Playing With Fire

**Playing With Fire** is the third episode of season one of *Rimba Racer*.

## Summary

Fresh off his victory at Desert Rose, Tag has an interview with Becks and Beaks, and is surprised to learn that he's received his first endorsement. To his horror, he is then shown an embarrassing ad for Jump Jump Power Drink depicting a cartoonish version of himself. He airs his displeasure to Miles, who tries to assure him that it went unnoticed, only to enter the Ark lounge to find it on the big screens. While the other racers laugh at him or so other signs of scorn, Sonny and Meika inform him that he signed away his likeness rights to the RGP.

Tag attempts to approach King or Ms. Torres about pulling the ad, only for Tamira to tell him he doesn't belong in the tournament. A further attempt then leads to him knocking into Krom and causing him to spill a drink on himself, prompting the crocodile to vow revenge. Tag then heads back to his garage to talk to Miles, only to be struck from behind and knocked out. He ends up in the Ark hospital, with Sonny and Meika arriving to take over from Miles watching over him, while the owl goes off to find answers.

The other veteran racers angrily confront King, who reports that they have no knowledge of who attacked Tag; when Miles butts in, King dismisses the racers. Miles plants a bug on King's computer, while King tries to assuage Miles' fears, though he does note that Miles has had bad luck with his drivers before. Hacking into security footage, Miles soon spots Meelo near the garage, and soon confronts him in the hallway. Fortunately, Tag wakes up and, learning of Miles' absence, realizes what Miles is up to and arrives with Sonny and Meika just in time to stop the confrontation.

Tag and Miles head back to their garage, where Tag urges Miles to take things easily when Tamira arrives to check up on him-and then inform him of her intent to crush him the next race. The following day, Tag has apparently become convinced that Krom is responsible for the attack on him, and is determined to pay him back. The racers then head to the Highland Air Race Track, which has been adapted into "the Unreal", a race in which the competitors will have to deal with perils both real and holographic. After traveling from open track into a series of caverns, Tag decides to go after Krom over Miles' objections, and manages to knock him out of the race.

However, an anomalous reading on the Ripper prompts Miles to think back to when he found Tag knocked out, and he realizes that the attacker was actually sabotaging the Ripper. He manages to talk Tag through some repairs, but it's only an assist from Sonny and his Boomboxer that saves Tag from being smashed by Wrecks. The third stage of the race moves into a track over a lake of lava, which proves problematic as Wrecks' attack has punctured Tag's fuel tank. However, Tag is able to build up enough speed to outrace the burning fuel and cross the finish line in seventh place.

Afterwards, Tag and Miles work to repair the Ripper and are visited by King, who claims that a janitor with with a gambling problem was responsible for the attack on Tag. Tag suggests that Miles should apologize to Meelo, while Miles retorts that he should do the same to Krom. Tamira, in her garage, calls an unknown party on cell phone, revealing that she was trying to get Tag out of the race but failed. King, hanging up his own phone, is shown watching footage of Tag's driving and that of another racer, whose name is listed as Riq.

## Gallery

### Video clips

RIMBA Racer - Lap 3 (Part 1) - Playing With Fire - AnimationRIMBA Racer - Lap 3 (Part 2) - Playing With Fire - AnimationRIMBA Racer - Lap 3 (Part 3) - Playing With Fire - Animation
## Trivia

* In the lounge, Sonny watches footage of Tag at Desert Rose and Riq at an unspecified earlier race, indicating that he has already started to suspect a connection between the two. He later intimates as much to Miles, while concealing his suspicions from Tag.
* Meelo reveals that his first product endorsement was for Exploda, a laxative, which was advertised with an American southwest theme that caused them to depict Meelo in a sombrero and pancho with a mustache.
* The tool used to knock out Tag turns out to be a kurgan wrench, which is used for working on coolant lines.
* Tamira is shown talking on the phone just prior to a scene in which King ends a phone call. This may indicate that King had asked Tamira to try and get Tag out of the race, or it may have been foreshadowing for events later in the season.