Global Testfire

**Episode Information**GalleryTranscript

Global Testfire

Release Information

**Release Date**
August 26th, 2022

Credits

**Written by**
Kevin LerdwichagulJeffrey Yang

**Directed by**
Luke Lerdwichagul

**Storyboard by**
Jarrad RumbleElle Nguyen

**Global Testfire** is the sixth episode of the third and final season of Meta Runner and the 26th episode overall. It was first aired on August 26th, 2022 on the GLITCH channel.

Synopsis
Tari and Theo try to find the gateway while Sheridan finally executes his horrific master plan.

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

Minor* Ad Narrator
* Petey
* Runners trapped in Sheridan's Server

Other
Locations* Sheridan's Hideout
* Rustworks

Games* Skybreakers (Game)
* Ultra Jump Mania
* Battle Blaze
* Tempest
* Turbo Crash 9
* Pocket Gakusei
* Hidden Heroes

Plot
The Episode starts off with a Female Announcer broadcasting an overview video about Sheridan-Corp, but then Lucks buts in to say “It’s much better than Tas-Corp”. Fortunately, the Female Announcer shoves Lucks out of the way to shut his filthy mouth because nobody ever liked him and his legacy will go down in ruins. She proceeds to state that the launch of Sheridan-Corp is proud to announce the arrival of their product; Remote Warping Technology! The Remote Warping Technology overrides the neural feedback sensors in the Meta Runner arm to let Meta Runners enjoy the wonders of actually being inside a game (showing a meta runner getting electrocuted when warping). However, Sheridan-Corp needs your help, because beta-testers will be able to gather data from their performances to allow Sheridan-corp to bring this technology to the whole world! The Announcer also says not to worry, they’ve heard your feedback about massive explosions, so they’ve worked diligently to ensure that this new procedure is completely safe probably. Sheridan concludes the video titling it as “The Better Meta”.
The Meta runners walk around in confusion after what they’ve just saw as Lamar uncomfortably notices they’ve been given “The Lucinia Treatment” (That whole control-bug stuff from Death Warp). Dr. Sheridan asks if anyone has any questions, and after seeing the room flood with raising hands, he skips the questions and proceeds to drop weapons and items from all 7 video games presented in the series. Sheridan explains he needs to stress-test the program before he makes the warping go global, so he asks them all to kill each other (video-game style), offering achievements to those that participate, and threatening to injure those who don’t. And so Dr. Sheridan menacingly prompts the runners to start playing, which they do in pandemonium after a brief hesitation. Chaos ensues as runners grab items from and enter video games to fight each other. Lamar manages to grab a stone pillar spell from Tempest which he uses to protect himself. Sheridan watches over the chaotic crowd laughing back at how Lucks thought he knew how to hype up a crowd. Sheridan disconnects with satisfaction looking forward to showing the world what he has done, all thanks to Lucinia.
Back in Skybreakers, Petey introduces himself to Petey, who introduces himself to Petey, in which case the two start looping their introductions. Theo annoyingly asks the two to shut up while he tries to pull his body together, as Theo reveals that his body is glitching again. Tari hears Theo’s voice, unaware of his condition, to which Theo replies having seen no luck finding the gateway. Theo gets back in his mech and onto the Blue Jay. Theo questions if the gateway is even in this huge beta level, to which Tari replies that it has to be in here having tracked it down from Scrapbeard’s Fortress in the previous episode. She apologies for her insolence stating they cannot fail to find that gateway so Sofia can track down Sheridan’s location. Tari checks on Lamar through Marco. Sophia states they haven’t gotten any change on Lamar, as her main worry is his arm, to which Sheridan had overloaded it way past the safety thresholds. She states she believes this is how her sister died. Theo gets out of his mech and rests behind a gear where he glitches again. He states how this place reminds him of his broken cartridge and thanks Tari again for getting him out of there. Tari replied that it wasn’t all that bad and staying there seemed to stop that glitching problem (referring to Season 1) to which Theo agrees in the form of a white lie. Theo then asks Tari what she wants to do after they defeat Dr. Sheridan and save Lucinia, where Tari flashes back to Fatal Error knowing that the only way to bring back Lucinia is for Tari to sacrifice herself. Theo enters the Driver’s Cabin exclaiming he wants to have a big bowl of ramen just like in Game Plan, Tari says they could play video games without their lives at stake, and Theo could beat Lamar in Battle Blaze. Tari does hope they all can come out and do that stuff together. Tari notices a thunderstorm forming up ahead, and Theo (who glitches again) tries to finally tell Tari about his problem, where Tari stops him to focus on the newly formed storm.
Back in the… Meta Runner Killing Game, Lamar attempts to snap Masa out of Sheridan’s control, to which he has no luck, and gun fire knocks Lamar off his stone pillar. Lamar gets up realizing how tough Tari actually is to put up with all the pain she’s felt each time she got damaged in a video game. Evelyn arrives through a portal to pick up Masa and Belle where the two obediently enter through a plank to help Evelyn capture Tari. Lamar sees a Meta Runner (likely a variation of SMG4) and takes his Grenade Launcher, which he uses with his stone pillar spell to sneak upon Evelyn’s ship unnoticed (by Evelyn at least. It wouldn’t matter if Lucinia, Belle, or Masa saw him as none of them had the ability to speak). Lamar looks back at the riot stating that Sheridan needs to be stopped.
Dr. Sheridan feels ready to share Sheridan-Corp with the world. Back in Skybreakers, Tari tells Theo to handle the ship, believing the storm is coming towards them. Back in Marco’s Hideout, someone informs Marco that something’s going on downstairs where Sofia notices an emergency news alert incoming on her computer. Theo tells Tari that he’s going to get them out of there, to which Tari stops Theo finding the gateway in a newly formed Tornado. Virtual James Sheridan greets the world through his broadcast announcing the launch of Sheridan-Corp and their flagship product; Marco takes a look downstairs surprised to see meta runners Warp-Paralyzed (Not Just Glowing Eyes, but glowing Circuits through their necks like Tari in Wrong Warp and Shutdown) as Sheridan announces it to be the Remote Warping Technology. Theo asks Tari if they really have to enter the Tornado, which Tari states they do, and they enter. Sheridan asks how much will the RWT cost, which he answers as “Nothing!” (while Sophia notices Meta Runners all around the world have been dreadfully warped into Sheridan’s server) explaining that he just wants to help people. Marco uses one of his extra arms to touch a warped runner who cries for help, in which Marco orders him to be stabilized. Tari uses the cannon to deflect incoming rocks as they enter the eye of the storm, when she finally notices that Theo is glitching pretty bad. Sheridan then proceeds to say; “You see, you all thought that Lucks was the visionary, but, he wasn’t! I am! I, invented the Meta Runner Arm! Oh! Oh didn’t know that, did you? Well, all HE did was slap his STUPID LOGO ON IT! And take all… my… CREDIT! Well, I hope his demonstration makes everyone realize how much I am going to change the world.” while Sheridan’s computer starts showing signs of overheating. Marco tries using a drill on the same paralyzed meta runner, only to have the drill fly out of Marco’s hand, where he admits he’s going to need Sophia’s help for this. Tari tries to stop Theo for his safety, but Theo proceeds to enter the eye of the storm yelling “CRACKERJAAAACK!!!” while lightning flashes the screen white.
Tari wakes up to find Theo glitching on the ground, where she comes to him crying “please don’t leave”, and after holding Theo, the glitching stops. Tari tells Theo that they made it through the storm thanks to him, while Theo tells Tari that he’s been glitching for a while and has just been hiding it from them. Tari tells Theo that he needs to tell them about this stuff sooner so they can help to which Theo replies “What options do I have? Either live in my nightmare cartridge or cramped pocket server like Lucks put me in?” Theo didn’t want to worry anyone, and just wanted to have some fun and live a real life before he perishes. Tari tearfully tells Theo not to say that, she promised him all the way back then that she would keep him safe, to which Theo acknowledges. Sofia informs Tari and Theo that Sheridan has warped every meta runner in the world into his server. Tari realizes every meta runner is in as much danger as Lamar, but since they have found the gateway, Sofia now can trace the network into Sheridan’s server.
Tari states that they’re almost at the end now, as cannonballs fired at the Blue Jay take down the ship’s thrusters and respawn point. Evelyn appears from the Gateway Portal from below, in which an annoyed Tari tells Evelyn she has terrible timing as always. Evelyn explains that she had to take a detour to pick up her new crew, but may not even need them, showing Belle and Masa, to which Marco sets his eyes upon, and Sophia angrily hits her keyboard telling Evelyn that “this isn’t a game, her friends lives are at stake!” Evelyn proceeds to state how she normally tells Tari to give up, but, (Lucinia shoots Tari’s leg) “I’ve learned my lesson. Every time I do, you end up pulling a victory out of your lucky ass. So instead, I’m going to kill your crew, and drag you back, so the doctor can pull apart what little is left of your brain”. She rallies up the former trio of Tascorp, as an explosion knocks all four of them down. This gives Tari’s crew a chance to fire cannonballs at Eveyln’s ship taking down her thrusters. Lamar shows himself and heals Tari dubbing himself as Tari’s “Last second victory ass pull”. While Lamar could have arrived a minute earlier, he got to blow up the captain’s quarters and grab Tari a Captain’s hat from Evelyn’s storeroom. Eveyln provoked now that her Main Lineup, her Debut Showmatch, and her Ship weren’t enough for Tari, to which Tari, who has had enough of Evelyn prepares her team to take down Evelyn. Tari rallies MD-5 (Marco, Lamar, and Theo), Evelyn rallies Sher-Corp (Lucinia, Belle, and Masa) and the episode finishes to start the battle for the next episode.

Trivia* The chaos Sheridan puts the warped meta runners through in the beggining of the episode shares a lot of similarities to the Student Concil Killing Game from Danganronpa 3, where all the contestants are unwilling to kill eachother, are threatened to do so, and the first kill done by a contestant is done by impaling someone with a sword from behind.
* With the above being said, it is unknown if the Meta Runner's lives are actually in danger since they are in virtual avatars, but with Sheridan having an acheivement named "Chicken Dinner", it could indicate that people die in real life if they die in the video game. This would make Sheridan responsible for manslaughter, but it is also possible this is a reference to Mario's Battle Royale from SMG4.
* "Tinted Windows", "You Believed", "Input Their Output", "You Have Friends?!", "Head for that Tower", "Clever Girl", and "That's So Meta" are Acheivements inspired off of quotes from earlier episodes.
* "That's So Meta" is a fourth wall break and an easter egg for viewers as it is only visible for a split second on the video.
* James Sheridan states that he invented the Meta Runner Arm in this episode, while it is possible that he is exposing the truth, it is also possible that he is spreading a lie to discredit Lucks. This theory is backed up in Game Plan as Sheridan's video files talk about him not getting fired and trying to make Lucks proud.
* Theo glitching foreshadows him dying in the next episode.
* This episode features all the games from the previous seasons that were shown.
* When Lamar is appealing to Masa, a nearby Meta Runner voiced by Luke Lerdwichagul protests, stating thet he can't be defeated before being knocked out. His name, SMG- (he is cut off) Is a reference to Luke's other series SMG4, as well as the character voiced by him.==Sources==