A/N: I don't own Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero or any else mentioned
Chapter one: My Little Roommate
Penn let out a sigh of accomplishment as he looked at the tribe of imps sing joyous songs of victory. Earlier today, the part-time hero and his friends had successfully stopped Rippen and Larry from burning the imps entire village to the ground and enslaving them all, now they prepared to return to their home dimension.
""It kinda sucks that we gotta leave" Boone mentioned as he took another bite of a fried grub "these deep fried grubs are amazing!"
"Uh-huh…" was Penn could say to that "Alright Phyllis, bring us home"
With that, a bright flash of light engulfed him, sending them back to their own world; however as they traveled Penn felt a tingling sensation throughout his body. At first he thought nothing of it, that is until the tingling soon became a surge of electric pain that ran throughout every inch of his body like wildfire. After several seconds of torture, the pain suddenly subsided and he was once more back in the theater.
"Geez that was horrible! Did anyone else feel that?" he asked his friends before looking over to Phyllis "What happened Phy-"
The teen froze mid-sentence as he suddenly saw what was once a familiar place to him now had completely and totally took him off-guard. The theater seats now towered him like great mountains, making it impossible for Penn to see Phyllis. He then looked up to see his now gigantic friends looking down at him in total horror.
"Holy crap you're all giants!" the now tiny Penn cried out in shock "What has science done?!"
"Penn we're not giants, you're still imp-sized!" Sashi explained, still shocked by what she was seeing before her
"Dude your like a toy solider" Boone said as he picked up his friend from the ground
"How did this even happen?" Penn demanded "How in the world am I still small?!"
Sashi pointed over to Phyllis, where she was currently attempting to put out a fire that had was currently spewing out from the machine.
"Machine have malfunction during return trip, leave Penn tiny" the elderly woman said as she sprayed out the flames with a fire extinguisher "Can still send you two on other missions though"
"But you can fix it right?" Boone asked
"Yes—give or take few days" Phyllis replied "until then, Penn is stuck looking like little toy"
Hearing those words cut deep into Penn more then anything else had been hit by any mission, there was no way he could go about his life at three inches tall; let alone go home and let his aunt and uncle see him like this.
"Check it out Sashi; Penn Zero: Part-Time action figure" Boone suddenly spoke up before pretending to fly him around in mid-air "Phew! Phew! Phew! Take that Rippen—oh no here comes a giant fist!"
"Boone stop!" Sashi ordered as she stopped him from hitting Penn "This is serious! We need to keep Penn safe until Phyllis can restore him to his original height"
"I understand…" the heavy-set teen answered "And Here Comes A Giant Fist!"
In under a split second, Sashi grabbed Boone by the wrist and after giving it a quick yet still powerful squeeze, forced him to let go of the now small ginger and let him fall into her free hand. Even under the gloves she wore, Penn could still feel how surprisingly soft her skin was; despite all the punching and ripping she did to her enemies with them.
"Guys I can't go home looking like this" He told him "If my aunt and uncle see this they'll never left me out of the house and force me to live in a gerbil cage for the rest of my life!"
"Not a gerbil cage!" Boone cried out in fear "Don't worry buddy, you can live with me until your huge again"
"Have you seen your room Boone?" Sashi cut in "Penn wouldn't last an hour at his size—let alone at his regular size in that place!"
"Yeah good point" the portly boy agreed "I've been putting off project: clean up for over a year now"
"Then it's decided, Penn will stay with me" the part-time sidekick said
Penn's whole body went rigid with fright upon hearing that. The part-time hero now not only had to contend with being a new height, but also now being forced to live with his one female friend which given his current situation would more then likely lead to some rather awkward situation.
"Wait, don't I get a say in all this?" Penn argued
"Sorry dude, but you must be this high to have a vote" Boone joked "besides, it's not like you have any better choices"
Penn hated to admit it, but Boone had a point; at this point he was the safest with Sashi. With that, the Asian teen placed her friend in one of her pockets headed off home, all the while Penn tried to keep composer and ready himself for living with his violent friend.
And so, plan was put into action to keep Penn's aunt and uncle from getting suspicious about his disappearance. Boone called ahead to them and made up a story of upcoming science fair and needed Penn's help for giant project and needed him around clock in order to get it finished. Thankfully they bought it, but that was just one problem solved for the now fun-sized hero.
When he was finally taken out of Sashi's pocket and gently placed on a nearby desk before his giant guardian went over to her closet, giving the ginger-haired teen to get an eyeful of the girl's room. Their were posters of Bruce Lee and metal bands like Slipknot and Metallica her walls, as well as a punching bag that hung in the corner of the room next to the closet. On the desk he was now standing on, there where a few notebooks from school and TV sitting there, as well as a drawer that sat next to the desk.
Currently Sashi was digging around in her closet for something. After letting out a 'ah-ha!' she pulled out a large pink fifties styled dollhouse, making Penn start to crack up at the sight of it.
"What's so funny?" she inquired sharply
"Y-You have a-actuality have dollhouse!" he said in between his laughter "I never once thought you have something like that in a million years!"
"Well yuck it up tiny, because this is were your staying!" she told him as she roughly placed the dollhouse on the desk
Instead of trying to make a witty retort or laugh off his new living space, Penn just let out a defeated sigh and sat down at the edge of the desk and looked away from his friend.
"Penn, what's wrong?" Sashi asked as she kneeled down to face him
"What's wrong? Everything!" her friend snapped as he jumped to his feet "How am I supposed to live like this?! I can't go home! I can't eat regular sized food I can't even use the bathroom without fearing that'll fall in and drown in the toilet!"
"Penn I know your upset, but Phyllis will fix the machine and you'll—"Sashi attempted to reassure him
"But what if she doesn't?!" the part-time hero shot back in anger "What if I'm stuck like this for the rest of my life?!"
The Asian teen then rose to her feet and glared down at the miniature boy like an angry god, nearly making Penn go white with fear.
"That's Enough!" She commanded "Your Penn Zero and you've fought villains, monsters and aliens without any fear and you're not going to let something like this break you!"
"But—"
"But Nothing!" she furthered, slamming her fist down on the desk, making him fall on his back from the vibrations "So what if Phyllis may not be able to fix; your height doesn't define who you are, its what you do with this situation that does. So, are you gonna keep crying about this or are you gonna be the hero I know you are?!"
Just as she finished her rather aggressive pep talks, the door to her room suddenly open to allow her farther to step into her bedroom. Sashi quickly spun around to both face him and block his view of Penn, who keep absolutely silent and still the whole time.
"Sashi, who are you talking to?" her farther inquired
"Uh—just my friend Penn—over the phone that is!" she quickly explained
"But your phone is on your bed" he pointed out, pointing to her cellphone as he did
"Yes, yes it is" the part-time side-kick acknowledged "could you leave now dad, I'm trying to get ready for bed"
Her farther gave her a confused nod before exiting the girl's room, allowing the two friends to continue their conversation.
"Thanks for the pep-talk Sash…even if it was a tad terrifying" he told her with a smile "I'm just scared y'a know. This isn't like in a mission where if we lose we get zapped back, this could be a permanent thing"
"I know Penn" she replied softly with a smile of her own "But we'll get through this—together"
"Together" her friend repeated
As the red-headed teen looked up at his much larger friend, he couldn't help but feel a sudden warmness spread throughout his body. Before it could get anymore awkward, Penn thought it would be best to call it a night.
"I'm feeling pretty tired, I guess I'll see you in the morning then" he said before quickly making his way into the dollhouse before Sashi could answer him
After finding his way to the bedroom, the part time hero shut the blinds tight in order to prevent himself of seeing his giant friend as she removed her cloths for the night. He then laid down on the bed and looked up at the ceiling, wondering what to do about not only his new height, but also living with Sashi without making it weirder then it already was.