Rebirth: The Universe's Hidden Heiress-Chapter 48: The Reef Beach

After getting through a week of school lockdown, Yuka finally managed to raise her average score back to sixty. Despite scoring low again in the mecha practical class, Kenji, considering the goodwill from the cookie bear incident, didn’t get angry with her or expose her feigned fall.

As soon as the lockdown was lifted, Yuka and her two friends burst out of the school gates, hopped onto a Lev, and headed straight to Central Square, aiming for the underground arena.

In the underground arena, Roukujou sat in the broadcast booth, addressing the audience, "Folks, Pinky hasn’t shown up for almost two weeks now. Do you think she won’t come anymore?"

The live comments were somewhat lackluster:

[Pinky didn’t get into trouble, did she?]

[Don’t say that. Don’t jinx Pinky.]

[Maybe Pinky’s just been busy lately?]

[Could Pinky be a student at UUA? I heard they were locked down recently, maybe that’s why Pinky hasn’t shown up?]

[That makes sense.]

Meanwhile, Yuka and her friends entered the underground arena and made their way to the bald man’s counter. The bald man, happily counting his earnings for the day, jumped in fright as a face from several nightmares of his suddenly loomed close.

Yuka, raising an eyebrow, asked him, "Mr. Bald, how much did you earn today?"

The bald man quickly stashed his money away and shook his head warily, "Not much. Why are you guys here again?"

"We’re here for a fight, of course," Yuka replied. She pointed at Ayoi and Alex, then asked, "We three want to team up for a group match. Mr. Bald, how do we form a team and join the match together?"

The bald man explained, "You need to know each other’s ranking numbers first, then send a team request... Ah, it’s simple. Once you’re in there, just ask Min. By the way, have you seen it? The rankings on the leaderboard have changed again. That flashy pink mecha has dropped from ninety-second to ninety-eighth, almost falling out of the top hundred."

Ayoi and Alex, knowing that the pink mecha was Yuka, glanced nervously at the leaderboard, then said to Yuka, "Let’s hurry and get you back to your place."

Nodding, Yuka waved goodbye to the bald man and entered the room with her friends, stepping into the holographic pod.

[Welcome back to the underground arena, I am Min.]

As Yuka switched her weapon to a cold weapon, she asked, "How do I form a team with some friends I know?"

Min responded, [Please provide the ranking numbers of the teammates you wish to communicate. I will send the team request. If they agree, the team will be formed successfully.]

Yuka asked, "Where can I find the team requests that others have sent me?"

Min opened a blank interface and showed Yuka thousands of pending team requests. Yuka opened the top two most recent ones, displaying the rank and appearance of the sender’s mecha.

After confirming that they were Ayoi and Alex, she pressed the ’agree’ button. The trio’s team formation was successful.

Min asked, "[Do you want to set this team as a permanent team? Once set, team members cannot be replaced, and you cannot leave the team for the rest of the season.]"

Yuka queried, "How long is the season?"

Min answered, "[It lasts until the end of this year.]"

Yuka nodded, "Okay, let’s set it as permanent."

Min: [Permanent team setup successful. Would you like to name your team?]

Yuka responded, "Hold on, I need to ask my teammates. Can I contact them now?"

[A team chat is now available.]

A dialogue box popped up on the blank interface. Yuka was the first to send a message, "Ayoi, Alex, are you there?"

Her mecha’s frontal photo appeared in the chatbox, distinguished with a small golden symbol, denoting her as the team leader.

Ayoi and Alex quickly replied, "Yes."

Yuka asked, "We need to name our team. What do you guys think?"

Ayoi quickly suggested, "[Victory]!"

Alex, more serious, proposed, "[The Powerpuff Trio]."

Yuka offered, "[Don’t Attack! We Yield]. How about this?"

Ayoi: ...

Alex: ...

Yuka explained, "This might lower our opponents’ guard, allowing us to attack unexpectedly and win easily."

After a moment of silence, Ayoi and Alex agreed, "Yeah, whatever."

Yuka decided, "Okay, our team name will be [Yeah, Whatever]."

Ayoi: ?

Alex: ?

Yuka then asked, "Which map should we choose?"

Ayoi suggested, "I want the Reef Beach! We didn’t get to play much in Poseidonia last time before we were captured by space pirates. Today, we can make up for it on this map."

Yuka, somewhat amused by Ayoi’s obsession despite of that terrible experience, agreed, "Alright. Selecting the Reef Beach map mode."

Min: [Entering team match map mode.]

In the commentary booth, Roukujou, who was nearly bored stiff, suddenly perked up, stood up quickly, and announced to the fans, "Folks, Pinky is back!"

Roukujou stroked his chin, saying, "Pinky is still opting for team matches. Although we don’t know why Pinky chose this, we respect her choice. Let’s see which map Pinky has picked... It’s the beach map!"

"You should know that on the beach map, the hardest weapons to use are firepower-based ones, as they could extinguish at any moment," Roukujou explained to the audience. "Additionally, bullets face greater resistance in water, making it harder to hit targets and reducing their lethality."

"But this is no issue for our Pinky! Today, both of Pinky’s mechanical arms are equipped with cold weapons, suggesting Pinky has completely abandoned firepower attacks," Roukujou said with glee. "This is great! Pinky finally recognizes her weaknesses and is on the right track."

He was relieved not to have to forcibly commentate on someone’s poor shooting skills.

"Also, everyone, the rules of the map have all been updated to version 2.0. This map partly draws from ancient era beach scenes and offers many usable elements." Roukujou observed for a while and then added, "Let’s see where the defensive point of Pinky’s Red Team is."

On the field, Yuka checked the map, confirming that the coconut tree behind her was indeed the defense point. After a thorough search, she finally spotted the black Oniyon in a gap between the coconuts.

"Ayoi, Alex, where are you?"

Ayoi replied, "I’m on a fishing boat parked by the beach. It’s quite hidden."

Alex added, "I’m on the beach, looking for cover. It’s too exposed here."

"Okay, we have one and a half minutes before the match starts," said Yuka. "Alex, you take the lead."

Alex agreed, then instructed, "The opponent’s defense point is by the rocky beach, easy to defend and hard to get in. Yuka, be careful if you decide to go there. Ayoi, do you know how to operate a boat?"

Ayoi answered, "No."

Alex quickly turned around, "I’ll handle the boat. The match is about to start. Everyone, be careful."

Meanwhile, on the other side, Lory told his teammates, "I saw someone leaving the beach. There’s a boat over there. Link, dive and ambush them."

A blue mecha, matching the color of the sea, sank into the water and swam towards the boat, moving as agilely as a fish, silently approaching the boat’s side.

Outside the arena, Roukujou observed the other mechas, pondering, "Why do I feel like Pinky’s teammates look familiar?" He shifted his gaze to another screen, surprised to discover that both Pinky’s team and the opposing team were permanent teams.

"Friends, these two mechas are the same ones that collaborated with Pinky in the Mountain Marshes map!" Roukujou accessed the information details. "Let’s see what Pinky’s team name is... hmm..."

The live comments erupted:

[Genius in naming, classic Pinky.]

[Yeah, Whatever.]

[Pinky’s on the Red Team again, and the opposing team is ’the Trident’. Poseidon’s Trident? That’s bold. Does anyone know this team?]

[You don’t know ’the Trident’? They’re a hot favorite in the team matches. I bet an astracredit that these three are from Atlantis Academy!]

Roukujou nodded, "The Trident team is indeed from Atlantis Academy, likely this year’s freshmen. As I’ve mentioned before, the Atlantians are experts in aquatic combat, so this map is essentially their home ground, and Pinky’s away ground."

"They’ve played many matches on this map and have never lost," Roukujou expressed his concern. "The situation looks grim."

The comments cheered on:

[Betting on Pinky to win!]

[I’m in.]

[Pinky will surely win!]

On the field, with thirty seconds to the start of the match, Alex had already started the small fishing boats at the shore. The sound of the engines was masked by the waves. However, he and Ayoi didn’t board these boats; instead, they took a different sailboat, set the sail, adjusted the direction, and gradually approached the opponent’s defense point.

Yuka flicked her whip and noticed a deep blue mecha approaching from the other end of the left beach.

[The match begins.]

The deep blue mecha raised its mechanical arm and fired a shot at Yuka. She dashed a few steps into the coconut grove, watching the opponent’s long-range cannon explode on the beach, sending up a spray of wet sand and toppling several coconut trees.

The deep blue mecha wielded a long axe, swinging it towards Yuka. She whipped her weapon, causing the mecha to instinctively dodge. When it turned around, Yuka had vanished.

The pilot of the deep blue mecha paused, then quickly realized something and looked up.

It was already too late.

Yuka released the whip attached to the inclined coconut tree, her pink mecha spun in mid-air and went down. As she descended, her right mechanical leg struck fiercely on the cockpit of the deep blue mecha.

With a crash, the deep blue mecha toppled backward, falling into the sandy beach.

Yuka wasted no time, entwining her whip around the deep blue mecha’s mechanical arm to control its movement.

She transformed her left arm into a long sword in an instant, blocking the incoming axe strike and then firmly stomped down.

Following a crisp cracking sound, the deep blue mecha was eliminated from the match.

"Got one," Yuka’s sweet voice came through the headset, bringing smiles to Ayoi and Alex’s faces as they responded, "Roger that."

Watching the blue dot vanish from the map, Roukujou couldn’t help but applaud, exclaiming, "Great! Pinky’s attack is as crisp and decisive as ever! The sound of the waves is so loud that it masks Pinky’s movements and attacks. If it were a quieter environment, the opponent might have detected Pinky earlier and prepared a counter."

He somewhat gleefully added, "But who told them to choose a beach map? Pinky’s teammates are already nearing the opponent’s defense point... wait a minute!"

"Ambush underwater!"

On the field, Link, lurking beneath the surface, noticed the shadow of the boats. He quietly surfaced and fired a short cannon at the boat. After the loud boom, there was no response from there.

Frowning, Link swam forward, and as soon as he saw what was there, his eyes widened in shock. frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓

Behind the boat he attacked, there were four or five more!

Realizing he had fallen into a trap and exposed his position, Link quickly dived back underwater, trying to hide.

Ayoi’s gunfire followed him immediately.

Link awkwardly dodged bullets underwater, noticing new cracks in his protective shield. He thought in disbelief, ’how could this person hit me from such a distance, and even underwater!’

Desperately, Link called out to Lory, "Lory, mayday, mayday!"

Upon receiving Link’s distress signal, Lory quickly left the defense point and fired a cannon towards the sailboat at sea. Mechas, unlike heavy weapons, don’t come with built-in targeting systems, so hitting a distant target depends entirely on the pilot’s skill, and long-range attacks are less accurate than close-range ones.

Lory’s shot veered slightly off course, hitting the deck of a nearby fishing boat, and exploded instantly. The blast was so powerful that it stirred up the sea, violently shaking the sailboat carrying Ayoi and Alex, nearly throwing it over.

Alex, striving to keep the boat steady, immediately changed course and headed towards the shore.

Even amidst the boat’s unsteady rocking, Ayoi’s hands remained as steady as a stabilizer, continuously firing bullets until the opponent was out of range, then ceasing fire. Link, having exhausted most of his energy in the long and rapid underwater swim, struggled onto the beach, lying there as if having narrowly escaped death, panting, "Lory... it’s all on you now, I’ll head back to defend."

Lory responded, "Okay. Fire one more shot before you go."

"Roger," Link replied, raising his mechanical arm and firing a cannon shot at Ayoi and Alex’s boat just as it was about to reach the shore.

Ayoi and Alex made a split-second decision to jump off the boat, which then exploded into pieces, sending sea water and wet sand flying everywhere.

Ayoi crawled out of the shallow waters, only to find Alex’s mecha severely damaged and cleared from the match.

Roukujou, closely watching the screen, commented, "Dear audience, the situation is now evenly matched, with both the Red and Blue teams having lost one member each. Pinky, hearing the explosion, is quickly heading this way, but the opponent is closer and will reach the site first."

"Pinky’s teammate Brownie has both arms equipped with firepower, while the opponent, the blue mecha, wields a long sword," Roukujou noted. "Although Brownie has a high accuracy rate, she just underwent intense shooting. Can she hold up against blue mecha?"

Ayoi was indeed struggling to maintain her energy.

"Ayoi, fire first," Yuka instructed. "I’m almost there."

Ayoi immediately fired a short cannon at Lory, successfully hitting his shoulder. However, Lory’s stride only faltered slightly before he continued to rapidly advance towards Ayoi.

Ayoi hit her target and started to run frantically backward. As Lory was about to catch up with the brown mecha, his mechanical leg was suddenly yanked backward. He fell onto the sandy ground, but quickly rolled aside, dodging Yuka’s descending foot.

Lory swung his long sword at the whip, but Yuka flicked it back at the last second, retracting it just in time.

Ayoi, following Yuka’s instruction, ran back to the defense point without looking back.

Lory’s swing missed, and Yuka lost her control over him. He quickly stood up, facing Yuka directly, waiting for her attack while looking for an opening.

"Dear audience, I just realized something," Roukujou said to the camera. "This blue mecha is also among the top 100 players, known as [Poseidon II]... Why do all these Atlantis Academy nicknames sound so fierce?"

"It makes it tough for our Pinky," Roukujou frowned. "Looks like it’s time to give Pinky a distinctive nickname too."

The live comments burst with suggestions and reactions:

["How about ’The Pink Monster’?"]

["Lacks depth. Since the opponent is called Poseidon II, how about ’Zeus II’?"]

["Why imitate their naming style? Something unique would be better."]

["I think just ’Pinky’ is fine..."]

["How about ’King of Close Combat’?"]

["Don’t forget, Pinky’s also great at long-range attacks."]

After a few seconds of contemplation, Roukujou chimed in, "What about [Lady]? It would contrast sharply with Pinky’s wild close-combat style, which I find quite humorous."

[Saltyfish, what if Pinky is a boy?]

["Even better, the contrast would be greater."]

["True, true."]

["Then it’s settled!"]