Philadelphia, night market.
Colorful neon lights flickered without pause, casting dazzling splashes of light across the bustling night market.
Food stalls and game booths lined the area in every direction. The whole place was packed with noise and laughter.
People chatted and laughed as they ate, played games, and enjoyed themselves to the fullest.
At that moment, Ben gripped a baseball, took aim at the "Franklin" statue, and hurled it with all his strength.
Bang!
The baseball tore through the air with a sharp whistle and slammed hard into the Franklin statue.
But the statue only wobbled twice before settling back into place.
It was as if nothing had happened at all.
"Oh, come on, that's not fair! You guys totally rigged it!" Ben said furiously.
"Kid, you get a prize if you knock Franklin down. You didn't knock him down, so you get nothing!" the vendor said with complete confidence, setting the Franklin statue back in place and going right back to calling for customers.
"What a bunch of crooks." Ben grumbled, then glanced at the Omnitrix on his wrist, the corners of his mouth slowly lifting. "If I turned into Four Arms, I could definitely knock Franklin over!"
"Wow, Ben, so impressive. Using the most powerful piece of high-tech equipment in the universe to play a kiddie game like this?" Gwen said, exasperated.
"So what?" Ben pouted.
"Alright, kids. If you come to Philadelphia and don't see the Liberty Bell, it's basically a wasted trip. Let's go take a look."
Just then, Grandpa Max and Lucian walked over.
"Stop right there! Give me back my truck!"
A furious shout suddenly shattered the warm atmosphere.
Everyone turned toward the sound.
Two vicious robbers were driving off in a cargo truck loaded with goods, smashing through obstacles in their path as they sped away.
"They hijacked a merchant's truck!" Gwen said at once.
"Hey, time for the hero to make an entrance!" Ben looked at the fleeing truck, thrilled. "Time for Four Arms to make his entrance!"
Boom.
A flash of green light went off.
"Grey Matter?!"
A tiny blue frog appeared at everyone's feet.
"Oh, man..." Grey Matter drooped in disappointment.
"I'll handle it," Lucian said as he pressed the Omnitrix.
Another flash of green light appeared.
"XLR8!"
Whoosh!
XLR8 turned into a blue gust of wind, weaving through the crowd and obstacles as if no one were there.
In the blink of an eye, he was right in front of the truck.
Boom!
Another burst of green light flared.
"Swampfire!"
A tall, slender, grass-green alien wearing a crown of flames suddenly appeared in front of the truck.
"What the heck?" one robber said, eyes wide.
The other robber's expression hardened. "Forget it, run him over!"
Vroom...
The robber slammed on the gas.
The large truck roared forward like a mechanical beast, carrying a wave of violent momentum and wind as it barreled straight toward Swampfire.
Swampfire gave a cold snort. A handful of seeds appeared in his hand, and he scattered them across the truck's path.
Rumble!
Countless thick vines burst from the ground, tearing through the hard pavement like a mass of crazed mutant snakes, tangling and twisting around one another.
In an instant, they locked the truck in midair.
"What the hell is this?!"
"Oh my God, I've got to be dreaming. Yeah, yeah, I'm definitely dreaming."
The two robbers were utterly stunned. Even through the windshield, their incredible expressions were plain to see.
Swampfire walked up and smashed the truck window with one punch.
Then he dragged the two robbers out and tied them to a utility pole in the middle of the night market.
Plenty of onlookers passed by and loudly condemned the two robbers.
Spitting on them, throwing rotten eggs, hurling used underwear. The methods just kept coming, leaving the two robbers on the verge of tears.
Finally, security personnel arrived.
The truck hijackers were brought to justice and rewarded with a pair of silver bracelets.
Meanwhile, elsewhere...
Grey Matter was lying in a pile of jelly beans, completely at ease.
"With Cuz going after the robbers, there's no way they're getting away." Grey Matter grinned.
Suddenly, his eyes flickered as he noticed a sign beside him.
It read: Guess the number of candies and win a Walkman.
Grey Matter froze for a second, then looked at the "sea of jelly beans" beneath him and burst out laughing. "For Grey Matter, this is a piece of cake."
As soon as he said that, he dove straight into the candy.
"These jelly beans are about 1.3 centimeters in size... there are six thousand five hundred and thirty-two jelly beans here!"
A moment later, Grey Matter popped back out.
Then he picked up one jelly bean, tossed it into his mouth, and said, "Six thousand five hundred and thirty-one."
...
More than ten minutes later.
Everyone met up at the Rustbucket.
"Lucian, are you okay? Did you catch those robbers?" Grandpa Max asked.
Lucian smiled. "Of course. They're probably repenting in jail by now."
"Hmph-hmph..." Ben leaned against the Rustbucket, listening to music and bobbing his head from side to side.
He looked like he was really enjoying it.
"That Walkman looks so cool. Where'd you get it?" Gwen leaned in and asked curiously.
"From the jelly bean guessing game. Jealous, nerd?" Ben said with a smug grin.
The moment Gwen heard that, she got annoyed. "Doofus, you actually used the Omnitrix's power to play that kind of little game? Seriously?"
"So what? It didn't say aliens weren't allowed to enter." Ben spread his hands, completely unconcerned.
"Hey, Ben, your school baseball team, the Big Guns, made it to the Little League World Championship finals!"
Grandpa Max was standing in front of a street screen, looking at the baseball team on it with surprise in his eyes.
"What?!" Ben cried out and immediately rushed over to look.
He saw two familiar faces mixed in with the team...
"I was supposed to be on that team too," Ben suddenly said.
The others looked at each other. Then, all at once, they started laughing, thinking Ben was being a little too full of himself.
"Grandpa, can we go watch the game?" Ben asked.
"Of course. The game just happens to be right here in Philadelphia."
As Grandpa Max spoke, he waved everyone into the Rustbucket. "Come on. The game's tomorrow, so we should get there early, or we might not get seats."
...
Late that night, the Rustbucket arrived in the town where the game was being held.
Since the game wouldn't start until daytime, everyone went to sleep first.
They would head to the stadium early the next morning.
...
Time passed in a blur.
The bright white moon gave way to the warmth of morning light.
Lucian slowly woke up and woke the others as well.
After a quick wash-up, Grandpa Max drove the Rustbucket straight toward the ballpark...