Medals Must Be Earned
Author's note: The events in this story take place just after Ralph has gotten the medal in Hero's Duty and escapes in the shuttle. Also, Hero's Duty has been plugged in for two months, whereas in the movie it had been plugged in only a week.
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Chapter 1: The Hanged Man
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Enter newborn players and gather
Weigh their innocence
Only the brightest shine
But not forever
Many lights die
Many tears rain
When those tears run dry
On a mountain madness day
Opening lyrics to "El Diablo" by Arcadia
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The sound of the escape pod's jets blasting it off of the tower caught everyone's attention, and they all looked upwards. Though the pod itself was of dark metal, just like everything else in Hero's Duty, the brilliant flames of the thrusters made it easy to follow through the somber sky.
It careened down toward them, piloted haphazardly and nearly crashing into the long causeway. And as it passed there came the most startling revelation as the pod listed to the side.
"Ralph!" gasped Felix.
"Cy-Bug!" gasped Sergeant Calhoun.
The two occupants were clearly visible through the glass canopy. The pod continued to list, turning all the way around in a clumsy barrel roll, still heading toward the base Felix had come from. An icy hand suddenly clenched the sergeant's heart. If that shuttle made it out into Game Central Station, or even into another game...
But fate would have otherwise.
One of the pod's short wings clipped the edge of the doorway into the base, causing it to spin horizontally and crash to the floor. It whirled down the corridor amidst a shower of sparks and the demonic scream of metal on metal.
The soldiers on the causeway all gave chase, Felix right behind them, barely keeping up.
When it finally came to a stop, the canopy of the craft popped open and the two occupants tumbled out, dazed by the rough ride. The Cy-Bug, a juvenile, met an immediate end as some of the soldiers in the base saw it. They were quick with their rifles, and after they dispatched the threat, Ralph found himself looking down the barrels of several of the same.
"Um...? I surrender?" Ralph mewled sheepishly, raising his hands.
The party from the causeway arrived.
"Ralph! What have you done?" Felix moaned. Ignoring the weaponry focused on the wrecker, he bounded in and grabbed Ralph by his shirt placket. "And what are you doing here? Don't you realize what's going on back in Fix-It Felix, Jr.?"
"Can't say I do," said Ralph, clambering to his feet and pushing aside the nose of a rifle held just a little too close, glaring at the soldier pointing it at him.
"Your going Turbo has gotten us in trouble. There's an 'Out of Order' sign slapped up on our cabinet."
"What!? No!?"
The soldiers nearby all began whispering amongst themselves. Sergeant Calhoun was glaring at Ralph fiercely. "So you went Turbo from your game, came over here, ruined that poor kid's game time, and then tried to steal a shuttle and a Cy-Bug!?" Calhoun raged. "Do you even know what a Cy-Bug would have done outside of this game?"
"No idea. And I wasn't trying to get the bug. It attacked me and then came along for the ride."
The sergeant opened her mouth to speak, but then closed it, her fists clenching tightly.
"You! You're the one!" came a shout and suddenly someone else had a hold of Ralph by his shirt.
"Zangief?" Felix coughed. "What are you doing here?"
The man turned and looked down and Felix saw immediately that it wasn't the big Russian wrestler, but someone Zangief-sized wearing his wrestling attire.
"I'm sorry. I thought you were someone else," Felix apologized.
"Hey! Markowski! It's not casual day, is it?" called out one of the soldiers. The others whistled at and taunted him.
"Markowski! Where've you been?" snapped the sergeant as she strode up.
"I've been locked in the janitor's closet at Tapper's for hours trying to get out! This guy," he shook Ralph by his shirt, "knocked me out and stole my armor and locked me in the closet." He glared at Ralph with a look of impending doom. The sergeant suddenly put it together as to why Markowski had been even more of a mess than usual at the first quarter alert.
"Yeah, I stole your armor and shut you in the closet," confessed Ralph. "But I didn't knock you out. You did that yourself." He turned to look at the sergeant. "He did. He saw this cockroach and then screamed like a little girl and hit the wall when he was trying to run away. You have some pretty tough soldiers in your ranks here."
The other soldiers all laughed. "That's Markowski all right," called one.
"Shut up!" he shouted at them. "Why'd you steal my armor!" he bawled, shaking Ralph again.
"He came over here and took your spot in the formation," explained Calhoun.
"What? What for?"
"Yes, I'd like to know too," said the sergeant, shoving Markowski aside and getting in Ralph's face. "What for?"
"I wanted to get that Medal of Heroes. This guy told me that to get a medal all you had to do was climb the building and fight bugs," he explained, gesturing with his thumb at Markowski. "And I did that." He reached beneath his orange shirt and took out the medal. "And I got my medal, so I'll just be going now," he said calmly, trying to duck out of the searing gaze.
Sergeant Calhoun's hand shot out, seized the medal, and snapped it off of his neck. "Not so fast, pussywillow," she snarled.
Ralph's expression went to one of desperation. "I need that medal. And I earned it. I did what I was told I had to."
"I don't know how you got this, but we've been into that tower twelve times today—once all the way to the top—and we never saw you. So you must have stolen it," she countered. "If you want a medal, you climb the inside of the tower and you fight all the bugs. Not just run like a scared little girl yourself," she said. Regathering her thoughts she drew herself up. "There's a punishment here for game-jumpers because the danger is so great."
"Punishment? What punishment?" Felix asked.
"Corporal punishment. Twenty-five applications of the rod or cat."
"You're going to..to... b-beat me?" Ralph stammered.
"I'm going to break you," she said menacingly. "Boys, take him downstairs. Markowski, for the love of... Go get some armor on!"
The closest two men grabbed Ralph by the arms.
"Wait! Wait!" cried Felix. "I have to get Ralph back to our game or we risk being shut down. There's already an 'Out of Order' sign on our cabinet."
The men paused and the sergeant raised her hand to halt them.
"Litwak will try to restart our game when he has a chance," Felix pleaded. "Usually he gives us a few tries to right ourselves. But the sooner we're back to normal the better. The citizens of our game are already in a panic. Please, if Ralph's back, Litwak will know everything's all right."
"All right," she huffed. "This loser can go back and do his job. But tonight, after the arcade closes, your miserable hide is mine," she informed Ralph, poking at him menacingly. "Literally."
Ralph swallowed hard. She wasn't kidding about this corporal punishment thing.
"Marco, Torres, go with him. You know what to do."
The men saluted her and then shoved Ralph toward the exit of Hero's Duty.
"I hate to disagree with the way you run your game, M'am, but don't you think that a beating is a bit severe for trespassing?" Felix questioned.
Calhoun put her hands on her hips and bent over toward Felix. "If you knew the scope of what your comrade nearly did, you'd probably think a beating would be a slap on the wrist. As it is I'm holding back by simply leaving it at twenty-five." She straightened back up and went over to the crashed shuttle and looked inside of it. "Cy-Bugs aren't like your usual NPC's. They're soulless, mindless machines following only three programmed instructions—kill, eat, reproduce. Each one will lay eggs given the opportunity, and they are unbelievably enthusiastic when it comes to this. C'mere." She took him by the shoulder and led him back to the start of the causeway.
Gesturing at the sky filled with the green lights of the swarms, she gritted her teeth. "Where do you think all those bugs come from? Give a single Cy-Bug a few hours undisturbed and it could produce an army like what you see up there. One Cy-Bug. We keep this threat contained here in Hero's Duty, but if it were to spread to the arcade, we'd all go down."
"Jiminy jaminy..." Felix choked. "I had no idea."
"So don't you ever question my methods again. Got that?" She shoved her gloved fingertip against his chest. "And I'll see this Ralph guy back tonight after the arcade closes."
"Of course, M'am."
She gave him a little sneer and marched back into the base.
"Wow..." Felix gasped to himself. "Is she always this intense?"
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Felix caught up to Ralph and his escort waiting for the tram into Fix-It Felix, Jr., and when it arrived, Felix was puzzled that the soldiers were squeezing into it as well. "Wait? Why are you coming inside?" he asked them.
"#? ^!?" asked Q*Bert, having spotted the party and followed them into the portal.
"Oh, we're just going sit around today, keeping an eye on this slug. And then take him back to Hero's Duty after the arcade closes," said one of the soldiers.
"I see. Well just make sure you're not visible to the players."
"Of course not," replied the other, rolling his eyes. They'd not been plugged in quite yesterday.
And within the hour Litwak returned and noticed the game screen looking as it should in demo mode. He moved the 'Out of Order' sign to the side of the cabinet and popped a quarter into the machine. The opening animation played and Ralph appeared, pronouncing his catchphrase and proceeding to vent his wrath upon the building. The Nicelanders panicked and called for their handyman, at which point Felix bounded in with a confident "I can fix it!"
Litwak played two levels of the game flawlessly, and decided that all was in order. "Here kid, finish this game for me, would ya?" he said to the boy observing over his shoulder.
"Sure thing."
As the boy stepped in, Litwak pulled the sign off of the side of the cabinet where he'd stuck it for the moment and patted the cabinet's top. "Good old Felix. You're getting old but you're reliable," he chuckled and headed back to his office. "Of course, so am I."
The Nicelanders all breathed a sigh of relief.
Later, when there was no one around, Felix took a break from the demo screen animation and decided he should talk to Ralph. The two Hero's Duty soldiers were sitting on the lawn off to the side of Niceland, where some of the ladies had come over bringing them pie and coffee in hospitality, and were now chatting with them. Their rifles had been propped up on a nearby park bench.
Ralph was lying on his stomach on the lawn as well, obviously deeply lost in thought, his head resting on his folded arms.
"Ralph, what were you thinking by going Turbo? You're a big part of the game!" Felix scolded.
Ralph looked up at the handyman. "Oh, so I'm a big part of the game? I seem to remember being told that I was just the guy that wrecks the building."
"Well you are, but you're more than that."
"Sure. When I'm gone everyone suddenly realizes how important Ralph is—good old Ralph who's spent the past three decades doing his job and not a one of you ever saying 'thank you', or 'great job today, Ralph.' Nope, no one ever cared about me. All they cared about was that I gave you a reason to be the hero."
Felix sighed. The man had a point. He sat down in the grass next to him. "I've always tried to be decent to you, Ralph."
"You've been better to me than the rest of those little self-righteous busy bodies." He flung a handful of grass toward Niceland in a gesture of contempt, where the occupants were toddling about the sidewalks and peering out of windows in their demo mode.
"Well at least I've done that. But Ralph...why? Why that stupid bet with Gene?"
"Don't you see, Felix? It wasn't just last night. This has been building for a long time. And when I came back and saw there was a party for the 30th Anniversary and I'd been ignored or forgotten or purposely not invited, I was just shocked. I mean really. You have to have a villain to have a hero. What good would you be without me? I'm sure they don't hand out medals for unclogging sinks and opening stuck windows, 'cause that's all you'd be doing without me there to make everyone's lives miserable. So you could at least treat me like a real person."
Felix was frowning. "That's a mean thing to say...but you're absolutely right," he concurred in a softer tone.
"Anyway, I'm going to do the right thing. I'll go back peacefully and take my punishment. I'm not giving up though. I can't take any more of this social isolation. I will win this bet with Gene."
"That's the spirit!" said Felix. "Gene doesn't think you can do it."
"I'll do what it takes. I've never been more serious about anything in my life. Maybe she'll even let me have my medal back."
They sat a minute in silence, staring up at Niceland. And then Felix looked over at him. "Ralph, do you think...do you think that you and I could be friends?"
Ralph looked back at him. "I'd like to be friends, if you'd let me. I could really use one right now. I'll be honest. That woman scares me."
"She's just doing her job, you know." Felix stuck out his hand. "Whaddaya say?"
"Friends until the end," is what Ralph said, and they shook on it.
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Medals Must Be Earned continues in Chapter 2: "Justice"
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The Hanged Man – Tarot meaning
A period of transition, gaining from sacrifice, suspending, restricting, discontinuation
The Hanged Man can be interpreted in two very different ways. All change is a small kind of death, as the old must die to create the new. And it may simply indicate upheaval or change in your future, perhaps beyond your control, but more likely a decision that, for good or for ill, you will not be able to turn back from.
The other interpretation is one of sacrifice, although whether this sacrifice is small or great may not be easily interpreted. Bot interpretations imply permanence, and that you should give very careful thought to the decisions in your life.
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Wreck-It Ralph and all related concepts, characters, worlds, and events are property of Walt Disney. Pictures. Original characters and story elements are property of E. Potter, writing under the pen name of Miratete.