“Same time tomorrow?” someone called.

Her buggy, nicknamed Coral Comet, was patched with stickers from every circuit she’d conquered: Voltaic Shores, Mangrove Maze, and the treacherous Sunken Pier. She’d built the Comet herself—welded the roll cage with her father’s old torch, swapped in a lightweight chassis, tuned the suspension until it sang. No shortcuts, no shady dealers with sketchy firmware—just elbow grease and skill.

They leapt forward in a riot of color and sound. The first turn came like a cliff face; Luna hugged the inside, the Comet’s tires clawing at the asphalt. Rook dove hard, nearly clipping her rear bumper. She countered with a drift so tight it wrote sparks across the pavement and spilled sand into the air like confetti.