well, you look the same, and I haven't seen you in 50 years.
Paradox Well I hadn't seen you in 100,000 years, you don't look that bad. How was your life?
Hugo Good, a good life, but... I'm sorry about the experiment. I ruined everything. I never got to time travel.
Paradox Would you still like to?
Hugo Yes, I'm not afraid anymore.
Paradox Glad to hear it. How about I give you a (opens his pocket watch) 'behind the scenes look at eternity.'
Paradox has opened a time portal via his watch. He and Hugo go through it, disappearing from the scene.
Gwen At least he's got company now.
Kevin Oh! And thanks for uh, stranding us out here in the middle of nowhere!
Ben C'mon, we've got a long walk home.
They begin walking, but stop as the find that Kevin's car has been restored before being aged by the creature.
Kevin (chuckles in excitement) Stoked! (runs towards the car)
Gwen It looks like new!
Ben and Gwen run to the car.
Kevin It doesn't just look like new, it is new. It's factory new from 30 years ago! Paradox, I take back everything I was about to say about you.
Ben (picks up note left in car; reads) 'Kevin, try to keep in mind that if this car comes into contact with anything else from 1976, it'll explode like anti-matter. Enjoy, Paradox.
Kevin He's kidding, right?
The team enter the car and Kevin starts the car and drives off.
Kevin (offscreen) That's some kind of time travel joke, right? Isn't it, guys?
Credits Play
Ben 10: Alien Force Episode Transcripts
Season 1 Ben 10 Returns: Part 1Ben 10 Returns: Part 2Everybody Talks About the WeatherKevin's Big ScoreAll That GlittersPier PressureMax OutBe-KnightedWhat Are Little Girls Made Of?The GauntletPlumbers' HelpersParadoxX = Ben + 2Alone TogetherDarkstar RisingGood Copy, Bad CopySave the Last DanceUndercoverBirds of a FeatherGroundedPet ProjectUnearthedVoidedInside ManWars of the Worlds: Part 1War of the Worlds: Part 2
Season 2 Vengeance of Vilgax: Part 1Vengeance of Vilgax: Part 2InfernoDon't Fear the RepoSimpleFool's GoldSinglehandedIf All Else FailsIn Charm's WayTrade-Off!Ghost TownBusy BoxCon of RathPrimusAbove and BeyondThe Secret of ChromastoneVendettaTime HealsThe Final Battle: Part 1The Final Battle: Part 2
Movies Ben 10: Alien Swarm