Medals Must Be Earned
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Chapter 5 : The High Priestess
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Wedding is on the wind
Does she blow my way?
She can dance and she can sing
She will tear your heart away
While the promise burns
I'll stay
And will you return
From so far away?
One life within the devil do I play
It's been for so long
El diablo is to blame
One life but the devil is in my way
Oh...
Oh el diablo, el diablo
Won't you sell me back my soul?
Oh el diablo, el diablo
Won't you sell me back my soul?
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The floors continued to pass by, and when they came to the sixtieth, Calhoun stopped before the glowing icon on the wall that linked to a cut scene. The men, all knowing what it held, quietly moved on to the end of the room to wait.
Ralph looked at her, and then at the departing soldiers, and then again at her. She opened the faceplate on her helmet and he could see her ambivalent expression. Suddenly he remembered what she'd said earlier about the sixtieth floor. He turned to leave but her hand caught his arm. "Stay."
She reached out and touched the large icon, activating it.
And there rolled out the diary of her trauma, her cutscene played out before them, her tragic little backstory in all its cruel glory. Ralph stood beside her watching, and when it was over, he sniffled away a tear that had formed. "I'm so sorry," he managed, putting his hand on her shoulder again.
"Thank you," she whispered. sniffling back her own tears. And to his surprise, she turned and reached up to his wrist and hugged it between her two hands. "Thank you."
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At last they came to the ninety-ninth floor, and Ralph felt his heart beat faster, pounding anxiously inside his chest. They were so close, and yet here was this room of unborn enemies that had to be dealt with first. And there would be no tiptoeing through them this time. Calhoun took a look at her unit and then checked her rifle. "Main thing is, don't charge in like some noob on a caffeine and sugar high like the players usually do. We'll take it as slowly as we can. I know it's damn near impossible, but we'll try to activate only a few at a time if possible," she instructed.
And so the final fight began, a maelstrom of violence and sound and destruction. Ralph tried to hang to the back where he could stay out of the way of the bugs, trying to work as a sniper from the edges of the battle. The first few had been easy, but there were so many as the floor began to overrun with newly hatched Cy-Bugs.
About halfway through there came a loud crash and a breaking of glass close to Ralph, followed by a scream from Calhoun. He turned to see that a Cy-Bug had come around from behind them, smashing through a glass partition wall and a row of computer consoles. It had viciously seized Calhoun, but had hesitated after doing so, debating on whether to kill its prey or to consume it. Deciding on the latter, it began to shove Calhoun into its mouth; but its hesitation had given her a moment to brace herself against the creature's jaws and mouthparts.
Without deliberating himself, Ralph dropped his rifle and launched himself at the creature, grappling it as he had the one when he'd first infiltrated the gameplay. He got a good hold of its primary limbs, but on feeling the resistant strength of the monster he wound up and let a punch fly.
The destructive fury contained in his fists, now concentrated into one blow, smashed remorselessly through the creature's metal carapace and found the monster's digital brain, destroying it instantly.
Calhoun fell from its mouthparts and Ralph tossed the lifeless insect shell aside. But as he did so, a juvenile Cy-Bug jumped onto his shoulders from behind. This one he grabbed and threw to the ground, then smashing it with another mighty punch. Turning around, he found two more adults charging his direction.
As Calhoun scrambled back to her feet, two more punches from Ralph destroyed each of the oncoming bugs. "Who's next?!" he hollered. But there were no more takers waiting.
Calhoun picked up Ralph's rifle and handed it back to him. "That was amazing. I didn't realize how strong you were. Or how much of a hero you could be."
Ralph blushed as he took back his weapon. "Well thanks. I just sorta reacted." And then he recovered from her compliment. "I really just wanted to make sure you were here to see me get my medal," he said soberly. He aimed his rifle at the ceiling and gave it a test firing. "I don't want to do this again." And feeling awkward beneath her sardonic smile he tuned around. "So, back at it, I guess." And with that he charged off into the fray.
Calhoun picked up her rifle and also gave it a quick test shot, and then joined him, fighting at his side.
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When the Cy-Bugs were defeated the room suddenly seemed mysteriously quiet, almost uncomfortably quiet. "Now?" Ralph asked. He popped another peppermint into his mouth.
The sergeant gave him a single nod, and Ralph walked up the stairs, holding his breath as the protective plates separated and floated away. Stepping into the center of the platform, the Medal of Heroes floated down in a radiant aura, settling perfectly around Ralph's neck as it had before. On the verge of joyful tears he came back down the steps as the holograms praised and saluted and told him how great he was. Calhoun and the remaining three soldiers saluted as well.
Coming up to the sergeant, he stopped and studied her face. Her lips were taut and her emotions unreadable. Her eyes were focused in the distance, her thoughts elsewhere. "This medal is going to change my life," he told her, whether or not she was paying attention. He took the medal between trembling fingers and stared at it. "Thank you again, Sergeant," he said. "It's going to change everything." He kissed the shiny star at the center of it and tucked it beneath his armor.
And he looked up again to see Calhoun's blue eyes fixed on him.
"Ralph?"
"Yes?" Now what did she want? He managed a weak smile.
"I want everything to change for me too. Would you marry me?"
The other soldiers gasped and turned to her, their mouths falling open. Ralph accidentally swallowed his peppermint, completely stunned by her out of the blue request.
"Sergeant? Are you feeling all right?" Spears asked her.
She put her hands on her hips. "Wreck-It, your madness is contagious and I seem to have caught it. Marry me. You said you would. Take me along on your happily ever after."
He searched back into his head for his proposal, and found the casual, encouraging offer made earlier on the forty-eighth floor. It had been made as something of a self-deprecating joke really, without any seriousness to the actual offer. "I mean... well, yeah I said I would... but that was sorta a last ditch offer, like if you reached the bottom of the barrel of bachelors. I kinda thought you'd go meet someone and start dating and at least get to know him first." And here Ralph thought he'd finally gotten off of the rollercoaster of events and emotions of the past day.
"I did."
"Sergeant..." choked Kohut. "Are you..." Not being able to finish, he simply stepped back, wiping futilely at this brow.
Suddenly there was a flicker of light and the hologram of the General appeared next to Calhoun. "Sgt. Calhoun?!" he barked. "What in the Sam Hill is going on here!? Did you just ask this guy to marry you?"
She saluted him. "Sir, yes, Sir!" The holographic man looked Ralph up and down, and then suddenly jolted on recognizing him. "This guy? He's the one that broke in here and..."
"Yeah yeah yeah," Calhoun cut him off. "We know what he did. And he's been duly punished for it."
"And now he's up here again, and has another medal, and you want to marry him?"
"Yes, sir."
"What about Dr. Scott? Your first fiancee? Have you forgotten about Brad?" He folded his arms over his chest.
"Brad's not coming back. He's never coming back. In fact he never existed. But I'm not going to stay miserable and alone forever mourning him."
"But him? This guy?" The General slapped his hand to his forehead and then faded out with a disgusted groan.
Calhoun laughed and turned back to Ralph. "Sorry about the General. Just ignore him. There's a reason we keep Rapunzel locked up in the tower."
The General suddenly flickered back in. "I heard that!" he snorted and flickered out again.
She shook her head, and then she took a step closer to Ralph. "So, what will it be, Wreck-It? Yes or no?" she demanded.
Ralph looked her up and down for a moment, realizing she was completely serious and determined in this. Looney? No. Lonely? Definitely. Desperate? Maybe. "You know. Why not? Sure!" he said finding some confidence. "Sure yes I'll marry you. In fact, Hell yes. Hell yes, I'll marry you."
There was a rattling of armor as Markowski stumbled away. "I think I'm going to be sick..." he moaned.
"Sergeant. You sure about this?" asked Kohut, finding his voice again.
"Hell yes," she echoed.
And still finding himself standing there awkwardly staring at her, Ralph shuffled nervously. Maybe this was all some sort of weird euphorious hallucination brought on by the adrenaline and peppermints and whatever the doctor had given him. But why not just roll with it? Why not? "Um. Should I kiss you at this point?" he asked.
"Hell yes," she repeated.
Markowski fainted to the floor with a graceless clatter.
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Medals Must Be Earned continues in: Chapter 6 – "Strength"
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The High Priestess – Tarot meaning
Feminine influences, insight, mystery, understanding, wisdom
Your identification with the high priestess suggests you possess inherent good judgment in the form of strong intuition. She may indicate that reason should take second place to instinct. Your head may trust in the wisdom of your heart for a change. Yet she is also an aide to nature, and her presence in certain parts of your spread could be indicative of someone close to you coming to your rescue with his or her own intuition. Intuition is most effective at seeing what is hidden to the senses, so the High Priestess may come as a warning of concealed facts or influences that are or will be important to you.
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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.