Tunnel Vision

**Tunnel Vision**is the third episode of the second season of Rimba Racer.

## Summary

In Pike's room on the Ark, Pike reports to the Ringmasters, asserting that he has King and the whole situation "on a tight leash". The Ringmasters express doubts, given his loss to Tag in the last race, but Pike assures their employers that things will go differently next time. He and Vyxx briefly discuss their employers before Pike decides it's time to "assemble the troops". Meika, Sonny, and Meelo are enjoying a game of *Moose Effect* in Sonny's room, but Meelo is beaten and is soon suffering more teasing over his crush on Vyxx. Tag then enters and asks Meelo to work on the Ripper, without Miles' knowledge.

In King's office, Pike and his comrades meet with the remnants of King's team, and reprimand Axle for failing to keep Tag and his friends low in the rankings so they can be forced out of the tournament. Pike also discusses their objectives: recovering the black box, dealing with Meelo, finding out who Tamira is working with, and leaving Meika to get at Tag. Miles returns to find that Meelo has been working on the Ripper; Tag then explains that he no longer trusts Miles after hearing what he did to Riq's car before the Pinewood Reservoir race. Meika, Meelo, and Sonny are gathered in the Ark lounge, discussing Tag and Miles' rift and Meelo's crush on Vyxx, before Meelo is called away by a message.

Returning to his room, Meelo meets with Tamira and discusses his work on the black box, which they have been keeping secret from the others. Meelo has been unable to copy any information from the box, and his attempts to recover the information deleted by Meika have proved fruitless. Content with leaving his computers to decode the info, he turns his attention to the next race at Termite's Nest. Becks, Beaks, and Ms. Dira explain the track and its rules for the viewers, including engine inhibitors activated by two special gates. Once a gate has been passed, the racer in last place has only a limited time before their vehicle will be shut down.

As the race begins, Tag finds himself having trouble with the Ripper, and soon finds the others competitors passing him left and right. Both Meelo and Miles deny having anything to do with it, but Tag has no time to worry as the first elimination gate is activated and he finds himself in last place. With Tag eliminated, Vyxx sets her sights on Tamira, both of them activating their special features as they race through the tunnels. However, Meika takes a shot at Vyxx and knocks the Daisy Doll out of the race.

Xeno and Meelo crash on the track, with Xeno launching Krom's vehicle at the Azureus Dart only to be taken out by the second elimination checkpoint. Axle then makes the risky move of activating the Falcon Mach-1's special feature to blaze past Pike, who has held the lead for the entire race. The reigning RGP champion is thus able to take first, though the Falcon ends up on its side across the finish line. His victory, and the rookies' elimination, greatly please King, but Pike angrily confronts Axle over breaking from the plan, and warns him not to do so again.

Back in Tag's garage, Miles checks out the Ripper and finds that there was nothing wrong with it-except that Meelo's adjustments didn't take Tag's driving style into account. Miles was aware of this, but realized that the angry Tag wouldn't have listened to him. Frustrated, Tag begins to question whether they can still work together, but Miles quickly puts a halt to his reasoning. He informs Tag that he long ago promised Tag's father that he would protect Tag, and he has no intention of backing out now.