Penn Zero Fanfiction
Author's Note:
IF YOU WANT TO SKIP THE PERSONAL STUFF AND GET TO THE STUFF ACTUALLY REGARDING THE ACTUAL CHAPTER AND THE FUTURE OF THIS STORY, READ AHEAD TO THE SECOND PARAGRAPH! THEN SKIP AHEAD TO THE ACTUAL CHAPTER! OTHERWISE, YOU CAN READ THE WHOLE THING!
Hey guys. I know I've been gone a long time. What can I say? Life is hard. Recently, it got a lot harder. On the one side, school has been complete and utter hell. The amount of work I get on a regular basis alone is unbelievable. But on the other hand, for the first time in 6 years, my family issues have finally been put to rest. My mental well-being and emotional health are better than they've ever been and I'm very, very thankful for that. Believe me, I wanted to work on this so much. But like I said, I had a lot of work to do and I could never find the time. I've also gotten a little rusty over time so please forgive the quality of this chapter if it's a little lacking.
So as I was writing this, I had to go back and rewatch a lot of the show to get a feel for the characters again and I had to read all my older chapters again to see how the relationship between Penn and Sashi progressed to figure out where to take this story next. And I realized there isn't really anything else I can do with it. It's reaching its end. I had originally planned on doing chapters scattered throughout the entire show but the problem is that their relationship progressed far faster in the story than I intended it to. At the same time, there wasn't any other way I could possibly write this story. Now their relationship has progressed to the point where they just need to take that final step. I'm debating on whether or not I should write one final chapter that would basically be an alternate ending to the show that shows how they took that last step or if I should just end the story here. Their relationship from here on out can be the same as it was in the actual show. I'm really unsure as to how to continue with this so I'm open to suggestions. As you know, you can always review and let me know what you think.
As far as Kids Shows go, I really loved Penn Zero. It was funny and great and I really loved it. When I first started thinking about writing, I wanted to write about this show. I've always loved writing and I've wanted to get better at it. It was why I started writing this story in the first place. To show my love for the show and to hone my skills as a writer. I'm glad you guys liked it. I liked writing it. I'm sorry I wasn't the best at updating and I'm sorry I kept you guys waiting for so long. But everyone has problems in their own life and there are just some things we can't control. And when it gets bad, like it did for me last year, the only thing I felt like I could do was close myself off from everything and escape my reality. That was why I didn't write for so long. I'm better now so I can continue writing. I just didn't want you guys to think I abandoned this story and all of you with it. I just needed time to heal. I hope you understand.
I've since learned that you can't escape your reality and that trying only makes it worse. You just have to find a way to make your reality a good one. I did that by learning to stand up for myself and learning to lean on people who I knew would be there for me. For anyone going through hard times, this is for you. I can tell you from personal experience, it gets better. But you have to be the one to make that happen. For your sake. Trust me, it may be hard, but it's worth it in the end
Anyways, that's all I have to say. Hope you enjoy the chapter. Let me know what you think of it.
Massive Morphy Merge Mechs
"Well done," Penn heard Phyllis' heavily accented voice say as the three Part-Time Heroes were zapped back into their dimension. "You saved the whole planet and brought peace between the races. You make good Part-Time Heroes."
"Is that pride I hear in your voice, Phyllis?" Sashi asked, smiling teasingly at her boss. Phyllis chuckled before fixing Sashi with a serious glare.
"Ask me that again, I fire you," Phyllis said. Sashi just chuckled and continued.
"So that's a 'yes'," she said softly so that only Penn and Boone could hear. The two chuckled with her as they made their way out of the theater.
"What is so funny?" Phyllis demanded.
"NO-THING!" Boone called out in a sing-song voice as the doors closed behind them.
Phyllis shook her head. "Children. They only get more annoying, never less." She suddenly smiled sadly as she remembered Penn's parents. They used to joke around with her so much that sometimes, even Phyllis would have to crack a smile. She missed them every day, especially whenever she was working to bring them back. She hoped they were okay.
Snapping herself out of her thoughts, Phyllis turned herself back to her work with a renewed determination in an effort to find Penn's parents.
Back outside, Penn, Boone, and Sashi were all walking home, talking about things the way anyone their age would. If someone were to see them then, they would look like any other teenagers instead of the death-defying heroes they actually were.
As they reached the intersection, they all said their goodbyes to each other and started to make their way home.
Penn walked towards his house, humming something under his breath. He usually didn't hum, seeing as how he could not sing at all and it annoyed even him to hear himself try. But today, that wasn't enough to make him stop. He had a smile on his face the whole way. Like Phyllis said, they didn't just save the planet and both the races that lived on it, they also brought peace between them. Phyllis was right. They did make for good Part-Time Heroes. Penn had a feeling that if his parents knew what they'd done, they would probably say the same.
At the thought of his parents, Penn's mood waned a little. He remembered how he thought they had been acting weird the last day he saw them. He wished more than anything that he'd made better use of his time with them while he still had the chance. He wished he'd known who they really were and who he was meant to be. Maybe things would have been a little easier. Maybe they would have been different. Even more so, maybe if he'd been trained like Sashi, he could have done something.
But even as that thought crossed his mind, he immediately realized how bad that would have been. Sashi had told him what that life had been like for her and Penn knew how she had turned out because of it. He absolutely loved the person she was now but he couldn't deny how bad she had been before. It was only because he'd kept trying to reach out to her and make her happy that she had changed in the ways that she had. Would he have ever tried to do that for her if he'd been raised like she was? And it wasn't even just that. He loved his life and the people in it because of the way he looked at the world and the kind of person he had become because of the way he'd been raised. That never would have happened if he'd been raised any differently. Even after everything that had happened, he still found the good in everything and that was what kept him so happy. He couldn't even fathom giving that up. And his parents were already very proud of the person he had grown up to be. Would they really say that if he'd turned out like Sashi had? And if he wasn't the person he was now, would he have ever made Sashi happy like she said he did?
Penn noticed his thoughts kept returning to Sashi. For a moment, he thought about trying to think of something else but then he decided to just let it go. He wasn't denying his feelings for her anymore. He knew how he felt. He knew how she had changed him. He knew how she made him feel. And he knew what he wanted, more than anything else.
The more Penn thought about it, the more he realized how much he loved her. He knew what he would do for her. He knew what she meant to him. And he couldn't hide from it anymore. He knew what he had thought when the two of them had slept over at Boone's house. He knew he had meant those words with every fiber of his being, even if he hadn't been able to say them out loud. He loved her. And he knew that even if the two of them ended up going their separate ways and he found someone else, no matter how close they came, they would never be as good as her. And Penn wouldn't be able to live with himself if he didn't try.
He recalled all of their adventures together, from their very first zap to their latest one. He remembered how Sashi had been so cold and distant with him, how she would always keep him and Boone at arm's length. And he remembered how, slowly but surely, she had warmed up to the both of them and how she would joke around and fool around with them more and more. He remembered their arguments, their fights, their good times, and he remembered what it felt like when it had just been the two of them. He remembered how the two of them would always have those moments. That second when the world disappeared and it was just the two of them. How he would want nothing more than to just take her and hold her and tell her everything he felt about her and throw it all to hell for that one tiny sliver of a chance that she'd say yes to him. Penn knew that he'd never feel that with anyone again.
He loved her. Nothing would ever change that. And even if something could, he didn't think he'd want it to. He wanted to be with her. He wanted to be more than just her friend. He wanted to be her's and he wanted her to be his. He loved her. More than any other girl he'd ever met, he loved her. He couldn't deny that and he couldn't keep that to himself anymore. He lover her.
And it was about time he finally let her know it.
Meanwhile
Sashi walked home with a spring in her step and a smile on her face. If anyone saw her at the moment, they would look twice to make sure they weren't seeing things. Sashi looked… happy. It was so rare that people might think the world was ending.
But at the moment, Sashi didn't care who saw her looking like that. Today had been a good day and nothing could take that away from her right now. Nothing. Even Phyllis had praised them. For Phyllis to say anything more than 'be quiet' or 'good luck' or any variation of those phrases was practically a godsend. And this mission had been the best of any mission they had ever had before. If that wasn't a reason to smile, nothing was. To put it simply, Sashi Kobayashi was in a very good mood.
This was, in and of itself, a rare occurrence. Sashi was not a very optimistic person. She never had been. She had always made it a point to be prepared for the worst-case scenario. It was precisely that fear of failure that had always pushed her to be better. To be the best. And if she was being honest with herself, she was quite proud of all her accomplishments and everything she had achieved throughout her life. But if given the chance, she would definitely choose a normal life over the one she had lived. She still felt sad over not having had a childhood and not having had the time to enjoy all the things other people had enjoyed at that age. She still felt alienated at times when she saw people who were interested in certain things. She had no interest in those things because she'd never had the time to be immature like that and she'd never had the time to learn to like those things. It all made her feel more lonely and more out of place and it would often make her depressed and sad. Somehow, that was also when Penn would usually show up and make her forget all of that.
Penn. She often found herself thinking about him a lot nowadays. Obviously, with him being her partner and them doing death-defying things regularly, it was no surprise that they were close, but something had changed recently. She thought back to how the three of them were when they had all first started working together compared to how the three of them were now. It still surprised her how much she had changed. And a lot of that change had to do with Penn.
Sashi had always been a closed-off person and a huge reason for that had been because of the way she was raised. No one could relate to her, no one could ever understand her. It had driven her to close herself off from the rest of the world and even though she hadn't known it back then, it had made her lonely and sad. She would deny it, telling herself that she was fine and that nothing was bothering her and for a while, it worked. But then she met Penn and saw how happy he always was and how close he and Boone were and she realized all that she didn't have. Finally, unable to deny it any longer, she had realized and admitted to herself that she wanted friends. But it scared her to open herself up to someone the way people opened up to friends. She didn't think she was ready for that so she had initially remained closed-off on instinct. But Penn was unbelievably stubborn when he wanted to be. He was always trying to be friends with her, always trying to get her to come out of her shell. Finally, unable to resist it any longer, and knowing she wanted to, Sashi finally opened up to him and it ended up being the single greatest thing she had ever done for herself. Penn turned out to be worth all the fear, all the effort, and all the annoyingness that came with it. He made her happier than anyone else did and he had motivated her to be a better, kinder person. She thought back to the way she used to be when they had first met and she thought about all the ways Penn had changed her. She actually liked who she was now and she had him to thank for that.
She sighed and brought her hand to her chest. It closed into a fist and she kept it there, feeling the beating of her heart. Something had definitely changed. She could see it in the way Penn looked at her. In the way he acted with her. She could feel it in the way she acted with him. And most of all, she felt it when they were alone. When it was just the two of them and no one else. How the world seemed to just disappear from around them and how those few, precious, fleeting moments they shared belonged only to them. Sashi may not be very emotional, but even she knew what that meant. Something had definitely changed. She was done denying it. Sashi Kobayashi, professional Part-Time Sidekick and Full-Time Asskicker, was in love.
Surprisingly, it hadn't taken her all that long to figure out. Accepting it had taken her a lot longer, naturally, but figuring it out hadn't taken all that long. And she couldn't deny it after that sleepover at Boone's. She knew what she had thought to herself about him. I love you. That was what had gone through her head. If she was being honest with herself, it scared her. Sashi's entire job was to cover the team's blind spots. If Boone was the wild card and Penn was the spearhead, then she was the armor and shield. She had been trained from a young age to protect people. Her entire life revolved around guarding herself and others. So the last thing she ever wanted to feel was vulnerable. And around Penn, that was exactly how she had felt. Every single time, whenever it was just the two of them, she had felt vulnerable. And it had scared her. But eventually, she had learned to trust Penn. It had taken a long time, but eventually, she learned to let her guard down around him and she eventually grew to love him. At first, she had denied it. Then she had tried to control it. Then she had tried to get over it. But none of that worked and at this point, just being friends wasn't enough for her. All her life, she had stayed far away from risk and had protected herself at all costs. It had sucked. She had hated every second of it. She was tired of it. Staying safe. Staying away from everything she could possibly have just because it might cost something. She didn't care anymore. So what if it cost her something? So what if things changed? So what if there was a risk? There would always be a risk. For everything, not just this. And if she really asked herself if there was anyone worth that risk in the entire world, she would always come to the same answer. Yes. There was one person. Only one. It was Penn. And it would always only ever be him.
Sashi didn't want anyone else. No one else would ever be good enough. She wanted to be with Penn, and only Penn. Forget Teddy, or Blaze, or any other decent-looking guy she had ever met. They may be good-looking, but none of them would ever measure up in the ways that actually mattered. She only wanted to be with Penn. She wanted it so badly it hurt. She couldn't deny it anymore. She loved him. She loved everything about him. And she didn't want anyone else to have him. She wanted to be the one to hold him. She wanted to be the one to comfort him. She wanted to be the one there for him. No one else.
She was tired of denying herself things she wanted. She was tired of denying what she knew to be true. She loved him. She always would. And it would only ever be him. She knew that now.
And it was about time he did too.