The Elemental Enerithian (Ben 10)

Paradox

Semi-rewritten

"You didn't need to come. Gwen and I could've handled this alone. It's nothing, really." Kevin tells Ben and Aria as they drive to a specific location. "Doesn't sound like nothing." Ben tells him. "Yeah. Weird noises, unearthly lights," Aria says as they get out of the car. "rumors of weird creatures out here?" Ben finishes. "Yeah, the dudes I heard it from aren't totally reliable." Kevin dismisses. Isn't that, like, a big bad boy thing to do-- come out here to the ghost town to drag-race?" Gwen asks. "How should I know? I just know them from auto shop." Kevin acts oblivious, but none of them are convinced. They stare at him and then look at the wall which has 'Kevin Rules' written on it. "Grandpa Max said Los Soledad used to be a big military base back in the '50s. Some kind of research facility." Ben shares. "Yeah. Must've been some pretty serious research. Check out these walls. 50 years later and there's still no way in." Kevin claims. "Oh my god! Is that a hole in the wall?" Aria feigns surprise and then stares at Kevin with a dead look. "No way. These weren't here." Kevin says, actually surprised.

They get back in the car and Kevin drives through the hole and through the base. "Did anyone notice some of them are vaguely person-shaped?" Gwen asks after they get out of the car. "Weird. Maybe something-- I don't know-- burned through the wall." Ben suggests. "Like what exactly?" Aria asks. "The same thing that burned these weird trails everywhere." Ben says, and Gwen approaches them. "Look." Gwen points to a skeleton. "This is a bird. And these are lizard bones. They're fossilized." Ben notes. "And they're not the only thing." Gwen looks at a phone booth. "It's like someone turned this slate into sand just by standing on it." She points out, and Aria walks over, grabbing the wire absorbing the eletricity. "He was probably on hold." Kevin jokes, walking over. Ben walks past them, observing the trails. "The trail goes to the police station, then to those-- I guess they're apartments." Ben points out. "Just to review, someone stood here a million years ago and then walked to those buildings that were built 50 years ago?" Kevin asks. "You are not helping." Ben tells him. "Maybe he's a time traveler." Aria suggests. "Neither are you." He tells Aria. "These could be signs of serious DNAlien activity, and it's up to us--" "DNAliens have nothing to do with this." Aria cuts Ben off after seeing something.

"Does that look like a DNAlien to you?" Gwen asks pointing at the thing that caught Aria's attention. The boys look back and see a creature headed towards them. "Finally something worth the gas." Kevin says absorbing stone from the ground. Gwen's hand glows with mana, Ben transforms into Chromastone and Aria decides to stand back and observe the creature. The trio runs at the creature but it moves around them dragging itself across a building and they decide to chase it. "Watch out!" Aria warns them and they narrowly dodge the falling building. "Gone." Chromastone says watching where the creature went and he detransforms. "Thanks for the help, Ari." Kevin says sarcastically as the girl approaches. "I'm not gonna get involved with something I don't know anything about." Aria defends herself. "At least the building it destroyed wasn't the library." Gwen says. "You really love the books." Kevin notes. "She's saying we have to research, find out what that thing is. All we know so far is that it's looking for something here on the base." Ben points out and they head to the library.

"These films are really corroded, but it looks like this base was built for some kind of research time experiment called Project Paradox." Gwen shared, reading the article on the computer. "Who wouldn't pick the dessert outside of Bellwood to do top-secret research?" Kevin asks. "Didn't they build it here because of the huge quartz deposits?" Aria asks. "Quartz time? Maybe they were trying to build the world's biggest wristwatch." Kevin suggests. "Or time travel." Aria suggests. "What's up with you and time travel?" Ben asks. "Nothing it's just the most reasonable solution." Aria replies. "Yeah, okay." Ben tells her, reading the article. "His name's been censored. Whoever he was his paradox theory was the basis of some kind of tunnel through time..." Ben trails and Aria takes in a deep breath ready to say something. "I don't wanna hear it." Ben tells her. "Aw." She pouts. They leave the library and go to the building where the experiment was held and see a quartz ring and elongated equipment. "Looks like my place after that big party I threw last weekend." Kevin cracks a joke as they inspect the equipment. "That thing was here." Aria says, seeing the trail. "Only one trail. It either came in here and vanished..." Ben trails off. "Or it was born here." Gwen finishes for him.