I don't condone slavery, so I own neither Taz nor Up. Also, almost a hundred and fifty people have read at least part of this, and I have gotten two reviews (Thanks to the guest and the wonderful HopelessWish, read her stories they are beautiful and she herself is super awesome.) What's wrong with that picture?

The other students filled into the gym, looking at Up in a mixture of fear and awe. A few managed to keep their faces mostly expressionless, and Taz just smirked, rolling her eyes. She had heard some of the rumors told about Up, and if half of them were true then Up was Batman. She supposed that made her Robin, but she had always had a soft spot for Commissioner Gordon, seeing how he was always baffled, and she felt like someone needed to take him aside and explain everything. She would hate to be confused about what was going on all the time. Not that she got what was going on all the time nowadays. She herself was particularly confused about if it was fully appropriate to have funny, girly, estupido feelings about her best friend and Commanding officer. She was broken out of her pondering when Up started speaking to them.

"Now, recruits, today I'm gonna show you some moves that can be used against humans, but with slight variation, can also be used on robots. Now can I have a volunteer to show what to do?"

"I bet he's gonna pick Taz," one boy mumbled to his friend.

"Nah, they 'practice' after curfew," his friend replied with a smirk.

"You there!" Up called, pointing to the first boy who had been talking. "Come over here, I need to demonstrate what to do." The boy looked stricken as he walked over, getting into a sloppy fighting form, which Up corrected with a shake of his head. Up then launched into a number of kicks and punches, not nearly full power but harder then he would normally use on a recruit. He slowed down and showed everyone the moves and countermoves. "Now practice with each other," he said as he paired them up. Taz smiled when he paired her up with other boy who had been talking, who blanched when he turned around to see his partner, smiling evilly and cracking her knuckles. Taz didn't hold anything back when practicing the punches and kicks, getting each of the relatively simple but effective moves in a few tries, but practicing on the idoita a few more times the necessary, as he flailed his arms and legs in clumsy imitations of the counter moves, before stopping him and letting him try, countering each one with ease, his slow, clunky movements no match for her swift, smooth ones. She finally ended his pathetic attempts by throwing one of the kicks they had been learning, sending him staggering back, pinwheeling his bruised arms to try to keep his balance before finally landing on his back. He moaned pitifully, and as much as Up wanted to teach the idiot a lesson, he couldn't let one of his recruits give up or get hurt.

"Come on ese, get up and face me," Taz said, getting into fighting stance.

"Can't. Hurts too much," he moaned back.

"Don't be such a poco enclenque," Taz taunted him. "I didn't even hit jou dat hard!"

"Come on, recruit. You can do it," Up said as he walked over, outstretching his hand for the boy to grasp.

"Can't. Too hard." Up frowned at that.

"Listen, recruit, life can be hard, and life fighting artificial life is even harder, but no matter what, you got to get back up." The boy looked up before grasping Up's hand and being dragged up. "Now, recruits, let's kick it up a notch!" He clapped his hands together and the majority of them groaned. "Get into new pairs and fight, using whatever you know, but pay special attention to what I taught you today." Everyone drifted over to the sparring partner they had whenever they got to chose. Taz found hers, a massive boy who was about equally matched to her. They had both won against each other about an equal number of times, but today, she knew she would win. She wanted to show of how strong she had become since Up had helped her out to show the time they had spent together hadn't been wasted. Not that she would ever think that time spent with him was wasted... She shook her head and launched herself at her partner the second the whistle sounded. The fight was ferocious and long, but Taz finally pinned him and got him to practically squeak "Yield." Up looked suitably impressed but didn't mention it, instead teaching them how their new skills could be used on certain models of robots if you hit the correct spot. He set them to practicing on robot dummies, watching them and correcting the form of students who weren't doing it right, but his mind was elsewhere, trying to not notice how Taz's eyes burned with a passionate fury at the robot dummies, or how fluid her movements were as she disabled them with a few precise hits. He did a good job, and even those trying to see if they were paying special attention to each other didn't notice how hard he was trying to not notice her. Soon, the class concluded and everyone walked out cheery but bruised. It had been much more fun and useful then Lieutenant Riggs's boring lectures and out of date methods, and the few second year girls who were working-out in the gym or were repeating level-one Combat giggled about how hot he was in hushed yet still shrill and annoying tones. Taz wanted to hit them for being idiotas before the most horrible realization of her life washed over her: she agreed with the idiotas, something she said she would never do. She practically ran to the bunkhouse, trying to escape the fact that she agreed with something a group of people who were just bellow robots on the scale of hate in her mind had said. Fee, Phoebe and Jenna looked up as she swung herself through the doorway, overjoyed that Marisa wasn't there.

"You ok?" asked Jenna, her eyebrows crinkling in worry.

"I couldn't stand another giggle or shriek from Marisa's estupido friends. Is it just me, or are dey getting worse?" Taz said,pushing her hair back from her eyes. It had begun to grow long again and she thought she might have to get it cut soon. Her friends shared a glance so quickly she thought she might have imagined it.

"They always get worse when the prom gets near," Alexa said slowly.

"Mierda," Taz swore as she sunk down the wall. She had forgotten about that. She wasn't going, none of her friends were, but hat hadn't stopped people from trying to get her to go. She knew there were two official parties each year, prom and the graduation after party, and attendance at the graduation after party was enforced, as was wearing dresses. Taz had hated wearing dresses before, but now whenever she thought of them she could only think of the charred and broken bodies of her family. Noe that prom was approaching, the brujas would only talk about dresses and guys. One of them would undoubtedly try to pat her in a dress, and then Taz would have to explain that she had broken the girl's nose for a perfectly good reason. She was in a noticeably worse mood the rest of the night, heading back to bed early.

"What's up with Taz?" Don asked as she was out of earshot.

"Up's up with Taz, if you believe the rumors. But I don't. They are both to sensible for that," said Phoebe.

"So you don't think there is anything between Taz and Up?" asked Jenna.

"I never said that. I think Up is Taz's best friend and vice versa, but I also think she has feelings for him, and she's too confused or sensible or both to act on them, that's all," Phoebe explained.

"When she came in and asked if the girls were getting worse, we know from her reaction that she wasn't thinking about the prom, and she just happened to say that the day the girls would not shut up about how attractive Up is," Alexa put in. The others nodded.

"She's smart enough to stay away from that minefield," Ben added, and the others mumbled agreement before returning to eating the bland ham sandwiches that were diner that night.

On the night of the prom, none of her friends went but they all had other plans, so Taz was left alone. She made her way down the the gym, expecting it to be deserted, only to find Up attacking a punching bag. "Great, just what I need," she thought sarcastically. "Up working out in a tight tank-top the night all the chicas are dressed up like it's deir Quinceañera." She shook herself and went in anyway, pummeling the punching bag next to him. They worked out in silence, the scrape of the chains their targets were held by and the sound of contact as their fist hit the stuffed vinyl the only noises.

"Why aren't you at the party?" asked Up, finally breaking the silence.

"Too many dresses. Too many memories. And besides, none of my other friends wanted to go." Up looked at her, seeing the anger on her face, and he stopped. She turned and looked at him, confused.

"Do you want to watch a movie?" She looked surprised but pleased.

"Ok, what movies do jou have?"

"Have you seen The Karate Kid?"

"Sí, it is my favorite."

"Really? Which one?"

"The one with Jackie Chan."

"Really, that's my favorite too?"

"Well, who likes the first or third?"

"I know! I heard they are remaking it again. Just shameful." The friends headed back to his room talking about the heartlessness of Hollywood and Jackie Chan. Up put the movie in the DVD player and Taz made popcorn. They settled down on the couch together to watch their favorite movie, fighting over snacks and the blankets, and Taz finally felt like she was at home.

So, did you like it. Please review or I will cry myself to sleep softly, and as funny as that sounds you hopefully won't be watching, so you wouldn't be able to laugh and point anyway. So there.