Penn Zero Fanfiction

Author's Note

Remember how I said I would include chapters showing their lives outside of being heroes? This is what I meant.

Honestly, I'm not really sure I like this chapter. I did my best and the majority of it turned out okay, but I don't think it was as good as it could have been. However, for the people who view my work, I shouldn't have taken this long with this chapter in the first place. It's just that with my other chapters, it was just moments. This is an entire thing all by itself and there's a lot more than just a moment, which made it significantly harder to write, so if you can forgive me for that, I promise I'll try to finish these faster from now on.

On a side note, I really liked Penn as a character, but I kind of feel like the show didn't really show many of his skills. Boone was kind of the crazy idea guy whose ideas just kind of worked out and Sashi's skills were shown in almost every episode. But there were some parts where Penn showed combat skills and rather than show more of this, it was almost never seen again for the rest of the show. I wanted to make a chapter where he got to show that a bit more. After all, he didn't survive his entire Part-Time Hero career without knowing something. There's going to be a second part to this too but I'm uploading this first because if I added the rest of it in, it would just be too long. Please tell your friends about this show. It is really underrated. Also, my fanfiction might get more views that way.

Still hoping for reviews and writing tips, guys. Seriously. I would love some. Anyways, I hope you guys (and girls) enjoy. I'll stop talking now. Bye!

Day Off (Part 1)

"So how are we going to give the cake to Rippen without him getting suspicious?" Penn asked the other two as they walked to the theater. "The whole class hates him-"

"Rightfully so," Sashi interrupted.

"-so there's no way we can give it to him on their behalf," he went on as if she hadn't spoken.

"Why are we doing this again?" Boone asked.

"Because it's justice-" For fun-" Penn and Sashi said at the same time. Penn looked at Sashi with an irritated look.

"What?" she said. "You're telling me you're not going to enjoy it even a little bit?"

At this, Penn was silent. Sashi smirked in triumph. "Thought so," she said smugly. Penn rolled his eyes and continued walking.

"So, back to the matter at hand," he said, trying to steer everyone's focus back to the main issue. "How are we going to get him to eat the cake?"

"What if we gave it to him on behalf of the teachers?" Sashi asked. "Teachers give each other junk all the time."

"I think you mean presents, Sash," Penn corrected her.

"Do they spend money on it?" she asked.

"Yeah," Penn answered.

"Do they want it for themselves?"

"No," Penn said.

"So do they get rid of it?"

"In a way, yeah."

"So it's junk."

"Why do I bother?" Penn said exasperatedly. "And anyway, the teachers hate him too."

"Rightfully so," Sashi added.

"You know, we could just give the cake to him and say it was from Larry," Boone suggested.

Penn and Sashi gaped at him.

"What?" Boone said with a confused look on his face.

"Boone, you're a genius!" Sashi exclaimed.

"You guys know I'm the Wiseman, right?" he said, just slightly offended even as he made a mental note to record Sashi the next time she said that.

Penn and Sashi ignored him, going back to talking with each other on how to make the cake as awful as possible, with Penn saying no to her more violent options every now and then, like poisonous frosting or animal blood.

Just then, the trio reached the theater. They were about to go inside when they noticed the sign hanging on the front.

"Multiverse in balance, heroes are competent for today, enjoy day off," Penn read. "Huh. Looks like we have a day off."

"Really?" said Boone and Sashi at the same time.

"Yeah," Penn said, hardly able to believe it himself. "Guess we don't have to save the world today."

"Finally," said Sashi. Penn and Boone stared at her. "What?" she said defensively.

"I thought you liked this job," Penn said. "You know, all the punching and kicking?"

"I do," she said shamelessly. "But for once, the real heroes actually do their job. I mean, I like the fighting and all, but at the end of the day, we're still just cleaning up other people's messes 'cause they can't do it themselves."

The three of them looked at each other.

"Sooo, what should we do now?" Boone asked.

"Go home, I guess," Penn said.

"Or," Sashi interrupted, "we could go back to trying to poison Rippen," she said excitedly.

Penn and Boone gave her a deadpan look, causing her to scoff.

"Fine," she said. "You guys are no fun."

"Define fun," Penn said sarcastically. Sashi opened her mouth to answer. "Actually, don't," he interrupted her, regretting having asked in the first place.

"Well, I'm going home," Boone said as he turned around to leave. "See you guys."
Penn and Sashi waved at him as he left before they both went their separate ways.

Penn laid in bed, staring up at the ceiling in boredom, partly because he had nothing better to do and partly because he was avoiding the chinchilla. He frowned in annoyance at the very thought of the little rodent. He didn't know what he had done, but the rat had it out for him. Penn probably would have done something about it if not for the fact that it was like a son to Uncle Chuck and Aunt Rose and whatever he did to the rodent probably would have hurt them more than it hurt him.

Suddenly, his phone rang. He debated on whether or not it was worth getting up out of bed to go answer it, then sighed as he got up. He picked it up and the Caller ID showed it was Sashi. He was suddenly glad he'd gotten up to answer. If he hadn't, she would've immediately came over to either save him from whatever was trying to kill him or to kill him herself for not picking up. He shuddered at the thought before answering.

"Hey, Sash," he greeted her.

"You busy?" she said, not wasting a second in getting to her point.

"No, why?" he asked.

"There's a karate tournament happening," she said. "I'm signing us up."
"Whoa, wait," Penn said. "Why are you signing us both up?"

"You said you weren't busy," she said.

"I'm not," he said. "But why do you need me to come? Why can't you just go by yourself?"
"Because it's in teams, stupid," she said as if he was supposed to know that already. "Believe me, if solo was an option, I'd already be there."

"Fine," he said, sighing.

"I'll text you the address," she said. "Don't be late."
With that, she hung up. Barely a second after, he got a text, complete with the address, time, and a complete list of all the rules.

'That was fast,' Penn thought.

It was mid-afternoon when Penn arrived at the address he'd gotten from Sashi, wearing a white t-shirt and black track pants with white stripes. He scanned the crowd, his trained Part-Time Hero eyes skimming over everyone quickly as he looked for his partner.

"You look like a wimp," said a voice from behind him. Penn looked to see Sashi in a simple black half-sleeved t-shirt and matching black knee-length.

"Nice to see you too, Sash," Penn said, completely unfazed.

"There's twenty minutes until the tournament starts," Sashi said. "They're gonna take attendance to make sure everyone's here, then we'll have the rest of the time to practice. Let's go."

Penn followed her into the building where there was a crowd of other people, all wearing some kind of uniform. There was also an adult with each of them.

"Hey, Sash?" Penn said as he leaned over and tapped her on the shoulder.

"What?" Sashi said as she continued to lead him through the crowd.

"Aren't all these people from dojos across the country?" he asked.

"Yeah, she answered.

"So then isn't this a dojo-only event?"
"No," she said. "Other people are allowed into the tournament, but they have to be sponsored."

"But we aren't sponsored," Penn said.

"I know."

"And this is a national competition."
"I know."

"So then how come we're allowed in?"

"My parents pulled some strings," she said as if that explained everything.

"How did your parents just pull some strings and get us into a national competition?!" he asked disbelievingly.

Sashi turned around and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, pulling him down so that he was eye level with her.

"You ask too many questions," she said, her voice low and threatening. Penn's heart rate quickened and he held his breath. Sashi stared menacingly at him before letting him go. Penn sucked in a deep breath, rubbing at his neck where the collar had squeezed before he followed her.

"My parents have their connections," she said to him without turning around. "That's all you need to know."

"Again with the 'need-to-know' stuff, huh?" he said, becoming angry.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sashi said turning around to face him.

Penn sighed. "Just forget it," he said, moving to walk past her. "Let's just go."
Sashi grabbed his arm and pulled him back so that he was standing in front of her again.

"You got something you wanna say to me?" she said, her eyes narrowing dangerously.

Penn ripped his arm out of her grasp. "Yeah, I do," he said. "We've worked together for more than a year now, Sash. We've saved worlds, defeated monsters, beat Rippen again and again, and I still don't know anything about you."

"So?"

"So why do I still feel like a stranger to you, Sash? Why do me and Boone still not know you at all? Why do you treat us like we're just coworkers and nothing more?"
"Because that's exactly what you are," Sashi said.

As soon as she said it, she knew she had gone too far. Penn stared at her, his eyes full of hurt.

"What?" Sashi said defensively.

Then Penn's eyes hardened and somewhere in the back of Sashi's mind, she couldn't help but think that she had messed up really, really bad.

"Nothing," he said, his tone suddenly lacking any of the warmth or friendliness it usually held when he was talking to her. "They're taking attendance. We better hurry up or we're gonna be late."

He walked by her without another word. Sashi stood there, wondering why she had done that. She could see that she had hurt Penn's feelings, and badly. She couldn't understand why she had done that. She would never have treated Penn that way, so why did she do it now?

"Hurry up," Penn said from behind her, his voice uncharacteristically cold. She followed him and they made their way over to a man holding a clipboard.

"Name and team," he said, his words carrying a light Japanese accent.

"Penn Zero and Sashi Kobayashi, team Part-Time Heroes," Sashi answered. The man checked off a box and nodded his head to a room behind him.

"Ten minutes practice, then tournament starts," he said. The two heroes nodded and made their way over to the room, Penn walking a little bit ahead of her. Sashi sometimes forgot how much taller he was and she wondered how she ever kept pace with him. Then again, he did usually walk at a snail's pace most of the time.

As they entered the room, they found all kinds of training equipment everywhere. The quantity and variety surprised even Sashi, and she had been in Sidekick School. Sure, it didn't come close to matching the stuff there, but it was better than anything she had seen anywhere else. And she had been almost everywhere else. Sashi looked around for Penn, wanting to ask him what he wanted to warm up with, only to find that he was gone. She looked around, but he was nowhere to be seen. She considered looking for him but decided that after what she had said to him, it would be best if he had some space.

'From you,' said a voice in her head. She forcefully shut it up and went over to one of the dummies and started practicing

Penn, meanwhile, had gone for a walk, trying to cool off and calm himself.

He didn't fully understand Sashi. That was really the only thing he knew for sure when it came to her. She was a mystery. Yeah, sometimes he did things that made her angry without meaning to. He understood that. But he always tried to be nice to her, and it wasn't just because he was afraid of what she might do to him. She had been alone when he had first met her. His parents had always told him that he had a talent for connecting with people because he could see past the mask they put on to who they were underneath. He could connect with people because he understood them. But as hard as he tried, he couldn't understand why Sashi had said what she had said. After all that they'd been through, he thought he had at least earned her friendship, but after their fight, it only showed him too clearly what he could already see, that he didn't know her at all.

"Is there something on your mind?" said a voice from beside him. Penn turned to see a boy a little older than him leaning against the wall and looking at him. Penn stared before realizing that he had been talking to him.

"Oh, no I'm fine," he said a little too quickly, something that failed to escape the boy's notice.

"You don't seem focused," the boy said. "This is a national competition. If you're not focused, it could cost you your victory."

"Isn't that a good thing for you?" Penn said sardonically. At the boy's reaction, Penn mentally kicked himself. "I'm sorry," he apologized. "I didn't mean that. You're only trying to be nice and I'm being angry at the wrong person."

"It sounds like you two have that in common," the boy said. Penn looked at him peculiarly and the boy elaborated. "Whoever you had a fight with," he said.

"How did you know I had a fight with someone?" Penn asked.

"I guessed," the boy said. "When someone has a fight they win, they look proud. When they have a fight they lose, they look ashamed. When they have a fight with someone they care about, they look angry or hurt."

"So what do I look like?" Penn asked.

"Hurt," the boy answered.

Penn sighed.

"I am willing to listen if you are willing to talk," the boy offered.

"I just met you," Penn said.

"And you will probably never see me again," the boy countered. "If the matter is private or personal, no one you know will ever hear of it. And I will probably forget about you by tomorrow, as you will forget about me. So there is no harm in talking about it. I am merely saying that it is better to simply get it off your chest."

Penn thought for a moment before sighing. "I had a fight with a-" he hesitated. "With someone I know well. Well, actually I don't know her that well. I don't know her at all, really. Because if I did, then that means we'd be friends, and she basically just told me we weren't."

"If I may ask, how do you know this person?" the boy asked.

"We…" Penn thought about how he should explain it. He couldn't tell the boy their real jobs. He tried to think of a way to tell him without sounding weird or insane.

"We work closely together," he said finally.

"Is that all?" the boy asked.

"Well," Penn said, trying to think of how to tell him more without sounding like a lunatic. Then he sighed and said, "I thought that after working together for so long, that maybe we were friends."

"So you are upset to find out that that is not true?" the boy said.

"Yeah," Penn said, sighing again and rubbing the back of his neck, an odd habit he'd picked up from his parents.

"Would this by any chance be the pretty girl you came here with?"

"You mean Sashi?" Penn said. "Yeah."

"Hm," the boy said, rubbing his chin, noting how Penn hadn't denied she was pretty. "Was she the one who invited you to participate in the tournament with her?" he asked.

"Well, she didn't really have a choice," Penn said. "The competition is in teams and she didn't really have anyone else she could ask."

"It is not necessary to have a team," the boy said, the gears turning in his head as he figured out what was really going on between the two, even as Penn remained oblivious.

"It's not?" Penn said.

"No," the boy answered. "It is just more ideal to have a team but there are numerous sponsored solo fighters who came to the competition as well. The solo fighters have their own special tournament and the teams have their own special tournament and then the champion of both of those tournaments fights for the prize. While being on a team is recommended, it is not required."

"But then why would she invite me here?" Penn asked as if this boy knew Sashi better than he did, which he found himself believing more and more.

The boy smiled knowingly. "I believe that's what friends do when they want to spend more time with each other."

Penn stared at the boy, dumbfounded.

"Is this Sashi a very open person?" the boy asked him. Penn shook his head. "Does she have many friends?" Penn shook his head again. The boy paused for a second. "Does she trust you?" he asked, sounding more serious. Penn thought for a moment before nodding his head, his mind flashing back to the conversation they'd had right after they had averted a zombie apocalypse.

'Penn, I knew you could do it.'

"This Sashi is not used to trusting people the way that she trusts you," the boy went on, pulling Penn out of his thoughts. "She does not let people in easily because they might leave her. She thought you were getting too close so she pushed you away to protect herself."

"But why?" Penn said. "I thought you said she trusted me."

"She does," the boy assured him. "Of this, I have no doubt."

"So then why won't she let me in?"

"Because she is afraid you will leave her."

"But I'd never do that," Penn said.

"So show her that," the boy said.

"How?" Penn asked.

"She came with a partner, did she not?" the boy asked, a small smile on his lips. Penn nodded. "Then go show her she still has one."

"What if she doesn't want to see me right now?" he said. "What if I hurt our friendship too much?"

"From what you've told me and my own personal experiences, you haven't hurt your friendship," the boy assured him. "She did. And if she really is your friend, then she will see that. If not…" he trailed off.

"If not?" Penn said, urging him to continue.

"If not," the boy went on, "then maybe it's time you found a friend in someone else."

Penn pondered the boy's words. The thought of losing Sashi's friendship made him sad, especially since he knew how alone she had been before he met her. He couldn't help but think that if he walked away from her, he would only be proving that she was right not to let him in. But he couldn't deny that this boy was right. No matter how he looked at it or what Sashi might say, he didn't deserve that treatment from her, and as much as he liked what the two shared, the banter, the teamwork, the trust, it wasn't worth being made to feel like that.

But the more he thought about it, the more he realized that no one was perfect. Sashi, like him and Boone, had her flaws, and like him and Boone, he couldn't change her or ask her to be someone she wasn't. But if you really are a friend, you accept someone for who they are, flaws and all. Sure, she might not always be nice to him, but she had been there for him every time it mattered. So he couldn't call himself a friend if he didn't do the same for her now.

"Thanks," Penn said to the boy. "But I won't need to go looking for another friend."

"What makes you so sure?" the boy asked, although he was smiling.

"Because I already have one," Penn answered confidently. "And she's waiting for me and the tournament's about to start so I have to go now," he added hurriedly as he started walking away. "It was nice meeting you. Thanks for the talk!" The boy smiled in satisfaction before turning around and going his own way.

"Young love is a beautiful thing," he said to himself.

Penn got back just as the tournament was starting. As the competitors were all making their way out of the training room, Penn found Sashi in the crowd, looking dejected. She turned as he caught up to her.

"Penn!" she said in surprise.

"Hey, Sash," he said, panting a little. "Sorry, I'm late."

"I thought you left," she said.

"I couldn't leave," Penn told her.

"Why not?" she asked.

"Because then I wouldn't be a good sidekick," he said, smiling at his own bad joke. She laughed anyway before turning serious as she looked at him.

"Penn, I didn't mean-"

"Let's just focus on winning for now, Sash," Penn interrupted "We can talk about it later. I know how much you want to win this thing. So let's win first."

Sashi nodded and smiled before she steeled herself as they walked out of the building and climbed a bus.

"Where are we going?" Penn asked her.

"To the stadium," Sashi answered simply. Penn looked at her in disbelief. "It's a national competition, remember?" she said.

"How did I forget that?" he said, shaking his head and leaning back in his seat.