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Having passed the preliminaries, competitors boarded cable cars to be escorted to their first tournament match up. Sixty-four players, vying for the prize or perhaps the glory got on the ride, with only half the number proceeding to get on the airship "Hidden Bird" after the first round. Among the people who passed the preliminaries, Verace stepped onto one of the large cable cars, able to carry 8 pairs of contenders each. He pulled up his HUD once more, checking his message.

"Match 7, huh?"

A voice called out from the car's room marked with a 7 on the door.

"That'd be here! Frostcat's the name! Nice to meet ya!"

Verace stood at the door and looked in, setting eyes on his opponent for the first time. Eyes meeting briefly with the excited cat, the Sweeper being shorter than the foxish, standing only four feet tall, his cat eyes gleaming as he peers out from beneath the goggles perched on his forehead. Frostcat wearing a black jacket with blue flames up from along the bottom of the jacket towards the top, where the jacket's overly sized neck was accented by a feline, skull-like brooch. He wore black short and shoes, sitting comfortably in the cushy seat as his Sweeper leaned against the window. Verace stepped into the room, closing the door behind him.

"Verace Xenirvana, and the pleasure is all mine!"

Frostcat laughed at this reply.

"All yours? Most of the higher levels look down on me, being a 'noob' and all."
"Hah. We were all noobs once. Technically I think we all still are. There's always new loot to find, new skills to master and new areas to explore."
"Yeah! Especially with this new expansion!"
"Indeed.... Speaking of which. I have a question, for you"

Frostcat looked a little surprised by this prospect before replying.

"For me? Well, how a newbie like me can help you out?"
"When you were signing up or playing, were there any announcements of a new landmass? Messages in the tutorial area or any other kind of promotional material?"

Frostcat looked thoughtful, his white-tipped black tail flicking as he contempated the question

"No. I think I've seen nothing about Pylorus at all... Why do you ask?"

Verace smiled a little and stared intently out the window of the cable car.

"I was worried that I'd gotten wrapped up in looking at odds and quests that I'd missed it, but don't you think it's odd that they'd make such a large addition in this way? Without testing proper implementation? Or spreading publicity? Especially to garner new players!"
"You're right. That is weird!"
"I think there's something up."
"Well...like what?"
"Well..."

The conversation was cut off by the admin channel interrupting.

"Attention! We have arrived at the Submucosa Peaks. When you step out of the cable car you will be warped to a random location within your respective battle's combat instance. We will ask that you leave the car in order of your level, from lowest to highest in order for those at lower levels to have a chance at surprise or time to strategize. Thank you for your co-operation and fight hard! Only half of you will proceed to see the 'Hidden Bird' and what lies beyond this area!"

Frostcat rose to head toward the door, the foxish noding in acknowledgment as the feline stood and stepped to the door. The cat looked back to Verace briefly and smiled as he said:

"Good luck!"
"And to you too."

They shook hands with a smile before Frostcat headed to exit the cable car, being of lower level than Verace, having only started. Verace peered out of the window for a while as the lower levels dispatched, thinking about this new addition of Pylorus. The foxish soon exiting room 7, walking down the hall and stepping out of the cable car and into a green light as he was warped to his combat instance, Round One officially about to begin.

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Frostcat belongs to  frostcat
Edit! forgot to include that the brief cameo in panel one is  sapphireamoerlevad