Friendship and Heartbreak
My name is Penn Zero. I'm a part-time hero of the infinite multiverse. I know what I said doesn't make a lot of sense, but let's see if I can explain my job to you people. Wherever the balance of good and evil is threatened and the actual heroes can't seem to succeed, I fill in for them by taking on their roles in their worlds. The team I have for this operation are yours truly, the part-time hero, Boone Wiseman, the part-time wiseman, and Sashi Kobayashi, the part-time sidekick. There have been a few missions that it felt like Boone was goofing around too much or Sashi was ignoring me, but at least whenever I felt like either one of them were not being very good teammates to me, I knew that I had the other to seek support from. There has never even been a situation when I had neither Sashi nor Boone. Their such good friends, even during those times. But, this is a story of how I almost lost both at the same time.
Boone: I think you should be the one to go get the cake for Sashi's birthday. You are the one who likes her, after all.
Penn: OK, but what are you gonna do while I go get her birthday cake. Are you gonna wrap her presents?
Boone: No, Sashi's parents and her brother are handling that. My parents and I are gonna help keep Sashi from finding out about her surprise birthday party.
Penn: You sure you can do that, Boone? I know you're not really the best at keeping secrets from Sashi.
Boone: It'll be fine, and I'll have my parents to back me up if I start to get the urge to let it out.
Later, at the school
Sashi: I can't believe Boone has been taking me all over the school for fun, he calls it! I'm so gonna hurt him! Boone, this is very amusing, but I'd like to go home, now.
Boone: Wouldn't you rather come over to my house for some of my mom's famous meatloaf? You'd be welcome as our guest.
Sashi: Since Phyllis made such a big deal about sneaking into your house to get some of that meatloaf, I guess I could go over to your house, if only for the meatloaf.
Boone's house
Wendy Wiseman: Welcome, Sashi. It's so good to have you over at our house.
Wallace Wiseman: You're just in time for meatloaf dinner.
whispering between the Wisemans
Wendy: Are you sure it's a good idea to bring Sashi Kobayashi here against her will?
Wallace: I agree with your mother, Boone. You and Penn know better than even her own parents how violent she gets when she's brought somewhere under those conditions. She could destroy our house.
Boone: Trust me, mom and dad, this is for the sake of keeping Sashi from finding out about her surprise party. Besides, I said she could have some of your famous meatloaf, mom, if she came over.
Wendy: I guess it's alright to let her have a serving just to distract her from destructive rage.
Meatloaf dinner with the Wisemans
Sashi: I gotta say, Boone. Phyllis was right about your mom's meatloaf. It was a good motivation for her to keep us in the theater reviewing the mission that 1 time.
Wendy: We're glad you can appreciate my meatloaf, too, Sashi.
Truthfully, the Wisemans were a bit nervous about having Sashi in their house.
The next day
Sashi: Mom, dad, George, I'm home. What?
Sashi came home and saw not only her own parents, but also Wallace and Wendy Wiseman and Brock and Vonnie Zero, putting up birthday decorations. Although their parents were all there, Penn, Boone, even her brother, George, were not.
Sylvester Kobayashi: Sashi, you're home early. How was school?
Sashi: Are you all throwing me a surprise party? Because you know I hate surprises. Mom, dad, how could you?
Tia Kobayashi: Brock and Vonnie Zero's son, Penn, came up with the idea.
Vonnie Zero: We're sorry, Sashi. We didn't know you don't like surprises, and neither did Penn.
Sashi remembered the lessons from Larry's seminar which she at first found ridiculous and unhelpful, but later learned how to let them be of help to her.
Sashi: That's alright. I won't let this get to me. You couldn't have known I don't like surprises since I never even once talked about it.
Brock Zero: Would you like to finally talk about it, Sashi? It's OK if you don't want to, just thought you might like to make it clear.
Sashi: No, I was gonna talk about it with Penn and Boone 1 day. Maybe I need to finally let it out.
flashback
Sashi (9 years old): What does it take to get my parents to acknowledge me the way they acknowledge George?
Sylvester, Tia and George Kobayashi: Surprise! Happy Birthday, Sashi!
Children's Day, 5th grade
Sylvester and Tia Kobayashi: Surprise! Happy Children's Day, George! It's a teddy bear!
Sashi (11 years old): I hope I get something better than that.
Sylvester: And for our little girl, Sashi, we got you a present fit for a princess.
Sashi was soon wearing a pastel pink tiara, and even back then she was too tomboyish for it.
Tia: Because you're our little princess.
Christmas Day, 7th grade
Sashi opened her first present to find a dress like 1 from a high school prom.
Sashi: Mom, dad, you do know that I'm only 12, I'm still in middle school, and my prom isn't for another 4-5 years, right?
Tia: Oh, but, it was your grandmother's, and the dress didn't make it to her prom.
Sylvester: It would mean so much to grandma Kobayashi if a new generation was able to wear it.
back to the present
Sashi was finally finished describing why she hated surprises.
Sylvester: Don't worry about not liking the party.
Tia: Your father's telling the truth. We made a special effort to make sure to get presents you would actually like.
Sashi: As long as they're not presents I have to pretend to like just to keep my real personality from being discovered.
Meanwhile, somewhere else, Penn Zero, Boone Wiseman, and George Kobayashi were trying to get the cake but were having a little trouble finding the bakery.
George Kobayashi: Are you sure this is the way to the bakery "The Sweet Tooth"? It looks more like it's the way to a barbeque pit.
Penn: I never make mistakes when I look for a bakery, even though I've never actually done it before.
George: Oh, really? I could've sworn we were in a desert. Are you sure you punched in the right place?
Boone: Believe me, George Kobayashi, Penn's got this. At least, I think so.
They then arrived at a sign that read "The Town of Sweaty Tooth".
George: Oh, great. So not only do we not have my sister's cake and are lost in the middle of the desert, but also, Penn apparently can't spell.
Boone: OK, then, I guess I'll just teleport back to Middleburg with the teleporter watch Phyllis gave me for my own birthday… but, not to worry, gents, I shall come back for you when I have gone to the correct location, "The Sweet Tooth" bakery, and retrieved Sashi's cake. She wanted lemon lime, right?
George: Red velvet.
Boone: With caramel filling?
Penn: Strawberry.
Boone: And vanilla bean frosting?
Penn and George: White chocolate.
Boone felt rather embarrassed getting corrected on all three settings of the cake.
Boone: Right, a red velvet cake with strawberry filling and white chocolate frosting, right. I'll be back for you, I shall return!
Boone zapped out of the desert town of "Sweaty Tooth" and back to Middleburg at the bakery known as "The Sweet Tooth" for Sashi Amanda Kobyashi's cake.
Bakery cashier: Please tell me you're here for this cake for the birthday celebration of a Sashi Kobayashi.
Boone read the description of the cake on the label. The label read, "red velvet cake, strawberry filling, white chocolate frosting order for birthday celebration of Sashi Kobayashi".
Boone: Um, yes. Yes, Miss Hilary, I am here for that particular cake.
Hilary: Good. I've been holding onto it all morning. So, the total on the purchase of this cake will be $26.99.
Boone: But, I don't have that kind of dough… on me, that is. But, I can call my parents to help me with the purchase of the cake.
Boone called his parents on his cell phone. Boone's dad, Wallace, picked up his cell phone when Boone called.
Wallace: Yes? Boone, where are you, George and Penn?
Boone: About that, dad; Penn typed in "Sweaty Tooth" on his phone's GPS instead of "The Sweet Tooth", and now he and George are kinda lost in the desert known as "Sweaty Tooth". I used my teleporter watch from Phyllis to zap back to town in "The Sweet Tooth" bakery to get Sashi's cake, and apparently I don't have the money for it.
Wendy: Who is it?
Wallace: It's our son, Boone. He went to get Sashi's cake, but apparently he doesn't have the kind of cash needed in order to pay. Oh, and Penn and George are now lost in the desert town of "Sweaty Tooth". Penn punched in the wrong location on his GPS, and got himself and George lost.
Wendy: We'll be back soon enough with the cake and our son.
Brock: We'll rescue our son and your son from Sweaty Tooth, so don't worry, Sylvester and Tia. We'll return with both. Come on, Vonnie, let's go.
Vonnie: Teleporter watches, synchronize.
The Zero parents zapped out of the apartment to get their son and George Kobayashi from the desert. The Wisemans zapped to "The Sweet Tooth" bakery to get their son and help him pay for the cake. While Sashi and her parents just sat there waiting for both the cake and everyone else to arrive again. Boone and his parents came back sooner than George and the Zero family. Wendy was pulling on Boone's ear for making her and Wallace pay for the cake.
Boone: Mom, why are you still pulling on my ear? We made it back with the cake, didn't we?
Wendy: We did, but there's still the issue that you and Penn said you had the situation covered.
Boone: Oh, yeah, that. Penn might've been the one with the money for that cake. I probably should've asked him for the money before zapping back to town.
Sashi: Gee, you think, Boone?
Meanwhile, in the desert town of "Sweaty Tooth", Penn and George had finally been rescued by Brock and Vonnie after 16 zaps, with a minute per each zap.
Brock: I hope you learned a fun-filled lesson from this, Penn.
Penn: Yeah, I have. Always make sure you put the right location into your GPS.
George: Let's just get back to Middleburg as quickly as possible the way you two came for us.
Vonnie: Unfortunately, we can't make it back to Middleburg in 1 zap.
Meanwhile, in Sashi's family's apartment back in Middleburg, Sashi, Boone, and their parents were waiting for the others to come back. The Kobayashis and the Wisemans were getting very anxious to get Sashi's birthday celebration started, they decided to start doing up so non-dessert type of food.
Sylvester: Um, Tia, would you like to eat some time soon? Because I'm getting a little hungry, not for the cake. A dinner-like meal will do fine.
Tia: You're right, Sylvester. We could eat. We could make some lean, white, yellowtail, and salmon sashimi, some gyoza and tempura. I'll steam the gyoza and fry the tempura.
Sylvester: And I will chop up the sashimi.
Boone: What's sashimi?
Sashi: Sushi with no rice.
Boone: How is it sushi without rice?
Sashi: It's just the miniature raw fish filets.
Boone: Ew. On an unrelated note, what's gyoza?
Sashi: Japanese potsticker dim sum.
Boone: What's dim sum?
Sashi: Chinese food dumplings filled with meat.
Boone: Interesting. What's tempura?
Sashi: Deep fried shrimp or vegetables, Japanese-style.
Boone: Oooooh-hoo-hoo-hoooo! Your family's kind of food sounds delicious, except the sashimi.
Wendy and Wallace entered the kitchen there after.
Wendy: We hope it's not too much to offer, but I would also like to make something to eat for dinner.
Tia: Oh no, it's not. The more food we have, the merrier.
Wendy: Perfect, then I can make my famous meatloaf.
several moments later
Everyone had a distended stomach from eating the dinner.
Boone: That was delicious.
Tia: At first, I wasn't sure about including meatloaf on the menu for our dinner, but Sylvester and I have hand to you, Wendy, I'm glad you made enough for both of our families.
Sylvester belched.
Sylvester: I concur.
Boone: Sashi, your parents cooking wasn't too bad either, even the raw fish. I'm so full, I could pass out right here, right now.
Sashi: I'm just wondering why Penn never came since it was his idea to throw me this stupid surprise party. Wouldn't he have come back by now? Why isn't he here yet?
Boone: You know, Sashi, his parents along with your own younger brother are absent from the party, too. But, you seem to only care that Penn is missing.
Sashi: What?! I don't only care that Penn is absent. Why would I only care if Penn couldn't make it?
Boone: Yeah, maybe I was just imagining that you only cared about Penn's absence from your birthday party.
Sashi: OK, fine! You win, Boone. Can I tell you a secret about myself that not even my closest friends know?
Boone: No! Don't tell me your secret. I can't stand the pressure that comes with keeping secrets. Tell me nothing, woman.
Sashi: Yeah, you're probably right.
a split second later
Sashi: I kinda like Penn.
The Wisemans and the Kobayashis stared at Sashi. Boone suddenly became the first to speak up.
Boone: OMG! Sashi, we gotta tell this news to Penn as soon as he comes back.
Sashi: NO, Boone! Whatever you do, do NOT tell PZ about this. It'll ruin our team dynamic. It'll basically wipe out our team dynamic.
Just at that moment, Penn, his parents and George zapped into Sashi's apartment. To stop Boone from telling Penn, Sashi went to the freezer and got out the ice cream.
Boone: Penn, I have something to tell you about Sashi.
Before Boone could let it, Sashi force fed Boone the entire tub of ice cream she got from the freezer until Boone had a brain freeze. Boone then screamed like a girl at his own brain freeze.
Boone: Brain freeze! Brain freeze!
After the brain freeze, Boone fainted because the brain freeze added to his fullness.
Penn: So, what did Boone wanna talk to me about? I believe it had something to do with you.
Penn leaned Sashi against the wall in a flirtatious manner. Sashi also fainted from her own fullness.
George: What was that about? Nevermind, forget it. I don't really wanna know.