The End

**Episode Information**GalleryTranscript

The End

Release Information

**Release Date**
September 9th, 2022

Credits

**Written by**
Kevin LerdwichagulJeffrey Yang

**Directed by**
Luke Lerdwichagul

**Storyboard by**
Jarrad RumbleElle Nguyen

**The End** is the eighth and final episode of the third and final season of Meta Runner and the 28th episode overall, marking the conclusion of Meta Runner. It was first aired on September 9th, 2022 on the GLITCH channel.

Synopsis
Thank you all so much for watching 💙 Meta Runner is the show that started it all for us as an animation studio 5 years ago and it means so much to us that you've stayed around this long to watch our stuff. We're very VERY excited to announce that although this is the end to Tari's story, this is NOT the end of content surrounding Tari. We have just dropped a FIRST ISSUE META RUNNER COMIC BOOK that tells the cannon story about how Tari came into existence. You can get that here ► http://metarunner.store/
No pressure though, hope you have a great day! 💙

Characters
Main Characters* Tari
* Theo
* Belle Fontiere
* Sofia Porter
* Lamar Williams
* Masa Shimamoto
* Marco
* Satsuki-Chan
* Lucinia Porter
* James Sheridan
* Evelyn Claythorne
* Derek Lucks (A.I.)

Minor Characters* Elder Tomato
* TAS Corp. Workers
* Runners
* Rustworks Gang

Others
Locations* Sheridan's hideout
* Rustworks
* MD-5's Hideout
* Luck's Server (Now Tari's Server)

Games* Ultra Jump Mania
* Battle Blaze (Stolen Objects)
* Tempest
* Pocket Gakusei
* Turbo Crash (Stolen Objects)
* Hidden Heroes
* Skybreakers (Credits)

Plot
James Sheridan wakes up after the explosion from the previous episode furious at Masa for resisting him. He kicks his body in rage and then looks down to grab a knife. Sheridan attempts to kill Masa, when his computer alerts him, and that Tari has breached through the server firewall, to Sheridan’s surprise.
Tari enters from the portal, which makes the fighting meta runners back away in surprise of her sudden appearance. Tari remarks how she’s just here to fix Lucinia, as Tari detects her incoming, and avoids her ground pound. Tari apologizes to Lucinia in advance, that Tari will have to forcefully take Lucinia back to the lab to fix her, so Tari picks up a sword and starts fighting Lucinia. She manages to get a few hits in knocking her down, when the sword Tari was holding disappears, and Lucinia kicks Tari back. Tari gets up and readies her fists, when she suddenly freezes. Sheridan tells Tari; “You’re in so much trouble, young program! Do you know what you put me through by running off-” Sheridan then erases the bystanding Meta Runners not wanting them to nose in on his personal talk with Tari. Tari pleads to Sheridan to work with them to unwarp all the meta runners and get Lucinia and Tari back in their bodies, but Sheridan declines stating he’s not sharing his work with anyone after what happened to him in Tascorp. Sheridan tells Tari to behave when he harvests her AI, when Sofia interferes and unfreezes Tari from Sheridan’s control. Sheridan furiously demands Sofia to get out, but Sofia gives Tari and axe telling her to kick her sister’s ass. Tari lands more hits on Lucinia, as Sheridan gives Lucinia a pistol, to which Tari blocks the bullets. Lucinia gets her pistol upgraded into an assault rifle, to which Sofia upgrades Tari’s axe into a katana, deflecting all the bullets again. Lucinia runs out of bullets and pulls out a minigun, which Tari runs behind a crate to take cover. Tari asks Sofia for a shield, but Sofia instead flies a liquid-metal-ball into Tari making her metal (similar to a metal-cap power up). The minigun’s bullets don’t phase Tari in contact, as Tari walks toward Lucinia, and slaps Lucinia knocking her down. Sheridan interferes driving a Turbo Crash car into Tari through Ultra Jump Mania, Hidden Heroes, and finally Tempest, into a Stone wall from One Shot, where Sofia notices she doesn’t have full control of the server.
Tari tells Sofia to keep Sheridan away from Tari, as she can take care of Lucinia herself. Sheridan furiously tells the two “You think I can’t regain control of this place? This is MY server! My World! I build all of this!”, (launching the car over the wall at Tari) to which Sofia angrily replies “And you’re proud of that? You blew up my sister, shot Lucks, brainwashed my friends, and your hack is going to kill a whole bunch of innocent people!”. Sheridan reminds Sofia that he built Tari trying to get her to acknowledge that he did something great, but Tari does not see Sheridan as her father. Sofia tells Sheridan that Tari is good despite him, everything Tari does is because she wants to help people, and not to boost their psychotic ego. In response to that, Sheridan, hurt, decides he doesn’t have to bring back Lucinia after all, and having her destroy Tari would be a lot easier, which he orders to Lucinia. Lucinia punches Tari into Pocket Gakusei, where her metal powers wear off. Lucinia is about to kick Tari as Satsuki-Chan interferes and teams up with Tari to defeat Lucinia, knocking her back into the Testing Room of Sheridan’s server. Tari departs as Satsuki-Chan wishes her good luck, as Lucinia punches a crate at Tari, which she dodges (and Satsuki-Chan does not), and Tari grabs a Tempest spell of Super Speed Shoes, and uses them to throw several punches at Lucinia. After Lucinia flies into a wall, she starts to show signs of exhaust, to which Sheridan furiously claims he is the god of this world, before Tari could hit Lucinia with a Pineapple hammer, boosting Lucinia where her eyes glowed blue, hair glowed a bright pink, and white energy surrounded her body. Lucinia shoves the hammer aside, knocks Tari back, and begins to float. Tari summons a grenade launcher, which does not damage Lucinia. Tari then uses two Dark-Hand Spells to grab Lucinia which doesn’t work either. Lucinia then grabs Tari by the throat, slams her on the ground, throws her, and then slams her on the ground again. Tari uses a smoke grenade and successfully gets out of Lucinia’s sight. Tari asks Sofia if she could give her those powers, but Sofia admits that Sheridan is really good at what he does; all she can do is shut Sheridan out for a few seconds, which Tari states that should be all she needs. Tari also states Marco will show up at Sheridan’s any minute, and asks Sofia to follow her signal. Tari climbs up the Turbo Crash car and calls Lucinia, which both Sheridan and Lucinia notice. Sheridan then remarks how a part of him is sad to see Tari go, when Tari orders Sofia to lock Sheridan out, which reverts Lucinia’s power to normal, allowing Tari to pin her to the front of the car telling Sofia to summon a ramp and drive the car forward. The car does so and Lucinia lands in one of the surgery beds, where Tari successfully locks her limbs into the cuffs pinning her down. Sheridan laughs, admitting Sofia must be really desperate to overplay him, but also allowing him to prevent Sofia from performing any further hacks, managing to freeze Tari again, just before reaching the computer. Sheridan also states he would be pissed if he didn’t make Tari, so he gives himself a cheer. Sofia tries another hack, which the computer revokes, but then gets a notification from the Tracer Program. Sheridan laughs believing he won, when Sofia tells him she had one last move, which she played at the start, where Sheridan is alerted that about a Tracer Program, where one of Marco’s men spots him from a gated window, where Marco and his crew start to break in. Sheridan is forced to let go of Tari, so he can hide, and Tari reaches the computer. Sofia cheers that they beat Sheridan, and all they need to do is get the two of them out of the server before Marco destroys it, to which Tari agrees, in the form of a sorrow white lie.
Marco and one of his workers break in to the hideout, where he orders his worker to check the bodies, to which Masa begins to wake up. Marco breaks through the door Sheridan is in, who attempts to kill him, but fails due to Marco’s backpack arms deflecting the bullets. Marco easily overpowers Sheridan (also stating “at least Lucks knew how to put up a fight”) and recognizes him as the person who sold Masa (and other cheaters) bugs, and starts his revenge by placing one on Sheridan which shocks him. Sheridan furiously tells him to get off stating how no mindless idiot will destroy his work ever again, to which Marco replies that it won’t be him destroying his work, as he places five more bugs on Sheridan’s head, throws him to the side, and the six bugs begin to lethally electrocute Dr. Sheridan.
Sofia alerts Tari that the server readings are going haywire, as the Surgery room starts to dissolve into virtual space. Tari tries to set the computer to get both her and Lucinia back, but has no luck, and decides to give up doing that. She tells Sofia; “I’m really glad I got to meet you, and Lamar, and Masa, all of you. Thanks for being my friends.” Sofia replies; “Uh... same. H-hhey, why are you saying that right now?” with worried sorrow in her voice, as Tari disconnects from Sofia. Tari finishes her typing starting to cry, and approaches her side of the bed, when Lucks appears stating; “So you’re just giving up after all that.” Lucks starts typing on the computer explains that he wants to enjoy his freedom from Sheridan before the server collapses and stated how Sheridan ran him was so undignified. He then remarks how he’s disappointed how Tari planned to tear her own AI just to bring Lucinia back. Tari tells him that she doesn’t know what else to do; they can’t both come back; Lucinia deserves to have the life she had before she lost it, and Tari doesn’t have anything left now with Theo gone. Lucks then reminds Tari that she thought Theo was gone when his real-life counterpart crushed his cartridge in Shutdown, but in reality, his data was just in cyberspace in a server, the one Sheridan was using, which Tari has gone through many times including now. After Tari asks why he’s telling her all this, Lucks finishes typing on the computer and tells Tari; “As the real Lucks would say, You have a gift, and at Tascorp, we’re all about nurturing the gifted. It’s also a nice parting shot to the rat that killed me. Good Luck Tari.” As Lucks disappears into the void of space. Tari then gets up, goes on the computer, and starts harvesting data source from the server. She returns to the bed and calls to Lucinia. “I know you can hear me. I’m sorry I was involved in what Sheridan did to you. But I want to say thank you. Because I got to meet some amazing friends.” (Tari begins to cry) “Tell Sofia I’m sorry for hanging up on her, and tell Lamar I loved listening to him talk about anime, and to Masa, thank him for making me a part of the team. Tell them all I’ll miss them.” The cuffs lock onto Tari’s limbs as the surgery resumes.
Marco looks at Sheridan, who’s entire body has been burnt black, exits the room reporting that he’s finished the job. Evelyn gets up and furiously shouts at Marco for interfering with her life, as she angrily curses at them and Tari, when Lucinia slaps Evelyn for talking about Tari that way, stating Evelyn as a “Vile, Spoiled, Little Brat that is finally going to face some consequences for her actions”, as Lucinia straps Evelyn to a chair. As Evelyn continues to ramble, Belle approaches to slap her, but Lucinia grabs her shoulder shaking her head. Belle checks on Lucinia asking her if she really is back, to which she states she really is. Lucinia asks if Belle missed her, to which Belle responds, “more than anything” and then the two kiss. Masa gets up (with the screwdriver still stuck in his neck), and Belle states Masa’s not going to die anytime soon. Masa then states it may not be up to him when he dies, when he sees Marco, asking him if he’s come to settle the score. Marco then says that Masa beat him in Skybreakers, and he’s lost his entire arm now, so he’s calling it even. Marco mentions they all should escape before the cops show up, leaving Evelyn behind, who sobs in the background.
Back at Marco’s Hideout, Sofia tells Lamar to get some rest, where Lamar tells her that he’s fine. Masa, Belle, and Lucinia arrive, where Sofia and Lucinia finally reunite. Masa asks where Tari is, where they find her on a couch, with her hoodie over her body. Sofia tells Lucinia that Tari said a goodbye before she disconnected, and guesses Tari isn’t coming back. Lucinia tells the others that Tari talked to her in the server, and she will miss all of them. Lucinia then approaches Tari’s body stating that “Even though we never met, It always felt like she was a part of me. And now that she’s gone, it feels like a part of me is gone too. Thank you Tari”.
Breaking News Flashes showing meta runners unwarped from Sheridan, showing Sheridan to be the one responsible for “The Cyber-Hack of the Century”, Evelyn, who gets arrested as an accomplice to Sheridan’s plan, and show police charges on Masa lifted, after finding out that Luck’s death from Fatal Error was also caused by Sheridan. One of Marco’s men reports to Marco that the Local Meta Runners are recovering, and that they cleaned up Masa’s arm. He asks if he should sell it online, Marco first says yes, but then changes his mind, just in case someone (Masa) wants to have another rematch. Masa, Sofia, Lamar, Belle and Lucinia return to MD-5’s hideout, where Sofia shows Belle and Lucinia around the place. Lamar states it's good to be back, where Masa agrees, wishing everyone could’ve been here. He then places a picture of Tari and Theo on a shelf saying, “Tari, I may have been the one to start MD-5, but you were the one that kept us together. All of us here owe everything to you.” Lamar gives Masa Tari’s hoodie, which he places next to the picture, and Belle places Theo’s cartridge on top, stating how she had to go through a lot of things to grab it, crying, recalling she promised to get Theo out of Tascorp. Lamar, Sofia, and Lucinia thank Tari and Theo for what they did, and after a moment of silence, Sofia then proceeds to begin Belle’s and Lucinia’s initiation to MD-5. Lamar then goes to grab the hot-sauce and earmuffs. Masa looks at the picture a little longer before joining up with Sofia.
In the Ultra-Jump Mania cartridge, Theo travels through one of the jungle levels, where Tari calls him asking him how he thinks of the place, which Theo enjoys, with it being just like home. Tari then disperses an open plain of walkable water on blue sky to Theo, where Tari summons a couch, dubbing herself the “owner of her very own server” Tari tells Theo she managed to grab whatever she could in cyberspace before Sheridan’s server decayed, which included the pieces of Theo that Evelyn scattered. Theo stated that it felt like he was both nothing and everything at the same time when he disintegrated. Then Theo asks Tari if they can see the others again, to which Tari tells Theo it won’t be for a while. She reminds Theo how Lucks put him in that room to stop him from glitching, as this place is basically the same as that, for both him and Tari. She tells Theo that they are safe, as long as they stay in here, basically making this place their home. Tari then shows Theo the seven games the series presented, which they have access to. Theo and Tari then proceed to play some Turbo Crash.
In the credits, it shows Tari and Theo in Ultra Jump Mania, Lucinia, Belle, and Sofia playing a video game together, Lamar and Belle beating a meta runner duo in the stage from Hard Reset, Marco and his drone piloting a ship from Skybreakers, and Evelyn taking her prison photo crying.

Trivia* It really is the end. Thank you Glitch Productions for making this.
* This episode was released the same day as the video game Splatoon 3 was released for the Nintendo Switch. Considering since the main protagonist of Sunset Paradise, Meggy Spletzer originated from the franchise.
* When Marco and the others left Sheridan’s Hideout, Evelyn’s lights turned the color blue, which was a first for the series. This is likely her emotional indicator showing her to be sad, meaning that was the first time in the series where Evelyn was truly sad.
* When Lucinia started to glow, she obtained god-like powers, which is very similar to Super-Saiyan Goku or Super-Saiyan God from DragonBall. Furthermore, Super-Saiyaan God was the final boss in SMG4’s “The Anime Arc”, which was the third arc, similar to how this was the third season.
* Some of the final words the Lucks AI said to Tari were some of the first words the real Lucks said to Tari in Bad Split.
* While the Final Season has concluded, Glitch has confirmed there will be more meta runner content.
* Tari line "Thanks for the Adventure" at the end, could be a call back to Axol's death from the SMG4 series.
* In one of the pictures during the credits, Evelyn can be seen holding a prison sign with an inmate number of 072619, which is a reference to the release date of the first episode of Meta Runner, Wrong Warp on July 26, 2019, or 07/26/19.

Sources