"I've never been more serious about anything in my life," Ralph stated as he sat in Tapper's. "That's why I came straight here, Tapper. You've never given me a bum steer. Now, come on. Where can a guy like me go and win a medal?"
Tapper is from the arcade games Tapper and Root Beer Tapper. Tapper is a stocky little man with short brown hair and a handlebar mustache. He has rosy cheeks, large, blue eyes, and a large, pinkish nose. He wears a blue vest over a white shirt with a high collar, accented by a red bowtie. His trousers are a deep reddish-brown.
Tappers was a popular hangout spot for characters. Enjoying a couple of drinks after a long day of working.
"I don't think such a game exists, Ralph," Tapper said as he cleaned a glass.
"Oh, come on. You know people," Ralph said. "There's got to be..."
A male customer cut off Ralph by calling Tapper over for a root beer. Tapper put a quick pause in the conversation as he went to serve the customers their drinks. Ralph annoyingly waited as Tapper did his job. Tapper whipped his hands as he sighed a good job done and went back to Ralph to continue hearing him.
"Okay, as you were saying," Tapper said.
"I was saying, I can't spend another 30 years living alone in the garbage. I'm not going back without a medal," Ralph stated.
"Well, I don't know what to tell you. Maybe somebody left a medal here. You're welcomed to dig through the lost and found," Tapper offered as he whipped the counter.
Ralph figured it was worth a shot and went to check the lost and found. He puts his hand inside and a roach crawls onto his hand. He flicks it away as he goes to dig through the lost and found. He found one of Super Mario's mushrooms. A Mental Gear exclamation mark. And a pair of Zangief's underwear which disgusts him. He then slouches as he comes to terms that he won't be able to get a medal. A big guy wearing a suit of armor walks past him, bumping into him, catching his attention.
"Hey! Excuse you," Ralph said, annoyed as the man ignored him.
The man mumbles to himself as he walks into the wall. This concerns Ralph as he approaches the man.
"Uh... You okay there, space cadet," Ralph asked.
He tapped the man's shoulder which caused the man to turn around and grab Ralph by the shoulders.
"We've only been plugged in a week! And every day it's climb the building. Then fight bugs. Climb the building, fight more bugs!"
The man begins to cry and falls onto Ralph's chest.
"Yeah, yeah. Right. Look," Ralph said as he pushed the man off him and fixed his outfit. "Easy on the overalls, spaceman. It's tough all over, all right?"
Ralph then began to walk away from the upset armored man.
"And all for what? A lousy medal," the man whined tiredly.
The mention of the medal made Ralph stop in his tracks.
"Medal? You get a medal," Ralph asked as he looked back at the man.
"Yeah, Medal of Heroes," the man said.
"Ooh. Is it Shiny," Ralph asked.
"Uh... It's pretty shiny," the man said, a bit unsure.
"Ooh! And it says 'hero' on it," Ralph asked as he slowly approached the man.
"Uh-huh. Oh, yeah," the man confirmed.
"And you say you win it by climbing a building," Ralph asked.
"And fighting bugs," the man exclaimed.
"Right, bugs," Ralph said, brushing off that fact. "Listen, is there any chance I could go with you to your game and you know, maybe get one of those medals?"
"Negatory," the man said as his tone went firm.
"Does that mean maybe," Ralph asked, not sure what the word means.
"No! Look, only the bravest and the best serve in our Corp," the man stated.
The man then notices a roach on Ralph's shoulder and freaks out. He tries to run away but he runs straight into the wall. He knocks out due to the impact and it gives Ralph an idea. He changes the soldier into Zangief's underwear after stealing his armor and locking him into the storage closet.
Ralph stumbles out of Tappers and tries to find the game Hero's Duty. He finds it and heads to it only to get tripped by something. He looks down to see Q*Bert looked at him confused.
"Sorry, Q*Bert. It's me, Ralph," Ralph said softly as he lifted his visor to show Q*Bert his face.
He then put a finger over his mouth and 'shh' to tell Q*Bert to stay quiet. He puts down his visor and then runs into the gate of Hero's Duty. He hits the wall on his way in as Q*Bert just watches confused.
Kids started to arrive at the arcade as Mr. Litwak turned on the 'open' light and opened the door to let the kids inside. Arriving into Hero's Duty a quarter alert is ringing signaling that someone is about to play. Ralph excitedly follows the other soldiers as a teen girl puts in the quarters and starts up the game. Ralph trips and drops his gun. He bumps into the standing soldiers as he tries to grab.
"Rooting-tooting, ready for shooting," Ralph said as he chuckled.
Some of the soldiers look at him with confused or dirty looks.
"All right."
All the soldiers stand up straight as a man holding his helmet under his arm walks in. The man was tall and slender, had blonde hair, blue eyes, and fair skin. He was wearing armor consisting of the colors red and black. This was Sergeant Jared Calhoun, the central character of Hero's Duty.
"Now listen up, because I'm only going to say this once. Fear is a four-letter word, ladies. If you want to go pee-pee in your big-boy slack, keep it to yourselves. It's make your mama's proud time," Calhoun declared.
"I love my mama," Ralph exclaimed, earning a few more looks from the other soldiers.
"Heads up! First-person shooter, coming through!"
The soldiers make way as a robot wheels past them holding a gun just like them as the screen loads. Calhoun put on his helmet and fired up his gun as the robot stood in front of him. The screen finished loading and the teenage girl came onto the screen.
"We are humanity's last hope. Our mission? Destroy all Cy-Bugs," Calhoun stated to the player. "You ready rookie? Let's find out."
He clocks his gun as the door behind him opens. Ralph shoved his way to the front excited. However his excitement turned into fear when he saw what was in front of him. He sees a swarm and an army of these scary looking bugs all over the dark map. The door fully goes down and all the soldiers rush out as the round starts but Ralph is now terrified.
Turns out that Hero's Duty is a light-gun based first person rail shooter game, the player must help Sergeant Calhoun and his group of soldiers battle against Cy-Bugs, the game's alien invaders. The soldiers begin to shoot and destroy the Cy-bugs as Ralph just runs around absolutely terrified just trying to survive.
Unfortunately Ralph got cornered by one of them and he tried to use his gun but the Cy-Bug caught it in its teeth. The Cy-Bug pulled it out of Ralph's hands and ate it. The Cy-Bug's claws changed into guns which means these monsters become what they eat. Unarmed and screwed, Ralph runs away as the Cy-Bug shoots at him.
He manages to get away from the Cy-Bug but then sees another laying eggs. The player shoots the eggs and the plasma from the eggs gets all over him. The player is confused when she sees Ralph trying to wipe the plasma off him.
"Markowski! Get back in formation," Calhoun orders as he shoves Ralph off the screen. He clears his throat as he faces the player as the doors ahead start to open. "All right, ladies, the kitten whispers and tickle fights stop now. The entrance to the lab is straight ahead."
"I'll meet you guys inside," Ralph exclaimed as he ran to the lab.
"No," Calhoun called as Ralph ran away.
Ralph was relieved to have finally found some Sanctuary from this scary dangerous game. But once again, his relief quickly changed to fear as the lab opened to show more Cy-Bugs. Calhoun and the other soldiers go to take care of the Cy-Bugs as Ralph runs away.
"I thought this was gonna be like Centipede," Ralph said as he ran to the player. He then grabs the screen of the robot. "When did video games become so violent and scary? Please, get me out of here!"
The girl was watching confused and not entirely sure what to do. Ralph then notices another Cy-Bug coming at them and he hides behind the robot. The girl screams as the Cy-Bug takes up the screen and a Game Over comes on screen. The girl, upset, puts the gun back and walks away to play another game.
The Cy-Bug continues to try and attack Ralph as he holds it off confused as to why it's still attacking him since it's game over. A beacon comes on from the tower and all the Cy-Bugs are drawn to it. They all fly into the light and get zapped then destroyed. The fallen soldiers respawn as they were ordered to return to their starting position. Ralph tries to help the robot but the robot is upset with him since he's the reason it got damaged in the first place.
"Markowski."
Ralph was confused until he turned to see Calhoun approach him, very angry with his helmet in his hand. He then figured that Markowski was the name of the soldier he stole the armor from so he played along with the name. Calhoun then used his helmet to smack Ralph across the face.
"What's the first rule of Hero's Duty," Calhoun asked.
"No cuts, no butts, no coconuts," Ralph guessed.
His guess earned him a punch in the face from Calhoun. Calhoun then grad him made Ralph look him in the eyes.
"Never interfere with the first-person shooter," Calhoun said in a cold tone. He then lets go of Ralph. "Our job is to get the gamers to the top of that building" He points to the tower. "So they can get a medal, and that's it!" He glares at Ralph. "So stick to the program, soldier!"
"Right. Right. Aye. Aye," Ralph mumbled as he was getting scared.
Quarter alert! Quarter alert!
"All right, pussy willows. Back to start positions," Calhoun orders. He smacks Ralph again with his helmet, knocking Ralph out the way. Ralph groans as Calhoun walks away upset and the soldiers follow him.
"Yeah, right. No way I'm going through that again," Ralph grumbled as he fixed his armor. He then looks up at the tower. "So that's where they get the medal, huh?"