Penn Zero Fanfiction

Author's Note

Before I say any of the stupid crap that you guys (and girls) don't care about, let me first say something much more important. I want to say thank you to PootisSpencer for encouraging me to keep writing this. You really helped to motivate me to work on this. Every time I cracked open my laptop and I didn't feel like writing, I would look at your words and I would be ready to work again. Your words really helped me and I want you to know I'm really thankful for your support.

Now that the important stuff is out of the way, back to the excuses.

Long story short, too many projects, too much work, not enough sleep. I honestly have never looked at my assignments with as much hatred in these last few days than I ever have in my whole life. That's how much I wanted to work on this and how much it pained me that I couldn't. So my apologies for that.

This is the conclusion to the tournament. The emotional stuff that you guys actually wanted to see will, unfortunately, be included in the next chapter because I have given it my all to finish this and I really can't do anymore. I'll update as soon as I can but I'm going to start updating on the weekends only from now on. That means weekly updates, people. Unless, by some miracle, I find myself with some spare time (I'm surprised I even remember what that is anymore). But that's how I'm going to operate from now on.

Anyways, thank you all for your support. I'm glad to know there are other people who share my love for this show. I will stop talking now. Enjoy!

Day Off (Part 3)

In hindsight, she really shouldn't have been surprised. As she practically carried Penn out of the stadium, she thought back to his match against Salaak.

Penn and Salaak charged at each other. Salaak slid on the ground and tried to trip Penn but Penn jumped over him. However, Salaak leaned back on his head, doing a handstand, and spun, holding his legs out on either side, forcing Penn back to avoid the spinning kick that would have hit him had he gotten any closer.

Salaak got up and charged at Penn. He threw a flurry of punches at Penn, with Penn deflecting all of them on instinct, his eyes desperately searching for a weakness in Salaak's near-impenetrable defense. Penn ducked another punch and Salaak drove his knee into Penn's face, knocking him back. However, almost immediately, Penn leaned back on his head and kicked his legs out, flipping himself forward on his feet as Salaak advanced. Penn smashed his fist into Salaak's midsection, knocking the air out of him and forcing him back a couple of steps.

Salaak backed up in surprise. That blow to the face should have at least stunned him but not only did Penn instantly recover, but he also moved too fast for Salaak to react. Salaak renewed his focus, being even more on-guard than he had been when the fight started.

Salaak and Penn advanced and Salaak dropped to the ground, trying to kick Penn's legs out from under him. Penn stepped back and Salaak moved forward, doing the same with his other leg. Penn dodged again. Salaak got up and did a cartwheel, trying to hit Penn with his foot mid-motion, but Penn sidestepped. However, Salaak spun and tried to smash his heel into Penn's side. Although Penn blocked the blow, pain exploded in his left arm and the force knocked him to the side. Pressing his advantage, Salaak quickly closed the distance between them, punching Penn across the face. Penn spun with the motion of the blow and landed a hard backhand fist against Salaak's face. Salaak stumbled back and Penn ran forward. He jumped and flipped, doing a 180° spin in the air and doing a handstand, which he then pushed off of, smashing both feet square in Salaak's chest, knocking him back against the ropes of the ring.

Salaak looked up at Penn to see him turn around and keep his distance, watching him carefully.

'Every time I land a blow, my defense cracks just a bit,' Salaak thought to himself. 'When a fighter sees an opening, they have to attack it without thinking. Those kinds of instincts take a lot of training to earn. It takes even more training to recognize those openings without thinking. And even if someone had the training to do all of that, the kinds of openings that I leave are so small, so fleeting, so subtle, that even if someone were trained enough to notice them, they would never be able to act on instinct to attack them. Because if you have the time to think about it, you weren't fast enough.' Salaak noticed how Penn had already landed multiple blows on him. He was fighting on pure instinct, but his instincts were so trained that they weren't primal, they were strategic. 'Who is this guy?!' Salaak thought in disbelief.

Then Penn suddenly charged at him, throwing a punch straight at his face. Salaak dodged to the side and threw his own punch. However, Penn spun around his arm. He grabbed his wrist and pulled him forward, smashing his elbow into Salaak's back and forcing him down to one knee. Salaak tried to punch at Penn with his other arm, but Penn merely raised his knee to block the oncoming blow. He moved Salaak closer to the center of the ring, keeping a firm hold of him to make sure he didn't get upright again. Then, still keeping a hold of Salaak's arm, he rolled over his back and flipped him over himself, smashing him onto the ground. But then, too fast for Penn to react, Salaak rose up and smashed a hard uppercut to Penn's jaw, making him stumble back and lose his grip on Salaak's arm. Salaak rushed and did a side-flip, using the momentum to smash a kick into Penn's stomach, knocking him off his feet and making him slide on the ground a few feet back. Penn quickly got up but he was slightly shaky and Salaak knew why. You don't just walk off from a hit like that, no matter how strong you are. And Penn wasn't that strong to begin with.

If he was being honest with himself, he had never expected Penn to reach the finals. He had seen Penn's skill in fighting and it was something that even he, as good as he was, couldn't help but admire. However, at heart, Penn was a strategist, not a fighter, unlike his partner Sashi. For that reason, Salaak had never expected Penn to have been able to fight through all those opponents, which made him respect him all the more when he ended up doing just that.

Not to mention, it was exactly because of his nature as a strategist that he had realized that pitting his partner against Salaak would have been the worst possible thing to do. Salaak had been trained to fight opponents stronger than himself, which meant he had to use his instincts and fighting skills for defense while using his brain to figure out a good offense, hence the defense-based fighting style and unorthodox battle strategies. Not only that, but his fighting style had been the exact opposite to Sashi's, and when it came to opposite fighting styles, the smarter fighter always won. Always. That was why Penn had chosen to go up against him.

However, while Salaak could see that Penn was skilled at fighting, that wasn't where his talents lay. He wasn't trained to be durable and take a hit the way that everyone else in the tournament was, and all those previous matches were beginning to take their toll on him. While he may have been strategically superior, he wasn't durable enough to last until the end of the fight. Maybe with a bit of endurance training, he could have won the match, but with the disadvantage he was at now, he'd lose.

Salaak and Penn charged at each other and although Penn continued to fight valiantly, Salaak slowly but surely gained the advantage over him and Penn's hits lessened in frequency.

Salaak reared his hand back and punched Penn hard across the face in a brutal right cross, knocking him clear off his feet.

However, mid-fall, Penn twisted his body and smashed a kick into the side of Salaak's face. Pain exploded through Salaak's jaw but even through it, he was caught by surprise at the amount of strength Penn managed to put behind it. As he stumbled back, Penn rushed at him and smashed an uppercut into the bottom of Salaak's jaw and drove a fist into Salaak's stomach, then repeated another uppercut into Salaak's face. As Salaak managed to regain his bearings, he saw Penn flip forward and do a handstand, then hop off and wrap his legs around Salaak's head. Repeating a move he'd used earlier in the tournament, he twisted his body and threw Salaak across the ring with his legs, making him roll across the floor. As Salaak desperately tried to get up, Penn rushed and smashed a kick into his face, forcing him closer to the edge of the ring.

'He's trying to win on a ring-out,' Salaak realized.

He saw Penn rushing toward him as he started to get up. Suddenly, Salaak leaned back on his head and kicked his legs out as Penn reached him, driving them straight into Penn's chest and making him fly back and fall hard, sliding back a few feet before stopping. Salaak thought he wouldn't be able to get up after another blow like that, but his eyes widened as Penn rolled over and forced himself onto his feet and turned around to glare at Salaak, the determination in his eyes not having lessened at all.

'This guy,' Salaak thought disbelievingly.

Salaak charged at Penn. He wasn't going to go down until he either blacked out from the pain or couldn't move his body and Salaak didn't want to keep beating him until either of those two things happened. He also knew that despite the fact that Penn wasn't as strong, the guy still knew how to deal a good hit, and now that the adrenaline rush was beginning to subside, Salaak was starting to feel pain all over his body, and he still had the finals to win.

As he closed the distance between him and Penn, he saw a triumphant glint in Penn's eyes and he realized the trick he'd just fallen for.

'Oh, crap,' he thought.

Penn dodged Salaak's arm and leaned back, grabbing Salaak's shirt as he rolled onto his back. He stuck his feet against Salaak's stomach and as he rolled onto his back, he pushed with all the strength he had left and threw Salaak over the ring and onto the floor.

Salaak heard the referee blow his whistle, indicating the match was over and the crowd cheered. Penn looked at Salaak on the ground before turning around to see Sashi waving him over. He went over to her, stumbling a bit from all the pain, and leaned down at the edge of the ring, looking at her from between the ropes.

"What is it, Sash?" he said, although he had to wheeze out some of the words.

Sashi suddenly grabbed his hand and pulled him out of the ring.

"Ah!" he yelled as Sashi yanked him out, his face hitting one of the ropes as he was pulled forcefully out of the ring. Sashi caught him before he could fall onto his face but he winced as she accidentally pressed against one of his more injured spots. She noticed and looked at him apologetically as she sat him against the ring and leaned down to check him for injuries.

He winced as she touched a few certain spots around his stomach and sides. Her eyebrows creased in worry before her expression became stern.

"You're sitting this one out, Penn," she said firmly.

Penn looked back to see Salaak holding his side as his partner climbed into the ring.

"That's fine with me, Sash," he said, giving her a pained smile.

Sashi climbed into the ring to face off against Salaak's partner.

Looking back on it, things should have gone pretty well. But Sashi wasn't a strategist. Which was why one bad decision had led to…

She glanced at Penn. They were getting on the bus, Penn's arm around her shoulder and her arm around his waist, holding him up. While he tried to make an effort to walk, he was only able to drag his feet across the ground and she was still practically carrying him.

This. One bad decision had led to this.

But Salaak was really strong, and Penn was unbearably stubborn when he wanted to be. She hadn't wanted things to turn out the way they had, but...

In hindsight, she really shouldn't have been surprised.

Penn could clearly see that Salaak's partner was nowhere near as good as Salaak himself. Like Sashi, Salaak had been expected to do most of the fighting. However, unlike Penn, this guy didn't have the brains to make up for the brawn. Any openings that Sashi left were never exploited, any opportunities were never taken. This win would come easy.

Or it would have, had Sashi finished the match while she still could.

As Penn watched, Salaak's partner suddenly turned around and ran back. Sashi, realizing too late what he was going to do, tried to stop him as he rushed to tag in his partner. However, she wasn't fast enough.

He dove to Salaak's outstretched hand as Sashi dove and grabbed his ankle.

"TAG!" both Salaak and his partner called out at the same time. The referee blew the whistle and Salaak climbed back into the ring as his partner climbed out. Sashi's heart sped up in nervousness as she saw Salaak ready himself on the other side of the ring, getting into a fighting stance, his body tensing up. However, she noticed that there was a little less grace in his movements, and as he rose to stand up on the other side of the ring, she noticed a very subtle falter in his movements that anyone else would have missed. So apparently Penn had done some lasting damage.

'Figures,' she thought. The guy might not give the hardest punch but he knew how to hit where it hurt. She might have a chance at winning after all.

The referee blew the whistle and Sashi charged, expecting Salaak to do the same. However, Salaak seemed caught off-guard by Sashi's speed and barely managed to dodge the punch aimed at his face, feeling the wind hit him as he dodged.

Sashi pressed her advantage, closing the distance between them and Salaak jumped away to the center of the ring, doing a handstand and pushing off of it, trying to put some distance between them.

Sashi once again used her superior speed to rush at him and he dodged yet again, giving her back a push, causing her to lose her balance. However, instead of falling forward, she turned her fall into a front-flip and Salaak stepped back to avoid her heel smashing the bottom of his jaw.

Sashi turned around and was about to charge at Salaak again, only to notice the sudden change in his aura.

All the tension in his body left as he slowly and calmly relaxed into a fighting stance, being just enough on-guard to not come off as lazy. She saw him take a deep breath and slowly exhale, looking at her with a focused gaze and suddenly, Sashi had a really bad feeling.

She charged again and this time, Salaak effortlessly dodged her punch. Sashi spun to hit him with her heel but he ducked and kicked her other leg out from under her. Sashi recovered immediately and turned to face Salaak only to find no one there.

"Behind you!" she heard Penn cry out in a strained voice. Sashi didn't even have time to turn around as a crushing kick in her side sent her skidding across the floor ring. However, she was much more durable than Penn was, so while that kick may have hurt him considerably, she was completely unfazed by it.

She and Salaak rushed at each other and she threw a flurry of blows at him, him dodging or deflecting all of them. Growling, Sashi sped up her blows, trying to break through his defense, but it didn't seem to faze him at all. Suddenly, he pushed forward and smashed his head into hers, knocking her back. He did a front-flip and she stepped back to avoid the kick that would have come down on her hard. She rushed, trying to close the distance between them only for him to flip back and kick her in the bottom of the jaw.

Growing even angrier, Sashi charged at him but he jumped and kicked both legs into her chest, knocking her back yet again. Before she could react, he ran, jumped and did a side-flip before smashing a kick into her stomach, and as durable as she was, he was really strong, so she definitely felt that one.

She fell back but immediately flipped herself back onto her feet, only to find that Salaak was nowhere in sight. Then she felt something charge into her side. Not giving in this time, she grabbed Salaak, who had tried to charge into her, and spun, throwing him across the ring. He quickly recovered, only to find Sashi charging at him like a bull. He kicked his knee straight into her face, breaking her charge, and hit her stomach and face with a flurry of blows, severely weakening her, before doing a backflip and kicking her in the jaw, making her fall back.

Sashi forced herself to get up again. She saw Salaak charging at her and she knew that she'd been backed into a corner but she readied herself anyway.

Then a hand wrapped around her ankle and someone yelled "TAG!"

She and Salaak looked in shock at Penn, who looked like it had taken all of his energy to yell that out. The referee blew the whistle and Sashi climbed out of the ring.

"Penn, are you crazy?!" she said to him.

"Sashi, you can't beat him," he said calmly. "He's already won."

"What?" she said confusedly.

"Sashi, in the first few minutes of the fight, he knew you would try to get a quick victory so he expected you to go all-out. He was testing you, seeing how capable you were. And when he knew, he figured out how to beat you."

"Penn-"

"After he stopped holding back, did you hit him even once?" Penn asked. Sashi tried to think of something to say but couldn't. "He's a strategic fighter, Sash, which means if we're going to beat him, we don't need a stronger fighter, we need a smarter one."

"But you're hurt, Penn," she said. "And it's because of him. You're supposed to be the smart one, here. Do you really think it's a good idea to send you back in there to fight the guy that did this to you?!"

"Sashi, if we're going to win this tournament, we have to beat him. And the only one who can beat him is me. Believe me Sashi, I can do it."
"Penn, you don't-"

"Sashi, do you trust me?"

Sashi stopped. He was doing it again. He was forcing her to choose between trusting him or hurting him. Sashi grew angry, not at him, but at the fact that even though she knew he was doing it intentionally, she still couldn't be angry at him. He'd always had her best interests at heart, even if that meant sometimes disregarding his own needs, like right now, when he knew that he shouldn't be pushing himself considering all the damage he had taken but he was about to step into the ring with the same person who had reduced him to this state. All because she wanted to win the tournament.

'I hate you, Penn,' she thought, even though she didn't mean it.

"We don't have to win," she said, desperately trying to talk him out of what he was about to do. However, the moment those words left her mouth, all the determination in his eyes that she had seen in him earlier returned, this time in even greater force than before.

"Yes we do," he said. With that, he climbed into the ring and faced off against Salaak as the referee counted down.

If Salaak hadn't been nervous before, he sure as hell was now. Penn stepped back into the ring, looking at him with all the determination he'd had before, and it unnerved Salaak, to say the least. He was the only one to have hurt Salaak in the entire tournament, and while he'd barely managed to win against him before, he'd also had a lot more time to recover. And he may not have been the strongest guy, but he still knew how to land a good hit, something that was still having some lasting effects, if the pain in Salaak's body was any indicator.

The referee brought his hand down and quickly got out of the ring, but neither fighter charged, instead watching the other carefully. The more time passed, the more uneasy Salaak grew.

Then, trying to catch Penn off-guard, the tension exploded as Salaak charged at Penn. He spun, trying to hit Penn in the face with his heel. Penn ducked the blow and jumped forward, smashing his fist into Salaak's face, knocking him back. Salaak immediately got up to see Penn charging and readied himself. Penn dropped to the ground and tried to kick Salaak's legs out from under him but Salaak jumped, however, Penn turned around and hit Salaak in the stomach with his other leg. Before Salaak could hit Penn back, Penn rolled forward, putting some distance between the two. Knowing that he couldn't risk losing the opening that Penn had left, Salaak charged at Penn while his back was turned, trying to hit him within the small window of time while his guard was down. However, Penn leaned backwards and did a handstand, kicking Salaak away just as he was about to hit him.

As Salaak was knocked back, he started growing frustrated. There were clear openings in Penn's defense, and even though Penn could utilize the openings that Salaak left, it still didn't explain why Salaak couldn't do the same. After all, there were so many gaps and holes in his defense that-

Suddenly it hit him and he couldn't understand why he hadn't seen it before.

'I am such an idiot,' he thought to himself. Penn was a strategic fighter, more so than Salaak by an immeasurable amount. While Salaak had used strategy as a tool in his fighting style, Penn had used it as the foundation on which he had built everything. Which meant he would be way too smart to leave those kinds of gaps and openings.

Unless he wanted to. Penn's instincts in fighting were so trained that they were strategic instead of primal. And Salaak, for all his skill, hadn't reached that level. Penn had purposely put him in situations where his primal instincts would take over. He had left fatal openings and put himself at incredible risk of taking a damaging hit, knowing Salaak would capitalize on that opportunity, doing exactly what Penn wanted in the process. He had stepped straight into Penn's trap again and again, and it had brought him that much closer to losing.

The pain in Salaak's body had increased, and he could feel his movements were getting slower because of it. He wouldn't be able to last much longer, he knew that. But he also knew that even though they hadn't reached the finals yet, the real fight was here, between them. There were no other fighters that could go head-to-head with any of them, so even if this wasn't the finals, the real winner would be decided here and now. And knowing that filled both Penn and Salaak with a new desire to win, so strong that it was all they could think about. Salaak readied himself, Penn doing the same, only one thought filling both their heads.

You're going down.

Salaak tried to kick Penn in the side but Penn grabbed his leg and used it to throw him. He rushed at Salaak and jumped, about to pounce on him, but Salaak hit him in the chest with both his feet, causing Penn to fly back. Salaak charged at Penn but Penn flipped himself back onto his feet, hitting Salaak in the stomach with his forward momentum, causing him to double over. Penn stood up and hit Salaak with a hard uppercut, causing him to stumble back. Salaak and Penn charged at each other, their determination clouding their minds to the point where they forgot all about battle strategies and feverishly attacked each other until they were both just a mess of punches and kicks and grunts. Their partners, all the other fighters they'd beaten, all the ones they hadn't, and the entire crowd, watched in silent amazement.

Salaak punched Penn hard across the face and Penn spun with the momentum, smashing his heel against Salaak's face, knocking him back. Both of them rushed at each other again. Penn threw a punch at him but Salaak locked their arms together at the elbow. They both punched each other at the same time and stumbled back. Both their faces were covered in bruises and both their noses were bleeding profusely. As they grinned at each other, Sashi saw their teeth were tinted red, too. Somewhere, in the back of her mind, she knew that the referee should have stopped them by now, but no one wanted that, not even the two of them.

Penn and Salaak looked at each other with a mixture of hate and respect. Hate because they were both so adamant in standing in each other's way and respect because they were the only ones to have ever pushed each other so far. They both could already guess what the other was thinking and in a moment of clarity, they both dropped their guard and walked up to each other, doing a small fist-bump while grinning at each other, before they went straight back to trying to kill each other.

Salaak smashed a kick into Penn's stomach but Penn grabbed his leg before he could retract it. He pulled Salaak towards him and smashed his head into Salaak's face. Salaak tried to punch him but Penn grabbed his arm and jumped, locking both his legs around Salaak's neck and applying crushing pressure, Salaak buckling under the weight. Salaak struggled and Penn squeezed tighter, desperately trying to drive Salaak to tap out.

'Come on,' Penn thought, straining to hold Salaak. 'Oh, COME ON!' he mentally screamed as, against all odds, Salaak started to get up. Penn saw his eyes shining with a crazed light and his teeth clenched from the effort. He could see the veins bulging all over his neck as Penn squeezed even tighter, however, Salaak didn't fall. Then, with more strength than what should have been possible for any human being in his position, Salaak slammed Penn on the ground and the explosion of pain made Penn lose his grip on Salaak.

Salaak stumbled and fell on his back, both him and Penn groaning. It was getting hard to think through the pain, but they were still lucid enough to know how close they were to winning, and more importantly, how much they wanted it.

Groaning from the effort, they both struggled to their feet, although Penn took longer and even when he'd gotten up, it was taking all of his energy to keep standing.

"You're strong, Penn," Salaak said in a strained voice. "But I'm stronger." He charged at Penn, his fist flying toward his face to deal the finishing blow. Penn barely had the energy left to stand and for all his determination and will, he was only human. And this was it.

"It's over," Salaak whispered.

Then Penn raised his eyes and there was a victorious glint in them.

With impossible reaction time, Penn ducked the blow and wrapped one arm around Salaak's shoulder and the other under his outstretched arm, grabbing his other wrist in a vice grip. He used his leg to trip Salaak and with all his might, slammed him down onto the ground.

"You're right," he whispered right next to his ear.

And he squeezed.

Salaak let out a strangled gasp as Penn squeezed his neck again, this time with even more might than before.

"You might be the stronger fighter, Salaak," Penn said to him. "But I'm the smarter one." He squeezed tighter. "And I think even you're smart enough to know…" He squeezed even tighter. "That at this point, that's all that matters."

Salaak punched Penn repeatedly in the side, trying to get him to release his death grip, but it was no use. Penn's grip only tightened more out of desperation, and Salaak knew that at this rate he was going to pass out. Still, he struggled.

"Come on," Penn said. "We both know I've won. So just tap out."

Still, Salaak struggled.

"Please, I don't want to hurt you any more than I already have," Penn said. "You're a great fighter. Everyone knows it. So just stop."

Salaak didn't listen.

"Backing out of a fight doesn't make you a coward. It makes you smart." Salaak paused at hearing his own words. "I won't have any less respect for you. And neither will anyone else." Salaak didn't react. "Please."

Salaak struggled a bit more before suddenly stopping.

He would have sighed disappointedly if he could breathe. He tapped the ground weakly and the referee blew his whistle. The crowd erupted into cheers and Penn's grip slackened. Salaak gasped and then went into a coughing fit. His partner rushed into the ring and rubbed his back, helping him up, Sashi doing the same for Penn.

As the two fighters stood up, both leaning heavily on their partners, they looked at each other and grinned weakly. Penn held out his hand and Salaak firmly shook it.

"You win, Penn," Salaak said in a raspy voice. "You win."

Sashi had fought the rest of the tournament. Another girl had fought Salaak's teammate and Sashi had fought her and another guy in the three-way finals for first place. Neither one of them proved to be much of a challenge for her. But that wasn't what was on her mind at that moment.

Sashi looked at Penn's face as he rested his head on her lap, his legs sprawled out over the edge of the seat. His eyes were closed and his breathing was slow and steady. His face was covered in bruises, although she'd managed to wipe off most of the blood. She was really nervous for the explanation she would have to give to Uncle Chuck and Aunt Rose for their nephew's horrific injuries.

'That's going to be a fun conversation,' she thought sarcastically. Penn was in too bad of a condition to do much of any talking or explaining, so he would probably go straight to bed. Or to the hospital. Either one seemed likely. Either way, that meant that he wasn't going to be present for the awkward conversation with his aunt and uncle and she wouldn't be getting that explanation for his sudden change in behavior and desire for winning that she so badly wanted until at least tomorrow.

She sighed as she looked at him. Ever the strategist. Making sure that everything went his way.

Although in hindsight, she shouldn't have been surprised.