Sorry it took so long for me to upload this, i was away :P hope you enjoy chapter 2!
"Look Commander," Specs patted the commander on the back, "Just because you're having trouble doesn't mean you'll never achieve your goal."
She looked at the textbook that was open towards her on the table. "Lets try again. ¿Cuál es tu nombre?"
Up looked at her for a second, remembering first what the phrase meant and then how the response went. "Uh… My nem- no, that's not it…"
"Nombre…" Specs prompted gently.
"My nombre is Up?" Up looked helplessly at the textbook. Specs gave him a look of pity and sighed. Up looked downcast. "I'm hopeless. I'll just have to put up without Taz for as long as it takes."
Specs knew that Up and Taz didn't know about each other's feelings for each other, and Up would get more and more upset the longer that he couldn't understand what Taz was saying to him. The irony was that the only thing standing between an Up-and-Taz relationship was the fact that Up couldn't speak Spanish. Up was endeavouring to fix that, but it was proving to be more difficult than he had initially thought.
"Commander Up," Specs said sternly, "The only reason you feel you are hopeless is because you thought you would be able to learn a whole language and grammar system in one afternoon."
"That's not normal then?"
"No." Specs rolled her eyes and thrust the textbook across to him. "¿Cuál es tu nombre?"
Up looked at the textbook. Why was it so much easier when he had the answers in front of him?
"Mi nombre es Up," Up said uncertainly. Then he scrunched up his face in thought, and added, "¿Cómo estás?"
Specs looked momentarily pleasantly surprised, then answered back in the hope of getting a response. "Estoy muy bien. ¿Y tú?"
Up quickly looked down at the textbook, and back up at Specs when he realised that the answer wasn't on the page. He resorted to copying what Specs had said. "Estoy muy bien…?"
Specs laughed and nodded. "See? If you don't know the answer, copy someone else." She looked at her watch and blinked. "It's getting late. I think that's enough Spanish for one day!" She stood up and stretched, then smiled at the still seated commander. "You haven't done too badly, Commander. Don't feel so useless, because you're not. Practice makes perfect!"
"Can I keep the textbook?" Up looked desperately at Specs, who chuckled and pulled a pile of textbooks out of her bag that was lying on the floor.
"Would you like all of them?" She asked jokingly.
"Si." Specs looked at Up in mild shock. The commander had always been one for practical work, avoiding bookwork and studies whenever possible. The only time he had ever shown any enthusiasm for education was the time he had taught Taz calculus.
"Uh, ok." Specs set the pile down and rearranged some of the books. "This pile is difficult. Difícil." she indicated one of the new piles. "This pile is of average difficulty. moderado difícil."
"What about this pile?" Up pointed to the last pile. "Are these ones easy?" Specs thought for a moment.
"I guess you could call them easy. They're travelling phrasebooks." Specs laughed at what Up could only assume was a smart joke. "I should get going sir. Good luck with the Spanish!" Specs walked towards the door.
"Officer!" Specs looked around in confusion. "I order you to go and take a bubble bath!"
"Sir?" Specs looked surprised.
"Yes," Up said and nodded, "A bubble bath. You deserve bubbles on your skin for all the hard work you've done today!"
"Thank you sir!" Specs saluted and walked out happily.
Up smiled to himself and looked back at the textbook. He sighed and closed his eyes, trying to remember what he had learnt.
"Hola, mi nombre es Up. ¿Cuál es su nombre? ¿Cómo está usted? Estoy bien." he opened his eyes and did a short victory dance. Then he checked what he'd just recited, and did another victory dance on discovering he had said all of the phrases correctly. He looked at the piles of textbooks and his heart sank. Then he had an idea. He turned on his communicator and called Specs.
"Specs? Yeah, I was wondering if there's a program which could be installed on my communicator which would teach me Spanish?"
Up verified with Specs that such a program existed, and then politely asked her if she could get it installed. As she was installing the program, there was a knock on the door. For a moment, Up thought it was Taz, come to explain the reason for her Spanish, and to apologise for making Up upset, and to ask if they could watch The Karate Kid together. Then he remembered that Taz never knocked, she always just barged in. He plastered a tough look on his face and cleared his throat.
"C-come in!" A girl wearing clothes very similar to Taz's walked in the room. She was wearing cargo pants, a black singlet top and her favourite black and white striped boots. Her black, wavy hair was streaked with orange, and tied back in a ponytail. Her green eyes were questioning and Up nodded to the couch where the girl sat down. Her name was Axyl Desideratus, and she was one of the new graduates. She had passed her tests with flying colours, and had to skip a level. She had immediately struck up a friendship with everyone on Up's team, becoming Taz's best friend (well, Up was Taz's best friend, Taz and Axyl were more like best… sisters…?).
"Um, Specs," Up indicated to Axyl that he was in a call, "could you just give me a call when it's done installing? Thanks." He put the communicator down on his desk and smiled. "Hullo Axyl. What's up?"
Axyl sighed and rubbed her eyes. Up thought she looked a lot older than her eighteen years. "Nothing Up. I was just a bit lonely so I was wondering whether I could come and talk to you for a bit, or something like that." Up examined the girl's expression, and thought that "just a bit lonely" was somewhat of an understatement. But luckily, Up knew just what to do.
"Well, why don't you and I watch The Karate Kid?"
"The Jackie Chan one?" Axyl asked hopefully.
"Well, of course!" Up laughed and went to the TV, grabbing the disk off the desk as he went.
After the movie was finished, Axyl sat still for a long time. Up knew that she missed Taz almost as much as he did, and chose not to disturb her. He simply took a blanket off his bed and put it around her bare shoulders. The sudden warmth seemed to snap her out of the trance she had been in, and she looked up at him gratefully.
"Thanks Up," she still looked quite sad, and Up felt bad for her. "I should probably get going now…" Up put a hand on her shoulder.
"Hey, would you like to talk or something? You look a little down." Axyl looked hesitant, but then gave in.
"Yeah.. I guess," She sighed. "I'm just upset that Taz isn't talking to me. Like, the other day, I just said hi, and she ranted on at me in Spanish! Or yesterday, in the cafeteria, I slapped Raz on the back and he fell into his food, and Taz just told me off for being immature! Immature!" Axyl shook her head angrily. "She asked me why I'd done it and I said for fun! What other possible reason would I have? Then she told me to stop acting like I was twelve and be mature." Up looked momentarily curious.
"Did she say it in Spanish?" Axyl fixed Up with a glare that would melt ice. Then she hung her head in a sulk.
"Yes," she said grumpily to her shoes. "I looked it up. Deja de actuar como que son doce y se madura por el amor de dios muerto, or 'Stop acting like you are twelve and be mature, for dead God's sake.'"
Up chuckled, and when Axyl gave him another stabby-stabby-murder face, he only laughed harder. Eventually, Up's laughter proved to be infectious, and Axyl couldn't help but join in. All their anxiety and worry about Taz had moved to the back of their minds as they both roared with real laughter for the first time in weeks. When they finally got a grip on themselves, Axyl headed back to her room, still wiping tears of laughter from her eyes, and Up went over to his desk, still chuckling slightly.
He looked at the textbooks. Talking to Axyl had lightened his mood considerably, and he felt in the mood to do some learning.
Up looked at the time. It was only 9, there was still time to study. He grabbed his communicator and smiled when he saw that he had missed Specs' call. She had sent him a message; instructions on how to use the Spanish program. He cleared his throat and spoke into his communicator.
"This is commander Up speaking. Lieutenant Taz, come in." the communicator buzzed for half a second, then replied in a robotic monotone voice, "Este es el comandante Up hablando. Teniente Taz, vienen en." Up laughed incredulously. He tried speaking some Spanish.
"Cómo está usted?"
The communicator replied, "How are you?"
That was when Up had an idea. Maybe he didn't have to learn Spanish after all! Maybe he could just record what Taz was saying and play it to the communicator, then hear the translation!
Up felt like a genius.
He tried to remember something short that Taz had said to him recently. He remembered a week ago when he had asked when they would be sparring again, she had said something. What had she said again? He sounded the words out in his head.
"Koo-wando meh heh meh-tee-doh poor tee?" Up could almost feel the communicator giving him a look that said, seriously? You expect me to translate that? Well, I'll do my best. Then the static-y silence was broken when the robot voice said:
"Did you mean: Cuando me he metido por ti?"
Up looked at it incredulously. It was like those old call centres that you used to get on Earth, the ones where they used to ask you to say "yes or no", and if you said "yes," they replied "I'm sorry, did you say wasabi?" only, this Specs-generated one seemed to have the right idea.
"Uh… yes," Up said slowly and unsurely. The communicator buzzed and then replied in the robotic voice.
"When I am over you".