Meta Runner RP

Meta Runner is a web animated series by Glitch Productions. Season 1 was released on July 25th, 2019, Season 2 was released on October 16th, 2020, and Season 3 was released on July 22nd, 2022.

In a future where video games are everything, young Meta Runner Tari must do whatever she can to uncover her past. E-sports, sci-fi, and video games collide in Glitch Production's first fully animated series.

In a futuristic world, society is now centered around video games, serving as not just entertainment, but also jobs in livestreaming and lifestyle. Among the gamers are “Meta Runners”, a group of gaming individuals who replace their limbs with cybernetic arms that allow them to boost their gaming performance.

The series tells the story of Tari, a Meta Runner who was the subject of an experiment called Project Blue led by former scientist, Dr. Sheridan, who was commissioned by the TAS Corp. organization. In a sudden accident causing an explosion, Dr. Sheridan was apparently killed along with a former Meta Runner, Lucinia, inside the laboratory. After waking up in the now abandoned and wrecked establishment, Tari finds herself in Silica City with no memory of what happened except for a few flashbacks. After witnessing a speedrunning tournament of Ultra Jump Mania performed by Belle Fontiere, Tari decides to play the game for herself, but she suddenly gets teleported into the game where she befriends Theo. Intrigued by Tari’s newfound ability, the head of TAS Corp., Lucks plans to use her to benefit his organisation.

Tari and Theo get sucked out of the game and try to escape, but Tari gets captured while Theo escapes and is found by another meta runner, Lamar Williams, who rescues and takes both of them to a hidden base in a ramen restaurant where they meet up with two other meta runners, Sofia Porter and Masa Shimamoto. Together the three are a small undercover group called the MD-5 who've been trying to expose all to TAS Corp. by exposing the organisation's cruel actions to the public, but to no avail. The MD-5 then invites Tari to join them, citing that with her help, they'll finally be able to put an end to Lucks' evil affairs once and for all.

Being a video game character, Theo has very unrealistic and cartoony proportions. He is short but has a large head about the same size as the rest of his body. He has a small, stubby nose and similarly small ears. He has large light-blue eyes and fuzzy eyebrows. His hair is similar to a tree, with most of it being green like leaves and something similar to that of a palm tree sprouts out from the top of his head. He wears a yellow short-sleeved overshirt with a white flower pattern on it and a white vest underneath. He has half a coconut strapped across his back like a backpack that he uses as a weapon as well as brown shorts and a belt with two apples and bananas strapped on. Much like other defining parts of his body, his arms and legs are quite short, although he has a reasonably large bulk. In season 2, the rope around him was removed, his eyes are bigger and his eyebrows are now the same color as his hair. Season 3 keeps the design as normal.

Theo is quite childish, happy-go-lucky, fun-loving, and occasionally stubborn. He doesn't understand the consequences in serious situations, meaning that Tari often has to look after him. He often just accepts that he's going to die in most bad situations, which annoys and concerns Tari. In season 2, he seems to better understand the real world, as he stopped referring to Lucks as an "evil boss" and he called TAS-Corp by its name. He also seems to exhibit a newfound fear of death, as he expresses concern over the possibility of what might happen if Lucks destroyed his cartridge again before Tari reassures him that everything will be okay and sends him out of the game. Not long afterwards, Theo questions what material he's made out of in the real world after glitching again.

So I’m a nutshell, he’s a child who’s mostly oblivious to everything going on, but had a heart of gold.

Derick Lucks is a middle-aged caucasian male with blue eyes, slicked-back blonde hair, brown eyebrows, and light beard stubble, with an earpiece constantly in his ear. His design in the trailer was a dark blue collared jacket with a turtleneck sweater and a purple vest. In Season 1, his usual outfit was a bluish-black jacket with segmented shoulders with lights with a sweater vest with a white undershirt and black tie. In Season 2, he wore a different, grayish-blue three-piece suit that looked more sleek and professional and his eyebrows changed to match the color of his hair. At the end of Fatal Error, Lucks removed his jacket, gained a black eye from being punched by Masa, and lost his tie.

On the surface, Lucks appeared to be a man very much in control of his emotions. No matter the situation, he always spoke with an even keel whether it's giving orders or threatening a subordinate. Just beneath that, however, he possessed some strong anger issues and had no problem with making others suffer for his goals. Right before his fate, however, he chuckles as he manages to sarcastically congratulate "him" for his outplaying him, showing no fear at all of his imminent demise, proving that despite being paranoid of his true nature being exposed, Lucks is not a coward and can show genuine bravery even in the face of death. Lucks proved himself to be an opportunist as he saw almost anything as an opportunity in some kind of way and seeked to take advantage of it. This led to moments of obsession, such as his desire to make Tari "his".

He never cared who he hurt or what gets destroyed along the way as long as it suited his goals. He did have some measure of self-restraint, taking precautions not to raise attention when possible. It can be seen, however, that he would go to extreme lengths when necessary to achieve his goals, such as when he shot Masa's Meta Runner arm off or entrapped Theo in a comatose-like state after destroying his game cartridge, as 'collateral'.

Belle Fontiere has carmine colored hair with orange streaks in a messy ponytail with burgundy eyes. Her Meta Runner Arm is on her right. She wears a short-sleeved white jacket with blue threads and a symbol of a phoenix on the back of it, with a midriff cut undershirt, black pants with blue stripes and two white belts, and black boots. In Season 2, she starts wearing a necklace, her eyebrows now match her carmine hair, and her eyes are brown instead of maroon. Her hair also appears to have more orange streaks.

Belle is shown to be both laid-back yet immensely competitive. When it comes to her profession of competition, Belle treats it with absolute seriousness. After Lucinia's disappearance, she becomes tragic, cold, and bitter, and gains a hair trigger temper. It can also be noted that she could look down upon those who aren't as good as her, and might see herself as the best, as when Tari asks to be taught Ultra Jump Mania in Episode 1, Belle replies snidely. After discovering Lucinia's "death", she jumps to conclusions and starts to believe that Tari was responsible. After getting suspicious of Lucks' motives, she seems to have grown more understanding, as she purposefully allowed Tari to steal an online dating sim knowing very well that Tari would use it to contact MD-5. Belle can also be oblivious at times, when she talks to Tari after finding out Lucks knew about Lucinia's accident, she mentions Lucks was always good to his Meta Runners, including Lucinia. But on the night before her disappearance, she asked if they should bring Lucinia, and she heard Lucks saying he didn't need her, showing how oblivious Belle can be at times, since Lucks' negligence was one of the core reasons of Lucinia's disappearance.

Lamar Roland Williams is a black man who has an average build, and is slightly taller then Tari. He has lightish brown hair, sharp eyebrows, green eyes, a faint small moustache and goatee. Lamar wears a black beanie with 2 yellow stripes and red triangle. which is likely its brand's logo, a black and yellow tank top with a hood, grey pants, a black belt with a silver buckle and some logos on it and black shoes. In season 2 not much has changed except extra detail on his jacket and his hair is slightly darker. His Meta Runner arm is on his left, while his right is organic, with yellow and green wristbands.

Lamar is an otaku. A running gag is that he has a new body pillow in almost every episode he's featured in, each based on a character from Nova Explorers. This makes him seem like somewhat of a comedy relief, but he is intelligent and hates risks, shown from his disdain of Operation: Silent Demon. Despite the risks he has to take, he is laid-back and doesn't seem to mind the life he has chilled out in the MD-5 base.

Sofia is a young Caucasian woman with an average build, and is roughly Tari's height. Her Personality is inspired by a Canary which she mentions as her code name while Lamar and Masa are preparing for the Hidden Heroes Tournament. She has blonde hair, greenish blue eyes and black rounded eyebrows. Her hair is about the length of her head and is shaven to a buzz cut on the left. Her attire consists of welding goggles, a silver nose ring, and a green and black jacket that connects to her hands with an atomic whirl on each side. Her jacket is always open near her chest area, revealing a white deep o-neck undershirt. She wears two brown belts, one of which is more standard with a small silver belt buckle, while the other has some bags on it. She also wears black pants and short black rubber boots, and has some grime on her face. In season 2 the jacket's round her waist and the goggles are on her neck.

Much like the other members of MD-5, Sofia follows a personality stereotype to some degree, as she could be described as being a computer geek. She shows high interest in mods and hacks and has far more knowledge about technology than any other major character, besides Sheridan. She seems quite socially awkward and insecure, much like Tari, but tries to hide it more. Sofia does not appear to be a spiteful person, as she holds no hard feelings toward Tari after discovering her involvement with Project Blue, this is seen at the start of the next season when she prioritises getting into contact with Tari to free her from TAS. Corp's hold on her. Even when Lucks reveals that Tari is the A.I. created by Dr. Sheridan — the same A.I. intended for testing and uploading into Lucinia. Sofia reassures Tari that they are still friends. However, Sofia is capable of holding grudges, as evidenced by her anger towards Sheridan for his actions involving Lucinia, especially after witnessing Lucinia under his control

Masa is shown to be taller than both Tari and Sofia and is around Lamar's height. He has dark, shaggy hair, thick eyebrows, brown eyes and some facial hair. He sports a black and white jacket with 2 pockets and his logo, which consists of a Samurai and Katanas, a reddish brown undershirt, black pants and boots. His Meta Runner arm is on his left and reaches up to his shoulder. After the season one finale, Masa now sports a scar across the bridge of his nose and his left cheek and has lost his Meta Runner arm up to his elbow. He also wears a black hooded coat over his season one attire. Following the events of Heart to Heart, Masa had a new, blue cybernetic forearm won from Marco and has opted to remove his black coat. As of Overload, Masa has lost his entire Meta Runner arm up to the shoulder as a result of the explosion caused by his free will overload while controlled by Sheridan's Meta Bugs.

Masa is sensible but is willing to take risks when it's beneficial towards MD-5. However, Masa is also quite, as Lamar put it, "emo". being emotionally aloof and edgy. Conversely, in Soft Lock, it was revealed that Masa was friendlier and had more of a sense of humor before learning of Lucinia's presumed death. He is very skillful at video games, with Battle Blaze being his forte, beating Tari multiple times despite her being able to learn very quickly. After his defeat in Shutdown, Masa became disillusioned and abandoned MD-5, breaking off contact with them and resorting to fighting low tier gamers for money. However, upon learning of the phone with the TASCorp server still on it, Masa immediately became hopeful and willing to cooperate with Sofia and Lamar, showing that Masa is a very determined, goal-driven person. He has an extreme hatred for Tas Corp. and his former boss, Derek Lucks. Despite this, he never wanted him dead. As shown in the season 2 finale when his Meta Runner arm was hacked and shot Lucks dead, he was horrified by what happened and was left traumatized.

Sheridan is an adult man with dark skin, brown eyes and dark brown hair with stubble and a slight mustache. In Season 1, Sheridan's outfit was a white lab coat with blue accents and shoulder pads with a brown vest and an improperly buttoned undershirt. After his accident, Sheridan went into hiding, taking on the disguise as one of Masa's neighbors, wearing a white cloak with a black shoulder cape and an emoting mask. After introducing himself to Evelyn, Sheridan was revealed to have extensive burns across the left side of his face.

When interacting with Tari, Sheridan was something of a father figure. He gently encouraged Tari and pushed her to do her best when training her at games. As he continued testing and completing Project Blue, Sheridan showed more signs of mental instability. He is seen laughing madly and growing more disturbed as time goes on, acting more and more erratic. After the accident, Sheridan snapped, going completely insane, acting childish and gaining a crazed personality with frequent mood swings. Sheridan also revealed his immense hatred for Lucks for allegedly stealing the credit for his invention of the Meta Runner arm and a sadistic, manipulative side.

Lucinia is a woman with bright, long purple hair, pale skin, and a slender build. She wears a black tank top, black shorts with a navy hoodie tied around her waist, including black tube socks and black leather boots, and a necklace with a sky-blue pendant. Her meta runner arm is on her left. In the second season, she does not have the jacket and her shorts have two white stripes on the sides; most of the time she is seen in the TAS Corp. server, appearing as a purple glitter. In the final season (and when Tari saw her in Tempest), Lucinia's Meta Runner arm is gone and she has third degree burns on her left arm and shoulder, with lesser burn scars on her neck and left cheek. The strap on her left arm also appears to be affected from the burns.

In a flashback shown in "Soft Lock", she lacks self-esteem and calls herself an "old dog" teaching new tricks to Belle by showing her a new glitch, saying that if she can't achieve the Ultra Jump Mania record, Belle can. She also mentions how she hasn't had a press conference in a while unlike Belle and Masa. Her low self-esteem were one of the core reasons she volunteered to be a test subject for Project Blue. She is shown to be very kind as she is complimenting Tari's abilities. Lucinia is also shown to be very friendly as when she meets Tari for the first time, she discovers Tari has been in her head, seeing her memories, she was not angry. Instead she was glad Tari was getting something in return from helping Lucinia win games. The two immediately hit it off. Before Sheridan pushed the neural uplink too hard and caused the explosion she hugs Tari, where the two promise to find each other again. Lucinia is also shown to have no tolerance for anything bad said about her loved ones. This is seen when the first thing she does is smack Evelyn across the face after hearing her disrespect Tari.

Evelyn wears a black and grey overall dress, with white stockings and white Mary-janes. Her clothes have lights on which seem to change depending on her mood. For example, Green when she is calm and happy. Yellow when she is neutral, blue when she is sad, and red when she is angry. She has long, bright pink hair, pink eyebrows, and green eyes. Her Meta Runner arm is on her right arm. In season 3 she now has a metal plate and wires attached to the left side of her head and left eye. She also has an open cut on her eyelid that seems to be purple and infected, and another cut under her left eye.

Evelyn is shown to be arrogant, snobby, conceited, and self-centered. She believes herself to be superior towards everyone that she deems "inferior" and often looks down on others. She is also attention-seeking and envious based on how she laments on how Lucks favorites Tari over her and even refers to Tari as a 'science experiment' and a "freak". She even takes a TASCorp worker's game console and claims it hers flaunting her power. Later in the series, Evelyn becomes more despicable and malicious, to the point where she openly attacks Tari and ends up working with Sheridan to enact revenge on her.

Tari wears a blue and white hooded jacket over a white tank top with her Meta Runner symbol, brown khaki pants, white and blue socks, and brown flip flop sandals. She has short blue hair with a fringe covering her right eye (Half of it is exposed in Season 2), blue eyebrows (as of Season 2), and purple eyes. Her Meta Runner Arm is on her left. Her appearance resembles the Blue Jay Bird. In particular, her symbol and the designs on her jacket's shoulders resemble its wings. During her time as a TAS Corp. representative, her outfit switches to a bare-shouldered, black, white and blue TAS Corp. uniform and black tracksuit pants with white stripes, and navy blue slide sandals with long socks with blue stripes. Starting from Soft Lock, she once again wears her iconic blue hoodie over her TAS Corp. uniform but with a few differences, including the thicker black lines.

Tari is depicted as being a very kind-hearted girl who enjoys hanging out with people in order to get to know them, displaying a friendly mood around the people she hangs out with and cares for them and their safety.

Despite her innocence nature, she is shown as being insecure and shy, playing the role as a pacifist when it comes to solving conflicts through words rather than actions which sometimes ends up failing. Her persona is a result of a combination of confusion when trying to understand a problem and a lack of confidence within her ability to solve a situation that makes her very prone to danger.

But in terms of her inabilities in her confidence, she has shown be have grown during her time in TAS Corp., displaying a more mature and "cooler" mood as stated by Theo due to learning from Belle, as well as more reckless and passive-aggressive as she taunts Evelyn to distract her during their fight in the corrupted version of Ultra Jump Mania.

After escaping TAS-Corp and learning about her true identity, she is depicted as a more bolder character, lacking most of her self-sensitive trait, showing confidence whenever a situation presets itself and putting herself at risk to protect others.

But this is most likely because after learning her identity, Tari started thinking lowly of herself as seen in "The End", when talking to the AI version of Lucks, she was willing to rip herself apart to return Lucinia to the friends and life she had before Tari "came along", showing she holds herself in a very low light due to being the one having the fragments of Lucinia's mind that were given to her after Lucinia was blown up.

Tari, suddenly wakes up in the same lab, now having been abandoned. Dealing with brief flashes of memory of her training with the man and a sudden accident, she stumbles out onto the streets of a bright, flashing city as everything she saw around her changed, as if the lab was an illusion. She walks around, taking in all the sights and the myriad of games, before being stopped by a group of people who see her cybernetic arm and believe her to be a Meta Runner. Pressured and panicked, Tari claims to be a member of TAS Corp. and rushes into the nearby building to escape.

Inside the TAS Corp. sales building, Tari converses with Afro-bot, the salesman in the store, and discovers her location is Silica City, the center of all things gaming. She then gets distracted by a crowd at a speed running arena where TAS Corp.'s number one speed runner, Belle Fontiere, is attempting a new glitch in Ultra Jump Mania to set the narrow world record. Despite Belle's efforts, she blows it on the very last jump and storms off in frustration as the crowd disperses.

Intrigued, Tari takes up the controller and decides to try the game herself. A still miffed Belle is unimpressed by Tari at first, only to see Tari is learning the game at a remarkable rate. As Tari continues to play, her eyes suddenly go blue and she goes into a trance.

Tari wakes up to find herself on an island, her outfit changed to tropical gear and numerous stats before her eyes. Before she has time to assimilate this, she gets a whack in the head from none other than the protagonist of Ultra Jump Mania.

Back in the real world, Belle calls in TAS Corp.'s head, Lucks. The two get into an argument about Belle's flop and his playing damage control. Lucks starts insisting she can be replaced while Belle is confident her spot as number one grants her immunity. The discussion then shifts to Tari just before the game screen starts working again and both of them see Tari in the game. Lucks immediately calls in all TAS Corp.

Picking off from the previous episode, Tari finds herself face-to-face with the protagonist of Ultra Jump Mania. Tari eventually manages to convince the boy she's human and not a boss enemy. The boy then introduces himself as Theo and explains she's on Simple Flip Island.

Tari chases after Theo, making her way through the level a little more clumsily, and learns that Theo is aware of his nature as a game character. Stopped by a high wall, Tari suddenly discovers she has the ability to perform in-game maneuvers. After learning Theo is on his way to the next level of the game, Tari attempts to distract him by claiming monsters were after the goalpost, only for Theo to drag her along with him.

Back in the physical world, Belle has evacuated the nearby TAS Corp. store to give Lucks and his science team a chance to examine Tari. She soon becomes enraged by an old TAS Corp. ad featuring her and another Meta Runner and demands Afrobot turn it off. In Ultra Jump Mania, Tari and Theo continue to make their way across the island while Tari learns how to use her abilities to see pathways, such as to bypass a DLC pay gate. Confronted by palmtree monsters, Theo gives Tari a pineapple hammer to fight the horde.

At the speedrunners arena, Lucks continues the research. Belle is unimpressed, but Lucks points out this could very well be the future of gaming, much like the Meta Runner technology that he invented, and that others could get to it as well. Her ego stoked, Belle is onboard while the TAS Corp.

In the game, Tari and Theo engage the monster horde. Tari's skill increases dramatically after Theo is put in danger and the two successfully fight it off. The game suddenly glitches as Lucks' player character arrives. Lucks attempts to sweet-talk Tari for a bit when his scientists begin experimenting on her arm, crippling Tari with pain. Suddenly, Tari exits the game and finds herself back in the real world…With Theo.

Picking up from the previous episode, Tari and Theo, now in the real world, are confronted by Lucks, who attempts to sweet-talk them into working for them. Tari refuses and, with a distraction from Theo, manage to escape the TASCorp building and head into Silicon City. Belle attempts to pursue, but Lucks holds her back to avoid arousing suspicion, instead securing what they have and telling her to leave the pursuit to him.

After running for a few minutes, Tari and Theo try to figure out a plan when Theo wanders off for a bit asking for hints to the "level". Tari pulls him into an alleyway and explains they're not in a game and in real danger without game powers. After a tense minute, the two duck into a nearby building called The Hive.

The Hive turns out to be a cybercafe where they find streamng pods, and they decide to get inside one to hide until things cool off. Tari then has a flashback of Dr. Sheridan all while Theo starts to stream, catching Belle's attention. Then Belle comes in to the building and attempts to capture them, but Theo and Tari manage to run to separate rooms.

In the room Tari’s in, she calls out for Theo until Belle finds Tari in the room and captures her. Meanwhile in the other room, Theo manages to fight off the TAS Corp. scientists and sees Tari get captured. Theo is depressed until a man comes up and promise to help Theo.

Tari and Belle find themselves in a tense situation as the transport hauls them back to TAS Corp.. Belle attempts to make the situation sound better than it is, causing Tari to snap that they should experiment on her instead. Belle snaps back that she's been through worse and insists that it's all for the better due to the prevalence of video games in society. As Tari begins questioning what will happen to Theo, their vehicle is suddenly rammed into.

Tari manages to escape and finds Theo in the one car. Lucks arrives in his own car just in time to see Tari get in Theo's car and escape. He commands Belle to take his car and the two take pursuit.

In the other car, Theo introduces to Tari to Lamar and his Nova-chan body pillow. Lamar gives Tari a jacket to block the tracking chip installed in Tari's cybernetic arm. Lucks has one of his henchmen attempt to shoot down Lamar's car and calls off the police to avoid suspicion.

The chase heats up as Lamar powerslides past a truck and Belle's attempt to duplicate it ends up taking out their own gunman. Lucks commands a barrier put up, causing Lamar to panic. Tari quickly analyzes the situation and, using the skills she learned from watching Lamar's driving, has Theo create a makeshift ramp to drive alongside the building and over the barricade, forcing Lucks to give up the chase. After a brief celebration, Lamar agrees to take the two somewhere safe.

Meanwhile, Lucks vows to make Tari his.

Lamar takes Tari and Theo to a hidden room in the back of a ramen restaurant, where they're greeted by an energetic girl and another Meta Runner, Masa.

A mini camera wheels its way through the TAS Corp. store and speed running arena, investigating the events of the first episode. In the present, Lamar explains that's how they found about Tari. Originally, the plan had been to gather intel on Lucks and TAS Corp, only to shift gears upon seeing Tari's abilities. The blonde girl introduces herself as Sofia and their group as MD-5 with their goal of taking down TAS Corp. for the lives ruined by them in the past. Tari is hesitant to join, but Theo points out they out them and Lamar promises them sanctuary. Tari is about to agree, but the other Meta Runner of the group, Masa, refuses until Tari can prove herself in a game.

In the main office, Masa challenges Tari to a game of Battle Blaze to see how she can handle a human opponent. Four rounds later, Tari is soundly beaten by the more experienced Masa. Sofia then inspects Tari's arm and finds a symbol in the interface, activating Tari's abilities and causing her to warp into the game.

At TAS Corp., Belle trudges through the research facility at Lucks' behest to investigate the crest on Tari's outfit while Lucks looks into the Ultra Jump Mania cartridge that was warped into. She soon finds herself in Dr. Sheridan's old lab and begins her work.

Back at the MD-5 HQ, Masa resumes the match. Tari does considerably better than before, but still finds herself outmatched. Finally seeing her potential, Masa gives Tari some friendly advice and suggests she try clearing her mind in order to focus. Tari begins to take command of her powers, but the match is interrupted by Theo, who warped into the game with Tari. Sofia then brings them both out. Masa agrees to take Tari into the group. Suddenly, Theo begins glitching out and the decision is made to get him back into his home game.

At the facility, Belle hits paydirt when she uncovers a memory card with information on "Project Blue"...

At the destroyed facility, Belle finds a video log of Dr. Sheridan, who discusses Project Blue, his TAS Corp. project to keep from getting fired. In the second Log, He details that it's an A.I. capable of beating any video game once implanted in a human host. A third log shows the increasingly crazed Sheridan finally finding a host in a TAS Corp. Meta Runner and preparing a more advanced version of the A.I. Belle opens the fourth log, but does not open, projecting "FILE CORRUPTED". The fifth and final log shows the accident that resulted in the death of Sheridan and his assistant, the voice of which drops Belle to her knees upon recognition.

The next morning at breakfast, MD-5 begins discussing their plan. Sofia explains that MD-5 has fought TAS Corp. for a year with no success until conceptualizing Operation: Silent Demon. The gist of the operation is to hack into TAS Corp. and get their private records and files, but is unfeasible due to their security. The modified plan is to get into an underground competition hosted on TAS Corp. servers, crash them with a glitch in the game Tempest and give Sofia time to hack in and get both the info and an order to ship Theo's cartridge back. Tari's part in the plan is to use her powers to execute the ultra-precise glitch that Lamar deems unfeasible without alerting Lucks. Tari agrees and the group agrees to prepare training her in less than a week.

At TAS Corp., Lucks continues to get the Ultra Jump Mania cartridge working when Belle arrives with the memory card. Reviewing the evidence, Lucks is surprised that the explosion was an accident instead of a cover-up while Belle is concerned that the voice was Lucinia, who was thought missing. As Lucks ponders this turn of events, he sees Sheridan activate a button combo on the controller just before dying. Inputting that same combo on the Ultra Jump Mania cartridge, Lucks and Belle see the Project Blue logo flash before them.

In the world of Tempest, Tari, Theo, Masa and Lamar begin training Tari in the mountain area where the competition is scheduled to take place. After a primer on the nature of finding spellbooks and using magic attacks, Tari gets a first-hand demonstration on the nature of the glitch she needs to perform, the "Deep Mountain Clip", requiring her to hit the floor at 55 km/h at an angle of 36 degrees.

After logging back in, Tari learns that pulling off the glitch requires jumping from the mountain top and using the wind spell to gain speed on the way down. Half a dozen attempts later, though, she finds herself no closer to success.

In a flashback, Belle is attempting to pull off the latest Ultra Jump Mania glitch when she's visited by Lucinia. Lucinia convinces Belle to take a breather before snapping back to the present, where Belle muses on what the connection between Project Blue, Tari and Lucinia's death are. Lucks' search proving fruitless, he suggests Belle find Tari for answers while he muses over some company documents.

At MD-5's HQ, Tari is close to snapping from the pressure. Theo and Masa give her a little encouragement, prompting Tari to give a final shot and finally pulling off the glitch. Reinvigorated, Masa points out now they need to train Tari and Theo on the game's combat.

It's the day of the Tempest tournament at Gamma Tech Stadium and Tari, Masa, Theo and Lamar arrive at their gaming booth. Tari is apprehensive, but Lamar and Masa remind her this is their best chance. The group logs in, but as Tari activates her powers, she briefly finds herself in a void seeing Lucinia.

In the game, the competition is full swing as Tari recovers from her blackout. The group begins to gather some spells, using Lamar's forcefield power and Masa's kunai to knock out some competitors and claim their gear. Suddenly, a top-tier team arrives, forcing the group on the defensive while Lamar uses a teleport scroll to get them to safety. Teleporting onto a cliff, MD-5 discusses their next move before being attacked by the team from earlier, knocking Tari off the cliff.

Tari recovers in a small ruined building when the enemy team attacks her. Before they can finish her off, the rest of the group arrives to back her up and go on the offensive.

Picking up from the last episode, MD-5 prepares to face off with the elite team, Masa taking point while the others flank the support members. The three get separated by a spell blast, leaving Tari to face one member while Theo and Lamar go against another two. The two use their Orochi Formation maneuver - combining Lamar's super speed and Theo's magic bolts - to take down one member before Theo heads off to help Tari.

Cornered, Tari is almost finished off before Theo takes the blow for her, ejecting him from the game. An enraged Tari harnesses her abilities and puts down her opponent before helping Lamar take down his own. The final enemy retreats and the team takes a moment to assure Tari she's pulling her weight before they resume attempting to pull off the glitch. Back in the real world, we see the enemy member was Belle, who recognizes Masa. Lucks calls and reminds her to take out Tari.

MD-5 manages to climb to the top of the mountain and prepare to do the glitch when Belle arrives, taking out Lamar. Masa attempts to reason, but Belle refusing, revealing he was once a TAS Corp. team captain who was decommissioned a year back for hacking Lucks' private servers out of the belief he killed Lucinia. Tari and Masa engage Belle and seem to gain the upper hand, only for Belle to trap Tari beneath a column and overload Masa's Meta Runner arm before taking him out.

Just as Lucks sees Belle pin down Tari easily and is about to give the order to kill her, she shuts off communications with him just so she could have an uninterrupted interrogation with her, much to the chagrin of Lucks.

Picking up from the last episode, Belle is interrogating Tari about her ability to warp into video games and crushing her arm every time she struggles. Tari then tries to explain that she has no idea how or why she has that ability but out of nowhere, Belle starts accusing Tari of being responsible for Lucinia's death, Tari tells her she has no memory of the events but Belle doesn't believe her and threatens Tari with a fireball near her face, demanding to know what Tari did to Lucinia. Tari gives up, seeing how Belle wouldn't believe her anyway. Belle begins to torture Tari with her fireball attack.

In the gaming pod, a horrified Lamar tells Masa it's going to far and that they need to pull her out, but Masa, not wanting to put the mission to waste, tells him it's not over yet. Theo gives Tari a small speech on how he believes in her. Meanwhile in the game, Tari agrees to tell Belle everything she knows, causing Belle to stop her attack, but it was a trick to get Tari free so she could execute the glitch. Belle tries to use her earth spell to block Tari's path but Tari jumps over the rock and jumps off the cliff. During the fall, Tari dodges Belle's attacks and finally crashes through the game's floor. While in the void, she comes across Lucinia. As she turns to face Tari, her arm is missing and her face is covered in scars, smiling at Tari.

Tari wakes up from her trance and sees that the glitch has worked as many of the gamers are being evacuated. Theo tells Tari that she has done the glitch successfully as Masa congratulates Tari for doing the glitch and is proud to call her his teammate. Lamar quickly compliments her before telling the gang they need to leave now. Meanwhile, Lucks, throwing down his earpiece in anger is furious at Belle for not stopping Tari and knocks a binder over. Referring to Plan B He commands a TAS Corp. scientist to re-route Theo's destroyed game cartridge. Lucks grabbing the game controller, pulls open a desk draw, revealing the gun from episode 7 commands a security team and states "I am done playing games"

As contestants are evacuating the area, Tari, Masa, Lamar, and Theo enter the room. They discover there are TAS Corp. scientists all around, and when one of them spots the group, they are forced to turn back. Lucks then appears with several minions, so the group is forced to run again, but this time, they end up in a room full of gaming pods. The scientists surrounding the area, with multiple on the decks above. Lucks enters the scene, asking if the situation seems somewhat familiar. Masa tells Lucks that the hack has already been completed, and Sofia is long gone. Lucks then says that they'll have to call her back. Two TAS Corp. scientists electrocute Lamar and Theo, with Theo glitching from the shock. Tari is hit as well. As Theo is sat on the floor he glitches twice more, as Tari tries to get her breath back. Lucks knows Sofia is still in the building and threatens Masa by putting his gun close to his head, saying that she has until the count of three. Masa and Lucks get into an altercation and Masa trying to restrain the gun from Lucks hand, but Lucks overpowers him, sending him to his knees, holding Masa by his Meta arm. Lucks warns Sofia that he isn't bluffing and counts down to two, as Masa tells Sofia not to come forth.

As he is speaking, Lucks shoots him close to his Meta Runner arm, and rips the lower half of it off. As Masa is screaming in pain, Lucks throws the arm to the floor. Tari screams out as Lamar shouts that Lucks is a Psychopath. Sofia does not come forth, Lucks walks away and sighs, quoting "Very well" and puts the gun to the back of Masa's head preparing to shoot him as the scene fades to black.

As the scene fades to black, Sofia speaks up. She approaches Lucks with her tablet and tears rolling down her face. She tells him not to hurt Masa anymore. Lucks tells Sofia he won't if he has no reason to. Sofia places the tablet on the table, with Lucks commanding a scientist to wipe everything on it, also saying to run a worm program to delete any backups. Lucks tells Sofia that this was such a waste of talent, adding that she should have joined TAS Corp. instead of joining Masa. She says, while sobbing, that she just wanted to know what happened to her sister. Tari had no knowledge of this, with Lamar telling her that Lucinia was her sister. Just then, Belle appears in the doorway, saying that Lucks did not do anything. Angered, Lucks tells her to stay out of it, including that she has pushed his patience over earlier's incident. Belle tells Lucks that Sofia has the right to know. Belle tells Sofia that Lucinia is dead and that she saw the footage of her death. Sofia asks to see it, but Belle doesn't want to. Sofia demands Belle to show her the footage. Saddened, Belle agrees and shows Sofia the footage. She watches the footage of the accident, with Lucinia screaming in the background and Dr. Sheridan trying to stop it. Sofia shocked by the footage starts to sob, falling to her knees finally knowing her sister is gone. Lucks asks if Masa is satisfied, saying that he got the answers he wanted. He says that he is not to blame for her death, but Dr. Sheridan was the cause of the accident.

Sofia doesn't understand why Lucinia would be with Dr. Sheridan, inquires why this happened, with Belle pointing at Tari and saying "ask her".

Theo says that Tari wouldn't hurt anyone. Belle says "it's just a coincidence" that she had the same crest logo as the one in the video. Masa intervenes and asks Tari what is happening. Lamar says that there has to be an explanation for this, adding that there could be multiple reasons for this, saying that this is TAS Corp., implying that they could be lying to them. He wants Sofia to back him up, but she cannot speak, as she is still in shock. Tari says that she has no knowledge of this, also saying that she is Sofia's friend and would never lie to her. Lucks says that they will have lots of time to talk in a holding cell, with the scientists making them stand. Tari stops Lucks, saying that he's a businessman. She makes a deal, but Belle interrupts her, saying that she is in no position to bargain. Lucks tells her to stand down, so Belle asks him what she could possibly offer that would make up for Lucinia's death. He then yells at Belle, reminding her that she has made enough mistakes tonight, then holding the gun at his side, asking if she really wants to make another. She stops talking, due to being scared of losing her arm too, Lucks allows Tari to resume. Tari wants him to let her friends go, saying that they will never trouble you again. He wants to know what he gets in return, with Tari saying he will get her. If they are let go, she will join TAS Corp. as one of his Meta Runners forever. Theo tells Tari not to, saying that if they stick together they can get through this. Lucks taps a screen, shocking Theo twice. Theo looks up at a big screen, where it shows Lucks and a scientist. He then looks down at his fingers, then at Lamar, who looks back at him. Tari, Masa, and Sofia figure out that Lucks has Theo's game cartridge. Lucks says that it took him a while to figure out how it worked.

Lamar says that he's messed up for turning Theo into a spy to find out their plan. Theo apologizes to the group, saying he did not know. He runs toward Lucks, but when he picks up the cartridge, Theo gets electrocuted again. Lucks says he is intrigued by her offer but does not exactly trust her group of friends. He asks if she knows what collateral means. when she shakes her head, he explains that Theo's cartridge is collateral and crushes it. Theo then fully glitches and Tari runs toward him. He says that he'll just respawn, then disappears. Tari, Lamar, Sofia, and even Belle looks shocked that Lucks did that. Tari cries out Theo's name as Lucks crushes the last few bits of the cartridge, revealing the computer chip. He gives it to the scientist who places it inside the computer base, and after typing a few things, it analyzes the chip. Theo then appears on-screen, his lifeless body floating in the void. Lucks informs Tari about his counteroffer, exchanging their freedom for her undivided loyalty to his company, but if he would get anything less or they do anything to make him regret his decision, then they'll lose Theo forever. Tari reluctantly agrees. Lucks tries to convince Tari that TAS Corp. is not that bad. He tells the scientists to sweep the information from the place, then let the MD-5 go back to their hideout. Lamar yells to Tari that they will never forget her, with Sofia chiming in, saying that it will be okay, and to trust them. Tari tells them that she'll be fine, with a few tears falling down her cheeks. Lucks and her walk forward and the doors close.

After the credits roll, a scene appears of Belle walking through the lab. She hears a device beeping from a trash can. She walks to it and grabs the device. It has a local backup from Sofia's tablet. Belle hears footsteps, where we see a teary-faced Sofia being walked by a scientist. Belle wants to give her the tablet, but she cannot find the words. Sofia tries to talk, but she starts to cry again because Belle did not tell her about Lucinia. Lucks appears and asks if she's done. She walks to the van, and Lucks requests a subject update. Multiple health statistics are stated by a robotic voice on a tablet, with the scene moving upwards toward a cryogenic freezer that appears to have a woman in it. The robotic voice gives the overall condition: Stable.