Cycling with him through the Outlands, Tron warns Beck that he's in for a Training from Hell. He leads him on a chase through a canyon, teaching him to do tricks without relying on the light cycle's weaponized wall of Hard Light as most programs do. Then he accelerates his engine and jumps over a chasm using a ramp to gain momentum. Beck follows, but due to a moment's hesitation almost falls into the chasm. The fact he cannot keep up with the real Tron discourages him from waging a revolution altogether and Beck leaves to his mentor's disappointment.
Before entering the city, Beck runs into a checkpoint. He manages to avoid the guards dispatched to hunt him down and hides into a crate, only to discover it's full with other programs and they're being taken to the city's coliseum to participate in the Gladiator Games. While there, he befriends Cutler, a veteran from the ISO wars. Cutler later tells him that he's been drawn to the city by the Renegade's actions and is certain that the Renegade is Tron.
Meanwhile at Able's garage, Zed and Mara are pulling a long shift due to Beck's absence. Able appears and gives them his Encom 786 light cycle for repairs, which Zed resents for being ancient but Mara praises for being the fastest one ever made.
At this moment, Beck, Cutler and three other programs are being released on the coliseum as gladiators against five highly trained guards. Three of the programs get derezzed, including Rilo, a young and naïve boy whose death shocks Beck. He and Cutler team up during the games, winning against a superior squad of Black Guards. Tesler, who is watching the games, pauses the round and captures the two. Later they try to escape, only to be caught by Paige who throws them back into the games, chained together.
Meanwhile, Zed and Mara are attending a party at the 001001 club. Zed is frustrated that Mara only sees him as a friend and leaves her immediately when a girl named Perl displays an interest in him. Perl turns out to be a scam, using Zed's affection to infiltrate Able's office and steal his Encom 786.
Beck and Cutler's fight against the lightcycle riders goes smoothly, with both of them using some impressive tricks and acrobatics to disable or derez their adversaries. Enraged by their victory and the crowd's approval, Tesler takes Pavel's offer to have them battle against one another to the death.
Tropes:
- All Girls Want Bad Boys: Zed gets this impression from Mara's jab about the aforementioned light cycle:Mara: I don't want reliable. I want... dangerous.
- …But He Sounds Handsome: Beck expresses doubt in "The Renegade"'s intentions in order to see if Cutler really believes in him.
- Chained Heat: Exploited cleverly by both Beck and Cutler. They are chained together and set against three gladiators on light cycles. They first use the chain to get one rider off his vehicle, then goad the second into slicing it with his light wall, and then Cutler uses his part of the chain to lasso himself on that rider's cycle and cause it to crash while Beck ties the Recoder to his hand and deletes the light cycle of the third rider a la Spiked Wheels.
- Forced Prize Fight: Beck and Cutler's final challenge.
- Gravity Screw: The first gladiator battle is fought on tilted, slowly rotating platforms with artificial gravity, allowing for some confusing jumps in-between.
- Intimidation Demonstration: The Black Guards do a series of complex acrobatics before the fight begins, for this purpose.
- Older Is Better: Able's ancient Encom 786 light cycle is the fastest model on the Grid, designed by Flynn himself.
- The Schlub Pub Seduction Deduction: Perl pretends she's hitting on Zed only to gain something to steal.
- Snarky Non-Program Sidekick: Bit to Zed after Perl uses the latter to steal the Encom 786.Zed: Oh, I'm an idiot.*Beat*Bit: Yes.
- The Thunderdome: The Argon Colliseum, which is still apparently being built but already home to Gladiator Games.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: Rilo gets derezzed shortly after being introduced, for shock value.
