Penn Zero Fanfiction

Author's Note

FINALLY! GODDAMMIT, THIS F***ING SH** IS SO F***ING HARD! I JUST WANTED A COUPLE OF F***ING HOURS TO WORK ON THIS BUT NOOOOOOOOOOO! APPARENTLY, THAT'S TOO MUCH TO F***ING ASK! WELL, TO THAT I SAY F*** YOU, YOU S***F*** F*** **** **** ******* ***********************************************************!

Soooooo... I'm not dead yet, although I think one of you will probably change that in the near future. Anyways, I just wanted to say that I F***ING HATE THIS JOB! (Not really.)

Ahh. Now that I've gotten that off my chest, onto the more important stuff. So the reason that this took so long is that when I had the idea to originally start writing this fanfiction, I had gone back and started rewatching all the Penn Zero episodes to find moments that they could share. I had created a list of the episodes where they could have shared a moment and a brief summary of the intended scenario. However, I made two mistakes. First of all, I started this at a really bad time and school started up again so I never got through all the episodes. Now I'm going to have to find the time to finish that while at the same time keeping up with this and my school work.

Joy.

The second mistake I made was that the scenarios I wrote in my outline were too vague. At times, I felt like I had maybe made an error in judgment when I thought that they could share a moment in that episode or in that sort of scenario and I felt like I was basically grasping at straws. It doesn't help that the relationship between Penn and Sashi was never meant to be a central focus in the show so that made my job infinitely more difficult.

Joy.

Anyways, add school onto all of that and you have my colossal delay. So I apologize for that, too.

With all of that boring stuff out of the way, I give you this. If it's not enough, I completely understand. I mean, if you guys (and girls) are getting frustrated with me, I totally get that. Balancing multiple responsibilities isn't an excuse when you got backed yourself into that corner in the first place. If you guys (and girls) have any advice for me, don't hesitate. I could seriously use it.

But enough about that. You guys (and girls) waited long enough for this chapter. I'm not going to make you wait any longer because of my talking. Although if you skipped over this entire section, then this doesn't apply to you. Enjoy!

The Princess Most Fair

"Oh, wow! This is delicious!" Penn said with his mouth full, somehow not spraying meatloaf all over everyone else's plate, although Sashi covered hers protectively anyway.

"PENN," she said pointedly. Penn looked up at the sound of his name.

"Yeah?" he said, his mouth still full of meatloaf. Sashi wondered how he could fit so much into such a small space. Then again, he did have a big mouth since he could never seem to shut it sometimes. She rolled her eyes before fixing him with an annoyed stare.

"Don't speak with your mouth full," she said. Penn swallowed and apologized before going back to wolfing down his meatloaf. Sashi might have been disgusted if not for the fact that she wasn't much better. This meatloaf was seriously good.

"I gotta say, Mrs. Wiseman, Boone wasn't just bragging when he said you make some of the best meatloaves around," Penn said, completely ignoring what Sashi had said to him just moments before. Sashi considered killing him before deciding that she didn't want to make a mess during dinner, especially since she was a guest. She sighed. Unfortunately, Penn's grisly death would have to wait.

Mrs. Wiseman just chuckled and looked flattered at Penn's compliments.

"Boone, I can't believe you didn't share this with us sooner," Penn said, looking across the table at Boone with what would have been an accusing look from anyone else, only to see Boone continue eating his meatloaf without even looking up at the mention of his name. Penn immediately grew concerned at the lack of response from his Wiseman.

"Boone?" he tried again, still getting nothing.

"Boone," his father said, louder so as to get his son's attention.

Boone suddenly looked up. "What?" he said. "Uh, yeah, what he said."

Boone's parents looked at him crossly for his lack of manners but Penn quickly started talking, complimenting the meatloaf some more and making conversation with Boone's parents to get their attention away from their son. Boone, once seeing that he was no longer in trouble, went back to looking down at his plate.

Sashi's eyebrows creased in concern at her normally cheerful friend's dejected mood. She looked at Penn and although he was still making conversation with Boone's parents to keep them distracted, he and Sashi made eye contact and he nodded almost imperceptibly, letting her know he'd noticed it too.

When they had finished dinner, everyone pushed back their seats. Boone quietly put his dishes in the sink and went up to his room without a word and this time, even his parents noticed his mood. Unlike before, where they had looked at him sternly, this time they looked at him with concern. Penn noticed it and before his father could go up to his room to talk to his son about it, he stepped in.

"Mr. Wiseman," he said, getting the man's attention. "Whatever happened with Boone, he usually only talks about it when he's had some time to himself. So just give him his space for a little while before you talk to him or he's not going to want to talk at all."

Boone's father looked conflicted for a second before relenting with a heavy sigh. He nodded and went back to helping his wife clean up.

After Penn and Sashi had helped the Wisemans clean up, despite their protesting of how guests weren't supposed to do that, Penn and Sashi said their goodbyes and walked out the door. As soon as they heard the door close behind them, they both turned and went around the side of the house.

Sashi jumped against the wall of the house and stepped off, landing on top of the fence, before pushing off of that and landing on the roof right next to the window. She set to work quietly opening it while Penn jumped and stepped off the wall before running up a few steps and grabbing the edge of the roof with his hands and pulling himself up. Sashi climbed in through the window as Penn followed her, closing the window behind him. They stood up and faced the bed, ready to talk to Boone when they saw instead that the bed was empty. Penn looked around the room and noticed that the walls were bare of posters. The floor was spotless and there was nothing to suggest that Boone had been in this room in a long time. Or ever, really.

Penn and Sashi tensed as they realized that they'd accidentally climbed into the wrong room. They scrambled to the window and fumbled to open it as they heard Mr. and Mrs. Wiseman coming up the stairs, both talking about something that they couldn't quite make out through the door. Penn and Sashi scrambled out of the window and quickly climbed to the top of the roof as the Wiseman parents opened the door.

They immediately noticed the ever so slight change in the room's temperature and the open window. Immediately on their guard, Wendy quickly zipped around the room, her Part-Time skills surprisingly sharp considering how long it had been since she had used them. She searched the room thoroughly while her husband stayed by the door, sealing off the only escape route. When Wendy rose up and shook her head, her husband relaxed and they both looked at the window.

"Go check it out," he told her. "I'll go check on Boone."

Wendy was momentarily caught off-guard by her husband's tone, suddenly being reminded of when she used to be the Wiseman to Brock and Vonnie. The sudden swell of emotion caught her by surprise for a moment before she steeled herself and nodded. Her husband noticed her stiffen, but he chose not to comment on it, his concern for his son overcoming his curiosity.

He rushed to Boone's room, whipping open the door. Boone suddenly shot up into a sitting position at the sound of his dad coming through the door so hurriedly. He blinked and rubbed at his eyes before focusing on his father.

"Dad?" he said confusedly. "What's going on?"

His father didn't answer him, his eyes scanning the room and his ears listening for even the slightest of sounds that shouldn't have been there.

Boone grew worried at seeing his dad's Part-Time skills at full work, considering he'd retired and left that life behind. He could also hear something moving very quickly on the roof and could only guess that it was his mom.

Boone yelped as something came zipping through his open window and came to a stop right next to his bed. His mom looked at his dad and shook her head and they both relaxed and sighed in relief.

"Mom? Dad? What's wrong?" Boone asked, looking ever so slightly scared. His parents came over to him and tucked him in before kissing him on the forehead.

"We just forgot to give you your goodnight kiss, that's all?" his mom said.

"Then why did you come in through my window?" Boone asked, looking at them suspiciously.

"Goodnight, buddy," his dad said as if he hadn't spoken. His parents turned around and walked out of his room, closing the door.

Penn counted to ten in his head before he dared to peek out from underneath the bed.

"All clear, guys," Boone whispered.

Penn and Sashi let out their breaths and crawled out from underneath the bed.

"That was too close," Sashi said. She forgot that while she, Penn, and Boone - OK, maybe not Boone, but while she and Penn may have been some of the most naturally gifted Part-Time Heroes ever, their families were some of the greatest Heroes there had ever been. She shivered when she thought of what might have happened if they had been caught. She suddenly had a lot more respect for Rippen when she remembered he'd been on the receiving end of their skills numerous times.

"Boone, what's wrong?" Penn asked, looking at his friend worriedly. "You haven't been yourself at all lately."

"I don't wanna talk about it," Boone said, turning over and pulling the covers over his head.

"Boone," Sashi said, her tone much more firm than Penn's. Boone curled up more at the sound of her voice. Sashi opened her mouth to speak again but Penn put a hand on her shoulder and stopped her. She looked at him but he shook his head. She was about to protest but paused. She sighed and stepped back, deciding to let Penn handle this. Penn looked at her gratefully before turning his attention back to Boone.

"Boone, buddy, come on," he said, shaking Boone's shoulder. "We're your friends. Just tell us what's wrong."

Boone pulled away. Penn was ready to quit but then he sighed and pushed back the covers and sat up, looking sadly at the two of them.

"It's about my Pigoilet," he said. Penn raised an eyebrow and Boone elaborated. "Everyone laughed at me, Penn. I worked really hard on it and everyone laughed at me. Rippen failed me. The class made fun of me. Even the bad guys made jokes about it. It feels like no matter what I do, everyone just laughs. I mean, I know I'm not a very good Wiseman but…"

He gritted his teeth as he held back tears, pausing before he continued. "I don't want to keep embarrassing myself, guys, but I feel like I do it just by being me."

"Boone, that's not true," Penn said. Boone just gave him a withering look.

"Penn, I put everything into that project and they laughed at it."

"That's not true, Boone," Penn said, desperately trying to console his friend and hating that it was going so wrong. "Rippen liked it."

Boone looked at him incredulously. "I don't care if Rippen liked it," he said. He sighed and went on, looking down. "I don't care what Rippen thinks. He's a jerk. But I do care what other people think. I…" He paused. "I care what you think." He looked back up at Penn and this time, he looked hurt. "But you already told me what you really thought when we went to save the princess."

"Boone, I-"

"Just go, Penn," Boone said, turning away and pulling his covers up over his head.

"Boone?" his mom called. "Who are you talking to?"

Sashi tensed and grabbed Penn's arm and pulled him away. He tried to pull back but he was suddenly reminded just how much stronger Sashi was. He looked at her and she gestured to the window, her eyes wide and worried. Penn looked at her like he wanted to argue but she shook her head and pulled at his arm. Penn clenched his teeth, standing still and fighting against every fiber of his being that was telling him to stay, before relenting. The sound of Boone's parents' footsteps were getting closer as they neared his bedroom. Penn took one last look at his friend before he and Sashi climbed back out the window and shut it just as his parents opened the door. They looked around only to find that Boone seemed to be sound asleep. Boone's father noticed the window which they had definitely left open was closed and he looked suspiciously around the room, then at his son, but Boone didn't move. Boone's father turned around and headed out of the room but his mom heard him sniffle just as she closed the door. Her eyes narrowed at the sound as she walked back to her own room.

Meanwhile, Sashi was looking worriedly at Penn. He stared at the ground, his fists clenched tightly shut and a look of anger on his face. Then he raised his head and roughly brushed past Sashi. She grew even more worried as she followed Penn.

"Penn, what are you going to do?" she asked him nervously.

"Something that will probably get me arrested," he said as he continued walking. Sashi sighed, knowing she wasn't going to be able to talk him out of it. She jogged to catch up to him.

"So what's the plan?" she asked readily. Penn looked at her in surprise for a moment before smiling as he started talking.

Rippen was woken by the sound of his window smashing. He shot up in bed to see Penn slowly rising from a crouch right next to shattered glass. He leveled a look at Rippen and his normally cheery bright blue eyes were dark and angry.

"Can this wait until tomorrow?" Rippen asked, annoyed. "There's a time and place for everything, Penn, and this is neither."

"IT IS NOW!" Penn yelled, pouncing on the bed, his outstretched hands reaching for Rippen's throat. Rippen quickly dodged and got out of bed, instantly readying himself for a fight. Penn let out an animalistic cry and lunged at him again but Rippen dodged to the side. Penn threw a flurry of blows at him but Rippen dodged and deflected all of them. He easily kicked Penn's legs out from underneath him and raised his leg up to bring it down in a hard ax kick. Penn barely dodged and the wooden floor broke and splintered where Rippen's heel landed.

Penn quickly got up and jumped, aiming to hit Rippen in the jaw with an uppercut and the full momentum of his jump behind it but Rippen once again easily dodged. Penn spun mid-air and tried to hit Rippen in the chest with a back kick but Rippen grabbed Penn's ankle and swung, aiming to throw him out of the window he had crashed through earlier. However, Penn spun again and landed in a crouch against the wall. Pushing off, he tore through the air and did a front flip, hitting Rippen with a kick in the chest, causing him to stumble back. However, Rippen was tall and built like a brick house and when it came to strength, Penn wasn't even in the same league, much less on the same level.

Growling, Rippen struck at Penn but Penn jumped back to avoid him and put some space between them. However, Rippen moved much faster than Penn thought he could, and he lunged at Penn. Penn jumped back again but Rippen rushed forward, grabbing Penn around the waist and taking them both out of the window Penn had previously entered through. They both briefly fought in the air, with Penn dodging Rippen's strikes fluidly due to his superior agility, before Rippen grabbed Penn and threw him away. Rippen twisted his body in the air and landed on all fours in a crouch. Penn hit the wall of the house and fell down to the ground, groaning in pain. There was a crack in the wall where Penn had hit and Rippen chuckled at seeing it.

"It always took three of you to defeat me," he said to Penn as he walked toward him. "Well, four if you count Larry. He always seemed to help you more than he helped me." He rolled his eyes at the thought of his unwaveringly loyal yet but grievously-lacking-in-evil henchman before continuing. "I fought your parents, Penn Zero. And they were much, much stronger than you. They definitely put up a better fight, that's for sure." He chuckled before continuing. "And I won against them. If they couldn't beat me together, what chance did you have alone?"

Penn finally looked up after struggling to his feet. However, instead of the defeated and fearful look Rippen had been hoping for, he instead got a dark and chilling smile from Penn.

"I'm not alone," Penn said in a husky voice barely above a whisper. At that moment, Rippen noticed a pitter-patter sound and looked to his right only to get a heeled foot smashed into his nose.

"UGH!" he managed as he stumbled back. He didn't need to check to see that his nose had been completely crushed and was probably bleeding profusely. He blinked to see Sashi in front of him and he growled angrily. Just as he was about to charge at her, someone kicked the back of his knee, forcing him down and shifting his focus away from Sashi. Rippen turned to see that Penn had used his moment of distraction to sneak up behind him. He snarled and moved to attack Penn but Sashi smashed another heel into his stomach, knocking the air right out of him. Penn wrapped an arm around his throat and locked it with his other arm that went behind his neck, applying pressure from both sides. Rippen gasped and clawed at Penn's arms before Sashi threw a barrage of punches at his face, hitting his eyes, nose, mouth, cheeks, and jaw. By the time she finished, Rippen could barely see through the pain and he was on the verge of passing out from the lack of oxygen. Penn let him go and he dropped to the ground, gasping and coughing. Penn came around his side and kicked him in the face to turn him upright so that he was facing him. He glared down at Rippen with a look of fury in his eyes.

"I know you hate us," he said. "And I get that. You're a sore loser. You're an awful villain. An even worse teacher, if that's possible. Really, you're not good for anything. So I get it if you don't like us, Rippen. After all, it must be pretty embarrassing if a couple of kids can do their job better than you can do yours." His glare became even scarier as his anger heightened. "But whatever happens between you and us stays inside those worlds and out of this one. You embarrassed Boone in front of the entire class and made him look like a joke. And I'm not just gonna let that go. The next time you do something like that…" He grabbed Rippen by the neck, pulling his face up so that he was looking Penn directly in the eyes. "I'm not gonna stop once you're down. I'll make sure you can't get back up." He smashed Rippen's face into the ground. "You're right, Rippen. I'm not like my parents. And that's what you should be afraid of." He turned around and he and Sashi walked away, their retreating figures fading into the darkness.

Rippen groaned and struggled to get up. He could already feel his face starting to swell up and he didn't even want to think about what he was going to look like tomorrow. As he made his way towards his house he felt two presences behind him.

'Oh, what now?' he thought annoyedly as he turned. His face turned even paler than it already was when he saw the Wiseman parents standing menacingly at the edge of his lawn. Wendy had a psychotic smile on her face and her husband smiled as he cracked his knuckles.

"You didn't think we'd miss out on the fun, did you?" he said to Rippen in a lighthearted tone that betrayed the gravity of Rippen's situation.

The last thing Rippen thought before Hell rained down on him in the form of two aging and retired Part-Time angry parents was this.

'I hate this job.'

"I didn't think you'd go that far, Penn," Sashi said to him as they walked towards his house. She had to hand it to him. He might not look like much but he was terrifying when he wanted to be. She had a feeling Rippen wouldn't be pulling anything like that again.

"You're right," Penn said. "I usually wouldn't go that far." He looked at her and spoke with such determination and almost threatening conviction that it would have scared anyone else. "But it's a different story when it comes to my friends."

Sashi looked down, a sad smile on her face. "Boone's really lucky to have a friend like that," she said.

Penn turned at the sudden change in her voice and saw the look on her face.

"I would have done it for you, too," he said to her. She looked up at him in surprise and he smiled. "Sashi, you're as much my friend as Boone is. Don't you know that by now?"

Sashi averted her gaze from his and turned away from him. "I do," she began. "It's just…" She struggled to put it into words. "With you and him, it's different. You and Boone would do anything for each other. You're more than just friends."

"And what do you think we are?" Penn asked her. She turned to him to answer but she didn't know what to say. She and Penn had always worked closely together but she had always kept him at arm's length. Although they hung out at school and worked as partners, she didn't do anything with him outside of that the way Boone did. She'd only taken him to the karate tournament because she thought she might need his help. Although she had been by his side as much as Boone had while they'd worked together, he and Boone shared a bond while she and him just shared a job. The more Sashi thought about it, the more she realized that because of her actions, she and Penn were anything but friends. The sudden realization affected her more than she had expected it to and she couldn't understand why.

"We're just partners, Penn," she said, her voice carrying an undertone of regret that she didn't notice. However, Penn did notice, and it told him that she didn't really mean it. It made him smile and gave him the courage to do what he did next.

"No, we're not," he said to her.

Penn gently grabbed her arm, turning her towards him. Sashi looked at him suddenly. Her eyes were wide and there was an emotion in them that Penn couldn't quite figure out but he pushed that thought to the back of his mind as he remembered what he wanted to say to her.

"We've saved lives together, Sashi, including each other's," he said. "We've fought battles together. We've defeated enemies together. We've risked our own lives for each other. Even when we didn't want the other to do that." At this, he pointedly looked at her and she knew what he was referring to. Her mind flashed to their fight after the zombie apocalypse. Although they had been very angry at each other, by the end, they had become closer. You didn't have that with partners. You didn't even have that with friends. "It's different for us, too." He stopped and grabbed her wrist, pulling her towards him very gently, wondering if she would resist, but she didn't. However, she inhaled sharply at the sudden lack of distance between them. Penn didn't seem to notice as he went on.

"Sashi, after all we've been through together, we're more than just friends," he went on. "I'd do anything for you, too."

Sashi's heart was beating so fast it almost hurt. She didn't know why she was reacting the way she was. After all, it was just Penn, right?

Or maybe she was reacting this way because it was Penn.

The moment was suddenly over as he sighed and let go of her wrist, stepping back from her. For a moment, she felt something indescribable but he started talking before she could fully process it.

"Sashi, you told me you've been alone for most of your life. And I can't imagine what that's like because I always had people with me. You didn't. Now you do but for some reason, you still haven't realized it." He looked at her with something close to pity, but more akin to frustration, with a mix of sadness. "You're not alone anymore, Sash. And you're more than just a friend. You…" He paused, seemingly struggling to put his thoughts into words. "You mean something to me," he finally said. "You mean a lot. More than anyone else." She thought she saw a blush on his face but he turned away from her before she could be sure.

"A-anyways," he said, rubbing the back of his neck as what was definitely a blush spread across his face. "It's getting late. You should probably go home, now. Your parents will be worried about you."

"I don't think they'll-"

"And I don't want Uncle Chuck and Aunt Rose to freak out either," Penn interrupted her, hurriedly walking away. "See you tomorrow, Sash," he called out behind him, leaving Sashi standing there dumbfounded.

"Penn, I-" Sashi began but he was too far away to hear her. Sashi's racing heart was calming down and now that she could think straight, she wondered what exactly had transpired between the two.

Penn walked into his house quietly, being careful not to make too much noise so as not to wake up his aunt and uncle. He hurried to his bedroom and closed the door behind him before jumping into his bed and pulling the covers up over himself as if that would somehow block off everything that he was feeling.

He didn't know what had come over him tonight. He was usually far too scared of Sashi to do what he had done. So what had prompted him to overcome that fear?

No. He hadn't overcome that fear. He had forgotten it was even there. And even if he hadn't, he didn't think he would have cared. Because Sashi hadn't pulled away from him. He knew how she wasn't very physically comfortable with people, not even her own family, and she had definitely been aware of how physical he was being. But she had been okay with it. He knew that had he been anyone else, she would have broken something in their body, flipped them over and slammed them on the ground, or at the very least, pulled away. But she hadn't. And that had made him really happy.

But why?

Penn curled into a ball even more than he already had. He didn't know what was happening, but he knew that something was changing between him and Sashi. He didn't know what it was or even when it had started or if it had been there from the very beginning. All he knew was that he had meant every word of what he had said to her. She did mean more to him than just a friend. But she didn't know exactly what she meant to him. And what scared him was…

Neither did he.

Sashi quietly opened the door to her apartment, careful not to wake anyone up. She knew that she had arrived home late, something her parents would not be happy about. However, they also knew that she was perfectly capable of defending herself. She wasn't always able to hide her Sidekick training from them. But right now, she couldn't deal with her parents' interrogation. She couldn't deal with anything at that moment so she just went straight into her room, closed the door behind her, and pulled the covers over herself as if that would somehow block off everything that she was feeling.

All she could think about was what had happened tonight. Penn didn't usually touch her like that. He barely ever touched her at all. He knew she wasn't very physically comfortable with people, not even her own family, yet he seemed to have completely forgotten that. The strange thing was that she had been okay with it. What was even stranger was that had it been anyone else, she would have either broken something in their body, flipped them over and slammed them on the ground, or at the very least, pulled away. But with Penn, that hadn't even occurred to her, although she had been very aware that he was touching her.

She curled into a ball even more than she already had. She didn't know why Penn had done what he did and she didn't know why she had reacted the way she did or, more strangely, why she hadn't reacted the way she normally would. Penn wasn't just a partner and he was definitely more than a friend. He meant more to her than that. But he didn't know just how much more. And what scared her was…

Neither did she.