A wall. On lap 88, he saw it. A seamless section of the track’s outer barrier that shimmered, just slightly different from the rest. The ghosts swerved away from it. They knew.
The name above the machine read: JSTERLING | LAST SEEN: 2026-07-12 .
Lap 99. The final straightaway. The wall loomed. He closed his eyes and pressed the boost button.
It wasn’t a replay. It was another F-ZERO machine—the Red Gazelle—driving with jerky, desperate movements. It would phase through walls, reappear ahead, then vanish. Kael caught up to it on lap 34. The pilot’s visor was cracked. Inside, there was no face. Just a swirling, mute static.
By lap 10, the track began to change. A second set of tire marks appeared on the asphalt—not his. Faded, glowing a faint, sickly orange. They wove erratically, sometimes cutting corners, sometimes slamming headlong into walls.
