I decided to take on Zadkiel7's first plot idea from his, well, plot ideas fic.
Original idea:
"What if Glitch actually made into the real world in his 'Ben' form?
Summary-Glitch actually makes into the real world in his 'Ben' form. He considers himself more on the human side than a Mechamorph and thinks of Ben as his brother.
Suggestions-How would the others react to that, especially if he preferred more human interactions; sleeping in a bed, eating, etc. vs Mechamorphic tendencies although he is still very good with tech and is basically half human and half Mechamorphic. Also how would Gwen deal with another Ben although one who was bit smarter or at least thought things through a little better and was definitely her superior with technology."
"Kids! Breakfast is ready!"
"Coming, Grandpa!" said the cousins.
It was a morning like any other in the Rustbucket. Gwen has been reading her books on magic and mystical nerd stuff, Ben has been playing his video games, Max was making breakfast. All was well with the Tennysons. Max, Gwen and Ben. And...
Glitch.
A few days ago, Ben had teamed up with Vilgax to defeat an emperor from another planet called the High Override. That bad guy was the same species as Shock Rock, and tried to use the Omnitrix to open a portal to take over the Earth. Thankfully, even after losing Vilgax, Ben managed to stop him with the help of his family.
But Team Tennyson had a new member under the form of Glitch, a kid who looked like Ben, except he also looked like Upgrade. Ben later explained when they all got out that Glitch was a fusion of him and Upgrade.
When he used Upgrade to upgrade the watch and defeat Vilgax inside his own ship, Ben had rebooted the system, and caused damage to the Omnitrix without knowing it (Gwen refused to add that in the already full "out of Ben's control" folder, he was totally responsible for that, even if he didn't mean it). Upgrade's pod was destroyed, and his DNA merged with Ben's to make Glitch.
For the few weeks following that fight with Vilgax, Glitch had been living inside the Omnitrix, repairing the damage and occasional bugs it encountered (which Ben was grateful for since the watch never worked better). He was also the one who let Ben use Shock Rock, even if it accidentally led to an alien invasion (Gwen considered making a new folder for Glitch).
After escaping the watch, who became next level as Ben said it, Glitch had been living with the Tennysons as a new member of their family. It was unusual to have an alien as a family member, but thankfully, they already got practice.
"Hey Glitch! Wanna try out some video games?" suggested Ben, sitting on the couch.
"Huh?" Glitch looked at his human DNA donor, holding a gamepad.
"Come on, it'll be fun! You'll love Sumo Slammers!"
"Uh, okay." agreed the half-human, half-Galvanic Mechamorph hybrid.
He sat down, took a controller and listened to the human's instructions as Ben pressed 'Start'.
"It's simple. You just pick a fighter, like I'm choosing Slammer Dan, you can customize him, and then you use the buttons to-"
"The fight BEGINS!" announced the game.
"Already?!" exclaimed Ben. "Wow, you pick up fast!"
Both boys started playing, Ben sticking his tongue out while shaking his controller, while Glitch retained a neutral expression. Ben was experienced enough, he's had weeks of practicing his skills at Sumo Slammers. He managed to take back the highest score from Gwen after hours of playing, he could teach Glitch a thing or two about being a pro-Sumo Slammers gamer. Except...
"EPIC K.O.!"
"What?! How did you do that?!"
In a matter of few minutes, Glitch had chained more than one combo with no interruption, brought Ben's fighter to zero health without losing a point, and even managed to finish him and curb stomped him, ending the game with a new record and a special attack he never even heard about!
"It was simple, really. All I had to do was combine your knowledge with my experience of this kind of program's mechanics, I've dealt with a similar processor before while inside the Omnitrix. All I had to do was test out the agility of your moves and mine, and victory was easy to obtain."
"Dude, that's amazing!" said Ben, impressed.
"Also," said Glitch, smiling as he looked aside, "I may have made the combos easier to accomplish using my powers." he admitted, showing that his hands merged with the controller.
"Hey, that's cheating! But that was still cool! Can you, like, help me out unlock a few achievements? I just got the game but there are tons of Easter Eggs and secrets I can't get to."
"Would it not be counterproductive to use my abilities in a way that would defeat the sole purpose of making a goal complex enough to offer a true challenge?"
Ben blinked twice at the flurry of nerd vocabulary he just heard. Made even weirder by Glitch having the same voice as him.
"Kidding!" nudged the alien hybrid. "Of course I'll help. Maybe I could teach you a thing or two about winning."
"Hey, quit it!" laughed Ben, nudging his twin back.
Meanwhile, Gwen, who had been trying to listen to her music, looked up. Ben and Glitch seemed to get along, which was good. But she had a feeling there might be a lot more noise in the Rustbucket now that she had not one but two cousins with her, who looked and acted alike. Twice the Ben meant twice the trouble sometimes.
Speaking of noise, the tablet just started making a horrible sound.
"Ugh, shut it down already!"
For hours, the tablet had been screeching nonstop and she couldn't use it to figure out where the issue was, the screen was completely white. Their eardrums were starting to hurt, and Ben threatened to go alien on it, even if he was still timed out for some reason. It was now the middle of the night, and the kids needed to sleep.
"On it." complained Gwen, holding a baseball bat.
"Uhhh, Gwen? I thought you'd try out your science stuff first." asked Ben, surprised while his eye was half open.
"I tried that three hours ago." she groaned, getting a hair lock away from her face. "This thing didn't even budge. Either fix it or break it, I'm gonna use the second option now."
It was 3 AM, she was tired and felt like smashing for once. Max didn't have spare earplugs and Ben was used enough to his Omnitrix beeping to at least sleep for a little while. She didn't have that luck or patience, might as well try things Ben's way.
There was no store open nearby, especially not at this hour, and they'd have to wait until morning to get it fixed. But as she swung her bat, a figure walked past her in the dark.
"GYAH!" she shouted, almost knocking down Glitch in the process.
"Wow! Gwen, I do not think there's a baseball field in the forest we're camping in. Why do you have a bat?"
"Ugh, it's nothing, Glitch. Our tablet is bugging us out and it's driving me nuts." Her eyes widened as she had an idea. "Hey! You're a Galvanic Mechamorph, right? Didn't you say you knew a lot of stuff about tech and got Upgrade's powers?"
"Affirmative."
"Maybe you couuuuuuuuuuuuuld..." she tried to ask, looking aside.
"I think I know what you mean. Where is that device, by the way?"
"It's... there." she said, pointing to the mountain of pillows, blankets and other stuff they used to make the sound die out. "How come you didn't see that?"
"I thought it was one of those eccentric human art pieces, and that Ben was responsible for that. So I didn't think it was out of the ordinary."
She was about to comment, but she was at a loss for words. He was definitely part of their family if he just took things like this normally.
"Hmm..." he said, looking at the device in question. His purple-tipped fingers molded with the tablet and his eyes looked like a static screen. "I might have to delete all the data all together and do a factory reset..."
"WHAAAAT?! Nonononono, this thing is actually Ben's! I know I was about to break it a few seconds ago but I wasn't even completely awake, I was just joking!"
"So was I." Glitch smiled, sticking a purple tongue out. "It just needs to disconnect from the battery for a few seconds, wait a moment, please."
Gwen pouted at his joke. He really was like Ben after all. Suddenly, the noise stopped and the screen was black again.
"Done."
"Did it work?" she asked.
"Please see for yourself." he said, handing her the tablet.
The apps were there, the clock was at the right hour (wow, she needed to get back to bed), the screen resolution was even better than before.
"Glitch, you're amazing! Thanks a lot, cous'!" she said, startling him with a hug.
"Uh, you're welcome." awkwardly said the Mechamorph, his eyes returning to normal. "I also improved the processing speed, updated a few functions and erased a few residual files."
"Ben would probably thank you if he was still awake and if he kept this thing in good state." she said, looking at her snoring cousin. "Let's go back to sleep. Say, what are you doing up this late?"
"I was visioning the Sumo Slammers series Ben showed me. They're a real fun experience in my opinion, despite not using enough realistic combat techniques."
"Of course." she grinned, yawning. "Come on, let's go to bed."
"I do not require any sleep, my Galvanic Mechamorph half provides me the necessary energy resources I need to stay functional without having to sleep, feed or do any of those activities non-Mechamorphs require."
"Can't say you don't like sleeping without trying it first." she shrugged as she unfolded a bed.
Glitch went on the bunk and covered himself with a blanket.
"Now what?"
"Close your eyes all the way." she advised.
"Then?" he asked.
"Get nice and comfy, don't move... And don't think about aaaanythiiiing..."
"Gwen?"
He received no response, the redheaded girl was already asleep.
"Okay, Glitch, you got this." he told himself. "You helped defeat a Fulmini invasion, you repaired the Omnitrix after something unprecedented happened to it, you managed to escape from the Omni-core's power surge caused by the rebooting, the concept of sleep shouldn't be hard for you to comprehend."
The young alien focused as hard as he could, closing his eyes and trying to empty his mind. Sure wasn't easy when you got all the knowledge of one of the most elaborate pieces of technology in the Omniverse.
Though, a few minutes later, he found himself snoring.
"This combustion engine is hopeless! It simply refuses to work!" Max complained, trying to fix the Rustbucket after the damage the Fulminis gave it. "I'll have to ask my old buddy if we wanna make it to Oldeville by a day or two. But he might be already busy with-"
"What's up, Grandpa?"
Max turned to his grandkids. "Oh hey, you three. Are still you having fun all together?"
"I sure am!" proudly declared Glitch. "Ben just introduced me to this amazing comic book series about these Sumo Slammers, and Gwen gave me one of the most compelling books about astrophysics."
"Yeah, I learned fun is 'relative' with Gwen." joked Ben.
"Hey! At least Glitch is learning more with my science books than your video games."
"We're on vacation, not at school." he rolled his eyes.
"I've also learned how cousin relationships worked around here." snorted Glitch.
"Good to know." smiled Max. "Would you kids mind looking up on the Internet if there's any garage nearby? The Rustbucket is broken after last time we fought the High Override."
"But it worked fine last time." said Gwen, confused.
"Not all damage takes effect right away. I just don't know what happened to it."
"Let Glitch have a look at it, he's super good with technology." advised Ben.
"Well, I'm not sure it's-"
He barely started talking when Glitch went over to the Rustbucket and merged with it.
"Haven't seen the Rustbucket being Upgraded in a while." said Ben.
"Well, maybe it could help, but Glitch can't stay inside a car forever. We need to get the RV fixed, not upgraded."
"I found it!" said Glitch. "There! The Fulminis were trying to stop you from driving away before you went inside the Omnitrix. This has been perturbing the Rustbucket's inner functions for..."
Glitch stopped talking, then blue electric sparks surrounded the Rustbucket, making Glitch shout as he was electrocuted.
"Glitch!" said Ben, worried. "Bro, you okay?! I'll-"
"Ben, wait!"
Too late, Ben had grasped the Rustbucket's door. And got electrocuted with it.
Suddenly, Glitch unmerged with the RV and was sent flying right at Ben, both kids ending up on the ground.
"Oh my gosh!" said Gwen as she and Max helped the boys get up.
"Are you boys okay?"
"Yeah, just a bit... shaken up, that's all." said Ben, his eyes pupils spiraling. "What about you, Glitch?"
"I am okay. And I found this." said the Mechamorph hybrid, raising a small item in the air.
"A... rock?"
"Look at the green spots on it. This is a Fulmini energy invention. It projects a plasma field that dampens internal combustion. It was hidden in a very hard to reach location inside the Rustbucket and took time to gather enough energy to make it malfunction. It would've been faster with Override here, but since the Fulminis are nowhere to be seen for now, it took a long time to finally activate itself."
He threw the piece of alien rock on the ground and stepped on it, breaking it.
"Now the Rustbucket works just like it used to. I'd suggest you'd-"
"Glitch, thank you thank you thank you!" interrupted Max, lifting Glitch for a hug. "You don't know how much it matters to me that you helped fix the Rustbucket, it's my favorite thing in the world!"
"Uh, you're welcome, Grandpa."
"Since you helped us fix the Rustbucket, you choose what family activity we do next. So, what do you want to do?"
"Hmm..." hesitated Glitch.
An hour later, the Tennysons left a car repair shop before heading to a drive-thru. Glitch was satisfied while sipping a cup of motor oil. He still wanted to know what made Ben and Gwen like chili fries so much though.
"It doesn't help that Grandpa has been weirdly distracted lately."
"Yeah, yeah, distracted, sure." said Ben, still fiddling with the Omnitrix.
"I mean it!" Gwen nudged his shoulder, finally getting his attention. "Don't you think his priorities have been a little, uh... weird lately?"
"Now that you mention it..."
Ben recalled the five days that went by. Max has been letting the kids play video games, watch cartoons for hours, he even let them slack off their chores and go at the store to buy comic books. This was pretty un-grandpa-like for him, he'd always insist they'd finish their chores before having fun. Otherwise, they'd have to wait a good while if they wanted their allowance or to keep visiting the country.
"...that is a little strange."
"Maybe he is attempting to make up for the last few attacks you guys went through." suggested Glitch, looking up from his science magazine.
"Maybe." shrugged Ben. "But hey, if it means I get to play more video games, I'm not gonna argue!"
Gwen gave him an unconvinced look as they finally reached the parking.
"Wow! There you are!" exclaimed Max, noticing his grandchildren arrive. "I've got a really big surprise for you."
"Surprise?!" gasped the three children.
"You remember my old buddy Phil?" asked Max, waving to Phil who stood near the Rustbucket.
"Salutations, Tennywings!" waved Phil from afar.
"Uhhhh, Phil..." Ben and Gwen slowly muttered the name.
"Uh, isn't that the guy who tried to monitor the Omnitrix's energy with that device of his?" asked Glitch, as uncertain as they were.
"Yup." confirmed Ben.
"No offense, but not only was his workmanship poor, it kept messing with the Omnitrix's sensors." commented Glitch.
"Maybe there's two awesome surprises?" suggested Gwen, with a fair amount of wishful thinking.
"Hahaha, you didn't think I was the big surprise, did you?" joked Phil as he approached. "Oh no, feast your eyes on this!" he said, taking a remote control out of his belt.
Suddenly, there was a big noise coming from above. The kids looked, and their jaws dropped (except for Glitch), as they saw a helicopter coming down on the Rustbucket. Max literally brought Ben and Gwen's jaws up as he explained what he was doing for the past weeks.
"Phil's been working on this secret project all summer. I've been helping him put the finishing touches over the last few weeks. Surprise!"
"Yeah, surprise." whispered Gwen, in awe.
"Meh, I could've upgraded it to fly way earlier." whispered Glitch, unimpressed.
"Wait, did it just eat the Rustbucket?!" asked Ben.
"Ben, you seriously think I'd let Phil's chopper eat my baby?" Max asked, laughing. "It's safely clamped on it, ready to fly!"
"After months of researching and development, it's ready and raring to go." explained Phil. "And I figured, who better to test this bad boy out than my favorite family?"
"Isn't that wild?! A flying Rustbucket! I was thinking of calling it... the Rust-Copter!"
"Eww!" complained the kids, making Max frown that they didn't like the name.
"Eeeeee-OH MY GOSH OH MY GOSH OH MY GOSH!" Gwen excitedly shouted, while her cousins looked either upset, or very bored. "With this, we could easily travel to Europe! We could see the Louvre and France! Even taste authentic European food..." she suggested. "This is exactly what I've been waiting for!"
She was dancing in place, thrilled at the idea of traveling. To the point she didn't notice she bumped into Ben and accidentally sent him turning in direction of Max and Phil.
"Gwen! Personal spaaaaace! Ugh" he yelped, as he bumped onto Phil.
Suddenly, a tool from Phil's belt, who had touched the Omnitrix, made a few yellow sparkles and the watch glowed green, making green sparkles of electricity. Both men backed away, Max pulling Ben with him.
"Ben!" Glitch called out, worrying for his adoptive brother.
"OH MY GOSH!" Ben said, looking at the dial.
"Ben, are you okay?!" asked Phil.
"I'm better than okay." he answered, his eyes wide. He turned the dial, and an icon showed. "Four Arms! XLR8!" he gasped. "NEW ALIEEEENS!"
His voice echoed, and he was about to hit the watch's dial, but a big gust of wind coming from the helicopter's helix interrupted him, blowing him away in Glitch's arms. Phil gave Gwen a lecturing look as he took the remote from her.
"Not a toy." said Phil.
"It's not Hero Time, it's Copter Time!" she told her cousin.
"But, new aliens!" Ben argued, pointing to the Omnitrix.
"We need to check if Phil's tool hasn't affected the Omnitrix negatively beside unlocking new alien samples, I don't even know how it did this." said Glitch.
"But what if Ben is timed in all day after testing it? Copter first!"
"Aliens!" argued Ben.
"Copter!"
"Aliens!" argued both boys.
"Okay," suggested Max, "how about we decide this with Rock, Paper, Scissors?"
"Fine!" agreed the kids. "One! Two!... Three!"
Gwen picked Paper, both Ben and Glitch picked Rock. Copter time.
"Boop! Paper covers rock. Copter wins!" she eagerly declared while Ben was screaming "no" out loud. "Let's fly, fly!"
"Wait," stopped Glitch. "Phil, may I see that tool you had?"
"We'll have all the time in the Copter to talk science, Glitch." told him Gwen.
"Um... If this doesn't bother you..." started Phil. "...who is this kid?"
The Tennysons paused. They remembered they haven't told Phil about Glitch yet.
"Phil, this is Glitch. He's like a fusion of Upgrade, and me!" answered Ben.
"Hmm, interesting. A mechamorphic being merged with a human into a new specimen... So now you have an Upgrade clone of yourself in case you need to be in two places at once?"
"Hey! Glitch isn't a clone!" argued Ben, defensively putting his hands on Glitch's shoulders.
"He's our newest addition to the family." said Max.
"Yeah! And even if he's half Ben, he's really cool." said Gwen.
"What's that supposed to mean?!" Both twins asked in an annoyed tone.
"Haha, sorry for saying that." apologized Phil.
Ben pouted as the helicopter was taking its flight. Gwen was already back into reading her Adventure Kid book, while Max and Phil were setting the mobile home to start flying. He received a small nudge from behind his seat.
"Psst, Ben." whispered Glitch.
"Yeah?" whispered Ben.
"I'm... sorry that you couldn't use the Omnitrix for a week. When you said you couldn't go alien the first time, I was about to help but... I got distracted." he apologized. "I know, I should've been more careful with it, since it's basically my first home. But I don't know why... I simply forgot about it and-"
"Hey, no sweat, bro." told him Ben.
"Huh?"
"I keep forgetting to do my chores all the time, you don't have to be sorry if you forgot to help me out. Plus, you've been pretty busy too."
"I was? I don't recall being busy with anything this week."
"You were! You were spending time with us, teaching me new video game tricks I didn't even know existed, helping Gwen and Grandpa with faulty tech junk... You didn't waste time after getting out of the Omnitrix with us."
"Huh, I guess you're right." admitted Glitch with a small smile. "It's really fun being part of your family and going on this road-trip with you guys, I never felt like this before, when I was maintaining the Omnitrix from the inside."
"There's a first time with everything. I just hope that next thing we're going to experience is Gwen letting me test out these new aliens."
Ben then repeatedly tried to use the Omnitrix as Gwen slapped his hand away from the dial every time.
"Maybe you do need a clone after all." silently giggled Glitch.
A few minutes later, both boys had sneaked at the back of the helicopter. Ben effectively had a clone when Gwen came to lecture them, then three of them when one of the ceiling plates fell on him as two Slapbacks. Glitch would need to fix this place too when they were landing, and maybe let Phil take out the cannonballs Steam Smythe threw on them.
Soooooo, here it is!
I really, really loved Innervasion, and OMG GLITCH WAS SO CUTE I LOVE THAT HE WAS ADOPTED AND BEN NOW GOT A BROTHER AAAAAAHHHHHH!
I saw Zadkiel7 suggest story ideas, and since this was the first one at the time, I was so on board with this!
So here you have it, Glitch is a part of the crew and would be more active with the family, instead of being stuck in the Rustbuggy. Man, who knows what'd happen beyond the last line...