Fiery Favor

Ch. 1: SOS

It was late in the evening at the Middleburg suburbs, as the local area began to wind down to where the chirping of the crickets and the occasional passing cars were the only things heard outside. In one particular house, a teenaged red-head boy was fast asleep in his bed, snoring softly and quietly through the night.

His peace, however, was not meant to last forever and neither was the dream that was about to unfold.

Penn opened his eyes and suddenly found himself in total darkness, with nothing but the complete blackness surrounding him. No matter where he went and looked, it was simply an empty abyss...

'Oh not this place again!' Penn thought until he realized he wasn't floating but was standing on solid ground. He looked up and saw something shining from a distance. 'Oh please be something good!' He walked up to the light slowly until he heard two familiar voices coming from the light.

"Penn, is that you?" That voice… it was familiar to him...

"Sweetie, it's us!" It couldn't be...

"...Mom...Dad?" Penn spoke after a few seconds of silence, stunned to hear the voices of his parents, before running towards the light, the distance getting much smaller and the light getting much brighter with each step. By the time he finally reached to it, two familiar faces were standing right in front of him in the Most Dangerous World Imaginable.

"Mom! Dad! You're both here!" Penn shouted with joy and rushed towards them with happiness, giving his folks one great, big hug.

"Penn, we knew you could find us!" Vonnie ecstatically told her son.

"That's our man, Vonnie! Our precious, little man!" Brock praised, with tears of joy streaming off from his face, to Penn's embarrassment.

"Dad…" Penn began, his face flustered with embarrassment. He was just glad that there was no one else around to see this. or it'll never be the end of it.

"Brock, our Penn isn't a baby anymore," Vonnie slightly scolded her husband.

"You're right, Vonnie. I'm sorry…" Brock began, as he wiped the tears of joy from his eyes. "After all, it's time that Penn prepares himself for his wedding and be a real man at last."

Penn looked at his dad confusingly. Something about that last statement didn't seem to add up.

"Dad, what are you talking a…" Penn trailed off when he looked down and instead of his usual attires, he was suddenly wearing a tuxedo that appeared out of nowhere. He certainly didn't have this on him when he found his parents. "W-What the heck is this?!"

"Why, it's your tuxedo, silly," Vonnie answered, seemingly ignoring her son's wild reaction. "And you certainly look your finest at the altar."

"The altar?" Penn then looked around and sure enough, he and his parents were suddenly at the altar, instead of the Most Dangerous World Imaginable that they were in minutes ago. The sudden change of scenery was starting to creep Penn out a bit.

'What's going on around here?!' Penn's thoughts were interrupted when he heard the sound of organ pipes playing out of nowhere, prompting Penn to look toward the direction to see that it was played by none other than…

"Rippen?!" Penn couldn't even fathom why Rippen, of all people, was here.

"I'm just as lost as you, honestly," Rippen shrugged off his arch rival's concern in his usual grumpy demeanor, before he resumed playing the organ pipes once more. "Also, did you know I could play the organ, because I sure didn't. It's actually a lot easier than it looks."

"Ah, I see that you ready for the big day," Penn knew where that jovial voice was coming from, as he turned around and saw Larry...dressed as a marriage officiant and still has that joyful look on his face, no matter the situation.

"Big day? What big day?!" at this point, Penn was at a complete lost. He didn't know what makes sense anymore: the tuxedo, the alter, Rippen playing the organ pipes or Larry as a marriage officiant. But what came out of Larry's mouth was not what he expected it to be.

"All hail...the mighty flip flops!"

"...Excuse me?" Penn asked, confused by Larry's answer.

All hail…the mighty flip flops!

The sound of his phone's ringtone broke the silence over its metaphorical knee, waking Penn up from his time with his dream parents. The ringtone could only be from one person and one person only, as Penn looked over towards his alarm clock, before grunting in annoyance.

"Ugh! Really, Boone?! First you change my ringtone and now you're calling me at midnight on a school night?!" Penn reached over and accepted the call. "What is it, Boone?"

"Penn, it's terrible!" The sound of Boone yelling into the phone made Penn recoil away.

"What, did your house flood again?"

"No! Sashi's apartment is on fire!" Penn almost didn't even register what it was that Boone had said, due to his drowsiness and because of the statement being something he couldn't ever imagine happening to one of his friends.

"...What?"

"Sashi's! Apartment! Is! On! fire!" Penn's heart sank deeper with every word spoken and his eyes looked like snowballs with a small black and blue dot in the middle.

"Oh my god, is she okay?!"

"Yeah, Sashi and her family made it out okay, but the entire apartment is burning down!" Penn let out the breath he was holding in a sigh of relief. "You need to get down here, pronto!"

"Okay, I'm on my way!" Penn hung up and almost fell out of his bed as he rushed out of his room. "Aunt Rose! Uncle Chuck!"

Penn, Aunt Rose and Uncle Chuck drove as fast as the speed limit would allow them over to Sashi's apartment, though they didn't have to get far for them to see the fire. As they got closer to Sashi's, the fire and smoke could be seen for miles around, blocking out the stars even more than the normal light pollution could ever do. Penn and his relatives couldn't believe their eyes when they turned onto the street to Sashi's: Firetrucks, police, ambulances and a forming crowd of onlookers were surrounding the area.

"Penn, I'll go find a place to park, while you go look for your friends," Penn nodded, as he picked up his loose jaw.

"Thanks, Uncle Chuck," Penn expressed his gratitude, before he quickly got out of the vehicle and made his way towards the crowd, praying that Sashi and her family were alright. Penn made it to the front of the crowd, only to be stopped by police tapes and officers trying to keep the crowd at bay, while the firemen and EMTs worked to put the fire out and get injured people safely to the hospital respectively. Penn took a good look at the apartment complex. There wasn't a spot on the building that was burnt or still burning. The faint sound of a fire alarm could still be heard coming from inside. Penn searched for Boone and Sashi as best as possible, but couldn't seem to find either of them anywhere.

"Penn! Over here!" Penn looked over to the sound of his name and saw Boone waving his arm at him, sitting right next to Sashi and her little brother. Penn went under the tape and ran over to his friends to check on them. Penn sighed, as he got a good look at them; neither was hurt nor even had any burned clothing. They looked perfectly fine, as they were both dressed for bed.

"Thank god, you're both okay," Penn spoke with joy, though the look on Sashi's face made Penn feel a little uneasy. Her face was unreadable, with a gaze that never seemed to leave the pavement in front of her and she had no expression to show at all. She seemed lost. Penn then realized two people were missing from Sashi and her brother. "Where are your parents?"

"We're right here," Penn turned around and saw both Mr. and Mrs. Kobayashi walking up to him and their children. Though Mr. Kobayashi was covered in soot and Mrs Kobayashi was dressed up for something, they were otherwise fine, with not a single burnt mark on their bodies.

"What happened?" Penn asked instinctively. Mr. Kobayashi scratched his head, as he sighed loudly.

"From what I heard from one of the firemen, it was probably an electrical fire, which is why the automated sprinklers didn't stop it, though no one seems to know where it started from," Mr. Kobayashi coughed out a bit of soot, while Mrs. Kobayashi dust a bit off from him.

"I was working late and just arrived a few minutes ago, so I'm just as lost as you are right now. I'm just glad you two are safe," Mrs. Kobayashi kneeled down and hugged her son and daughter tight, though Penn noticed that Sashi didn't really react to the hug at all.

"It's a good thing we got that renter's insurance on everything in our apartment or this could of been even worse for us."

Penn continued to look over at Sashi and noticed her begin to hide her face in her hands. But what struck him as weird was that she hadn't said a single word since he got here. Penn would of wrote it off as maybe her in shock, but considering who Sashi was, that wasn't very likely.

"Sashi, are you okay? You haven't said anything since I got here," Penn expected at least an "I'm fine, PZ" or something from her, but got nothing but silence from his friend.

"She hasn't said anything since I got here, Penn and I've been here for a good twenty minutes," Boone spoke up, expressing his concern to Penn.

"She might be in shock," Penn heard Mr. Kobayashi speak and would have refuted that, but remembered that her family doesn't know about what Sashi actually does for a living. As far as they were concerned, their daughter worked at Fish Stick on a Stick, not working at the Odyssey as a part-time sidekick. Mrs. Kobayashi pulled her husband aside away from the kids, though Penn could still make out what they were talking about.

"In any case, it will take a while before we'll get our insurance payout for the damages, due to them always wanting to investigate a claim of insurance fraud, so we're going to have to find a temporary place to live really quickly in the meantime."

"You could stay at my house," Penn spoke without thinking. For the first time since he got there, Penn managed to get a reaction out of Sashi.

"You'll...do that?"

"Of course, Sashi. I can't leave one of my best friends out in the cold," Penn assured her, which left Sashi feel a bit better.

"I'm all for the idea," everyone turned to see Uncle Chuck and Aunt Rose walking up to them.

"We would love to have you all stay until you're able to get your new home."

"Thank you so much," Mr. Kobayashi thanked Uncle Chuck and Aunt Rose.

"We appreciate your hospitality," Mrs. Kobayashi happily added.

"The EMTs and police said we are free to leave when we please, so let leave as soon as possible. I really would like a shower," Mr. Kobayashi chuckled as he motioned to himself.

"He's right, we could freshen ourselves up after that ordeal we were just in," Mrs. Kobayashi agreed.

"So everyone is in agreement," said Uncle Chuck. "Follow us and make yourselves at home when we get there."

"Well then, I'll see you guys at school tomorrow. I should get back before my mom realizes I'm gone."

"Alright then, Boone. I'll see you tomorrow," Penn bid his friend a farewell, before Boone headed off to the opposite direction, running back to his home as fast as he could. As soon as his friend disappeared from sight, he turned his attention to Sashi. "Everything's going to be fine."

"I...guess so," Sashi somewhat agreed with Penn. Though he got her talking again, her troubled face made it hard to keep an optimistic attitude for her.

"I understand if you're not in the mood to talk right now," Penn did his best to assured her. "Right now, let's head back to my place and set everything up for you, your brother and your folks."

"...Sure," Sashi agreed.

"Here you go, everyone. Home sweet home," Aunt Rose declared out loud. "Our house is your house, at least until you've got all your personal business sorted out."

"Thanks again for allowing us to stay here," Mrs. Kobayashi thanked her. "I just wish we have some way to return the favor."

"Think nothing of it," Uncle Chuck assured her. "Let me show you where you'll be staying."

"Lead the way then," said Mr. Kobayashi, before he, his wife, son and daughter followed Uncle Chuck to the room that they'll be staying in, leaving just Penn and Aunt Rose in the living room.

"This is going to be something I'll have to get use to for now," said Penn, feeling a bit awkward all of a sudden. Aunt Rose placed a hand on her nephew's shoulder and gave a warm smile.

"Relax, Penn. It'll be just like any other time. The only difference is, we just have a few more people living here."

"I guess you're right, Aunt Rose," Penn looked away from his aunt, trying to think of something better to say.

"And don't worry about the Kobayashis, your uncle and I will help them settle for the night and together we'll all make sure they're comfortable here. Right now, you need to go to bed."

With that, Aunt Rose went to help her husband out, with Penn heading up to the bathroom before bed. After he had finished his business, he washed his hands and opened the door to find Sashi standing outside the bathroom, waiting to use it; he was hoping that a part of her old self would show up and for a moment, it seemed she was a bit lively, but where he was standing, it was hard to tell to be certain.

"All yours, Sash," Penn allowed her to use the bathroom, as she closed the door behind her, not even saying a 'thank you' to him. Penn was starting to get worried for her, but quickly shook his head, This was Sashi after all, the fierce sidekick who served as the voice of reason for him and Boone. She'll bounce back...

'I'm sure Sashi will be back to her old self in no time,' Penn thought to himself, before he went to his bedroom once more and tried to get a good night sleep.

He had no idea how the next two weeks will turn out for him.

A/N Hello everyone, my name is UnKnownSalvation and I thank you for reading the first chapter of my first Penn Zero fic. Now for those who've read my works in other sections, don't take this as a return from hiatus so much as something I want to do later. An experiment if you will to see if any of my ideas have any real merit to continue when college isn't affecting my work rate. I'll decide on what I'll do with this based primarily on whether or not you guys and gals think this story has potential. So let me know if you think.

Till then, Sal out!