Private Prague, U.N.P.K

Chapter 26

A New Leaf

A giant Skell, no, a giant mech, hovered above Prauge and Protague.
This giant mech was in the shape of what appeared to be some kind of ravenous beast, who's large, metallic eyes locked on to the two fighters.

Out of that fighter, as I have chronicled, came out humanoid wolf-men, armed to the teeth... A special forces of somekind. Instantly, they began their assault on the blade positions.

"What the-" Doug muttered as he saw the wolf-men charge at their lines.

"They appear to be some kind of ferocious soldier." Gwin checked his holodev.

"They call themselves the Warriors of Lath." Lao checked his device, "Probably their special forces." he aimed his sniper rifle.

"DESTROY EVERYTHING!" Prague yelled and aimed his buster arms at the large Lathian mech.

"Grah!" one of the Warriors of Lath attacked Prague, making him stumble and flinch.

Protague grumbled and shot that particular warrior, then ran to Prague's side.

"The Warriors of Wroth are here!" Lin spoke as they all huddled up.

"We are the Warriors of Lath!" a Lathian soldier growled, "We're better than those pussyca- GWAH!" the soldier was shot by a BLADE Operative.

Some other warriors surrounded our heroes, accompanied by the large mech, who poised its guns at the allies.

"Damn..." Irina growled as she saw they were outmanned and outgunned.

"Prague!" Lin saw Prague collapse, "Pr- Ah!" she yelped when she touched his skin, "He's boiling hot!" she exclaimed.

"Must have been that power he used..." Elma muttered, "He's probably overheated.

"Ha... Ha... Ha..." Prague panted as he knelt on one knee, "Critical Condition... Requesting repairs... Damage to Coolant Emitters 1-3, Damage to Arm Cannons..."

"We can't let him die, Elma!" Lin said as she poured some of the water inside her canteen on Prague's head, which instantly fizzed and steamed upon contact.

"We have to check if all of us don't die first!" Gwin muttered as he saw the Warriors of Lath close in.

"Don't worry, Gwin." Lao chuckled, "We're the main characters, there's no way we can die by tertiary enemies... right?" he looked at the reader with worried eyes.

"I say we blast them to bits!" Irina raised her assault rifle, "Get them before they get us!"

"Kill Them!" one of the Lathians yelled, and they all started to fire.

However, they all missed and hit each other since they were around in a circle.

"What the..." Doug muttered as he got up from crouching, "Did they just-"

"Told you." Lao laughed, then noticed the Mech was still up, "Except him..."

The Mech lowered its cannons and fired.

"NO!" Prague stood up and jumped in the way of the blast, absorbing the concentrated energy of the beam with his body.

"PRAGUE!" his allies yelled as the explosion sent them all flying back...

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"Ha... Ha..." Lin panted as she sat up, then saw the decapitated head of Prague laying in front of her, wires out and sparking wildly, "HA!" she gasped in horror and crawled over to the head.

"Lin..." Prague droned weakly, "Let it go..."

Lin's face grew somber as she heard these words.

"No really, let it go." Prague looked at the holodev Lin was holding, "That holodev is about to explode."

"Oh!" Lin exclaimed and threw the holodev off, which soon exploded mid air.

"Lin... I'm tired." Prague muttered as he started to close his eyes, "I feel... a little lightheaded." he joked and smiled softly.

"Prague..." Lin looked at him, "You're so... funny." she muttered and reached for his cheek.

"Negative... I only emulate the aspect of human comedy." Prague responded, "I-"

"Shut up." Lin picked up the head, "No matter what you say, no matter what others may think, you're still human to me!" she shook her head and tears as well.

"I wish I was." Prague muttered, "However I only emulate the human being to the best of my abilities... but unfortunately that was not enough..." he frowned, "Rest assured the virulent program is destroyed... however, there's not much use now."

"Prague, I can fix you!" Lin told him, "I'll take you back! I'll just hop on a Skell a-"

"The chances of a salvage are negligible." Prague reported, "At this moment my emergency power battery has been drained in half. This number is decreasing rapidly..."

"I'll fix you, damn it!" Lin cried and hugged the head, "Don't tell me what I can't do! Don't tell me what I can't do!" she wept.

"Lin... There was one thing I can never emulate." Prague mumbled, "The human spirit... I wish I could do that... The thing inside all of you, the thing that keeps you going despite the odds and statistics, I want that. I want to survive, even though my calculations and condition will force my shutdown in a few minutes. Look at you Lin, you're wishing my well being despite your own failing health, I wish to have that..." he looked at Lin.

The Mech once again raised its cannons, then started to charge up.

However, a Skell struck it in its back with a large beam sword, destroying the mech.

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"He's not gonna make it, is he?" Doug muttered as they flew inside an evac dropship, looking at Prague's dismembered head in Lin's arms.

"At this rate, he's not." Elma shook her head, "Can't we go any faster!?" she yelled at the pilot.

"Damn it!" Gwin stomped his foot, "This can't be the way Prague dies!"

"Well technically he's not alive-" Lao paused when he saw the faces sent his way, "Or maybe... I'll be quiet." he muttered.

"We're going to save him, don't worry." Irina muttered, "He knows too many of my secrets to die." she growled.

Protague looked at Prague, then at Elma with worried eyes.

"I know..." Elma sighed, "I doubt we have the technology to fix him... to the extent he once was..." she looked at Lin, "We'll have to work with Miran items... but we need those for Skells..."

"I'll do it... I told him I will..." Lin growled, "Don't tell me what I can't do!" she yelled at them and put on a serious face.

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"We may have lost this battle... but we'll be back..." Slugzzar growled as he saw his damaged warships returned, "But with a vengeance... Then we'll own Go-Rha and RULE THE UNIVERSE!" he yelled at the planet below him.

His large fleet of ships started to pull out of orbit, then go back into space...

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"Wake up..." a soft voice called out, which war registered by Prague's auditory receptors, causing his computer system to boot up.

"Oh my..." several other voices gasped, some familiar and some alien to him.

A quick opening of eyes revealed that Prague was in a laboratory, strapped to a vertical bed and surrounded by various scientists and his allies. Closest to him was Lin, who was looking at him triumphantly.

"I told you I will fix you." Lin smiled as she pulled out a wrench, "Though I had to make some Minor Adjustments." she punned and winked.

"Oh boy..." Doug chuckled and shook his head, "You'll love it, Prague boy." he said.

"I do not understand." Prague said, then saw Protague bring a mirror.

"You'll be shocked, Prague." Gwin chuckled as she saw Protague hand him the mirror.

"What?!" Prague scanned himself, he... was a young man? What was this? Where was his aftershave beard, strong brows, and grisly locks. No! He looked more like a young boy!

"I couldn't remove the voice though." Lin muttered to herself, "So you sound a little older than you look..."

"And is there a particular reason you made him young?" Elma asked coyly, causing Lin to fluster.

"Because the original materials were in short supply!" Lin responded, "I couldn't make him full grown adult with them!"

"But I'm pretty sure his skin didn't have to suffer the same fate." Lao chuckled as he saw Prague's young skin, which radiated in the lab lights, "I know what this is about-"

"This can't be!" Prague jumped off the bed, "I'm supposed to emulate the appearance of a Caucasian Human Male! Not... a teenager!" he looked at himself, then up at Protague, who had a humored appearance.

"That voice is really throwing me off, though." Irina grumbled, "It's like... not even the same... Unless."

"Enough! I fixed him!" Lin blushed, "Can't you be happy our greatest ally is back!?" she looked at them.

"Hm..." Prague muttered, "This is odd... my internal clock... It's off by 5 years..." he checked it again.

"Oh... It's not off." Gwin shook his head, "It really took Lin 5 years to rebuild you..." he said, causing Prague to fall quiet as he rescanned them all.

"How could I not notice the aging..." Prague muttered to himself, "I must have lost the visual information from before... but..." he looked to his allies... then himself...