Chapter 204: Chapter 203
(A/N: This chapter was made available by the man, the myth, the legend, Joshua Lehman. Also, seasons greetings to all! I know the holiday season can be rough, but let's stay strong and look forward together!)
...
..
.
With her brother's inordinately powerful underwater senses, it wasn't too long before Ginka got her first in-person glimpse of the entity known as Wamdus. It started with the near pitch-black sea around her becoming a luminous shade of blue. Then, spanning hundreds of meters wide, a truly colossal jellyfish bell rose from the depths, its interior resembling an ever-shifting glacial current.
'If this thing attacks us, we're beyond fucked...' thought Ginka, her large black pupils briefly contracting before expanding to encompass the whole of her iris. Fortunately, with the exception of Lu Woh and Fediel, the other Founding Dragons weren't known to be hostile. Wamdus, in particular, had yet to purposefully take a single life, even after being assailed with depth charges and a low-yield nuclear explosive.
As she and her brother made way for Wamdus to swim past them, Ginka quickly learned why it was called a Dragon when she saw that many of its tendrils resembled the heads of various sea serpents, some more than a kilometer long. Then, as they had been told to expect, Wamdus's massive tendrils parted to reveal a shimmering white, portal-like opening where its mouth should have been.
After exchanging looks with one another, Ginka and Genji swam toward and through the portal, subsequently finding themselves in a near-empty white space with a small, predominately white-stone villa located a few hundred meters away. More notably, while the white space around them seemed devoid of anything, the twins could still swim as, despite being able to breathe as if they were on the surface, they were within a form of water so clear and pure it was nigh-imperceptible.
'More guests have arrived. Please, make your way forward,' said a faint, distinctly feminine but child-like voice, echoing within the minds of Ginka and Genji like a pleasant bell. Before either could swim forward, however, they found themselves standing on a marbled cafe terrace, meters away from a petite, seemingly elementary-school-aged girl with pale white hair tipped with blue and purple hues. Her body was garbed in flowing robes that were white and gold-trimmed on the outside but shimmered with a sea-blue hue on the inside. She was a Dragon, but her eyes glistened like pearls, and large, fluffy ears protruded from the sides of her head, similar to a fennec fox but more feathery.
"Welcome to our Demesne, children of Takehada and Kureha. It pleases us to welcome you," said the petite figure, smiling gently with a dreamy look in her eyes. "As you know, we are Wamdus, Lord of the Azure Palace, Faerie of the Fathomless Abyss, and Aspect of the Primordial Sea. Please feel free to address us as your Obaa or Sobo-chan."
Though she ordinarily wasn't good with manners and honorifics, Ginka's instincts compelled her to scratch her head, bow slightly, and reply, "It's a...nice to meet you, Obaa-chan..." with a tense smile. Genji also lowered his head, but due to its natural tilt, it was like he was staring directly at Wamdus, a shiver running through his body when their eyes met, causing him to feel like he was a singular plankton before a blue whale: small and inconsequential.
Floating from her seat at a round, cafe-style table, Wamdus, moving through the air with her robes flowing gracefully in her wake, picked up the oversized parasol that had been slowly spinning next to her, resting it on her shoulder as she said, "Unfortunately, neither of you is qualified to receive our Blessing. We will not forbid you from taking our Trial, but it is important to know one's limits. Come with me..."
Moving gracefully through the air without any discernible effort, Wamdus swam into the interior of her upscaled villa, with Ginka and Genji following close behind. They expected the corridor she led them into to connect to the adjoining building's interior. Instead, as seconds turned to minutes, the passage became increasingly dark, as if they were descending deeper into the ocean.
Seemingly able to read their minds, Wamdus explained, "This is similar to the phenomenon of falling into a shimmering pool and finding yourself in a different world or displaced in time. Water is the wellspring of life and the medium by which the past, present, and future are connected. Those who can attune to it can experience the breadth of creation, but to gain access to such knowledge and wisdom, a price must be paid..."
Stepping aside, Wamdus revealed the interior of a cylindrical chamber occupied by a large, glowing blue crystal that shimmered like water and left a mesmerizing pattern along the walls, floor, and ceiling. The room's structure appeared to be formed entirely of tree roots covered in faintly glowing runes, but Ginka's and Genji's gazes were drawn to the pool of bright, azure-colored liquid at its center, filling a pool roughly ten meters across and fed by tiny droplets that fell from the crystal. More notably, a muscular, ostensibly naked man with long white hair lay half-submerged in the pool, his body limp and grey-blue eyes unfocused as if he were in a trance.
"This man arrived here before you," explained Wamdus. "He learned of our ability to heal any wound and wished to make it his own. Unfortunately, he vastly overestimated his abilities and suffered a sound defeat at our hand. We magnanimously permitted him to undertake our Trial, but the outcome is what you see before you. He could not reconcile his discarded past and the future he wished to create, so now he lives in what you might know as superposition...a state of living death."
Turning to meet Ginka's and Genji's wide-eyed gazes, Wamdus narrowed her glowing, rainbow-hued eyes and asserted, "One cannot hope to flee from the past that forged them, and endeavoring to make others suffer to soothe personal grievances isn't a path toward the future, but destruction. Our power is the contiguous line that spans all generations...only a person who aims to preserve that chain into perpetuity is suited to inherit it. That is why we take the form you observed outside. It symbolizes eternity, the interminable cycle of life, death, and, most importantly...rebirth..."
Following her words, Wamdus released her oversized parasol, allowing it to hover in place as she floated over to the pool and casually descended halfway into it. Then, gesturing toward the entranced, white-haired man, she pulled him into a cradling embrace, affectionately caressing his face as a mother would her child before carefully submerging him in a manner reminiscent of a baptism. When she brought him back up, what appeared in her arms wasn't a fully grown man but what appeared to be a newborn infant whose forehead glowed with a luminous rune resembling the lower-case symbol for Omega: ω.
Carrying the child to a stunned Ginka, Wamdus carefully entrusted it to her as she explained, "When one can no longer move forward, the only way to progress is to start from the very beginning. You might not have the capacity to inherit our power, but if you raise this one well, you may not require it. That is our final and most important lesson. What might be impossible to accomplish in one generation becomes easily achievable by future generations. Thus, if you truly wish to guarantee this world's future, preserve the sea and cherish all those who come after you..."
Demonstrating that Wamdus wasn't being hyperbolic when she said she was giving them her final lesson, Ginka and Genji spontaneously found themselves outside her massive, ostensibly immortal jellyfish body. The former panicked as she had a baby in her arms, but even though they were hundreds of meters below the surface, the infant seemed to be able to move and breathe perfectly fine as the rune on his forehead produced a low hum and protected it with a pale, azure-blue aura...
...
..
.
While Genji remained near Wamdus to help them locate her more easily, Ginka returned to the central stone platform to recount what she and her brother had experienced and to offload the infant that had been randomly entrusted to her. She didn't mind being a mother someday, but there was no way she was prepared to take care of some random kid who was likely the associate of a group of villains. Even more so when she learned what it was capable of...
------------------------
Name: [Yoshio Inoue]
Title: Larval Storm God(Vitality+1000%)
Quirk: Weather Control, Power Absorption(Vestige), Scanning(Vestige), Water Manipulation(Vestige), Adaptation(Vestige), Battleship(Vestige)
Bond Level: 50
Current Level: 137(1)
Effective Level: 12
[Attributes]
Strength: 1
Agility: 1
Vitality: 108
Intelligence: 3
Dexterity: 1
Luck: 8
Free Attributes: 685
[Perks]
[Wamdus's Grace], [Downpour Detection], [Regeneration]
------------------------
As [Power Absorption] was undoubtedly the base Quirk of All-for-One, the infant entrusted to Ginka was beyond dangerous, not just because of its potential but its identity. It clearly had something to do with the group of Villains Izuku had met when he first entered the breach, but they could largely be ignored. The bigger issue was that it had a clear affiliation with All-for-One, so the latter would undoubtedly come looking for it, either to recycle its Quirks or groom it as a possible successor.
"I think he's hungry," said Nejire, breaking Izuku's and Aizawa's thought processes and drawing everyone's attention to her as she had taken the initiative to hold the baby in Ginka's stead. The chubby infant's face was scrunched, and it was fidgeting uncomfortably. Then, as if in response to Nejire's words, it suddenly began to scream in the distinctive, insufferable wailings of a newborn.
"I'm sure the FOB has something for it, but how are we going to explain the sudden appearance of an infant...?" asked Izuku, smiling wryly and crossing his arms. "After what happened with the USS Samantha Grey, I doubt the US will just let us whisk it away without question."
"As heartless as this sounds, we could turn it over to them," proposed Aizawa, quickly adding, "More specifically, we could entrust it to Star and Stripe. With her status and background, she should more than have the means to protect the child, and it would go a long way toward repairing the relationship between the US and Japan moving forward."
"What do you think?" asked Izuku, shifting his gaze to Ginka. The latter was a little confused by his actions, pointing to herself, but as Wamdus had specifically entrusted the child to her, it wasn't a stretch to say the child's fate was Ginka's to decide.
"Why are you looking at me?" asked Ginka. "You don't expect me to look after some random, super-powerful brat, do you? If anyone were going to take care of it, it would be my mom. I'm way too young to be a mom, and when I eventually become one, I'd rather have my own."
"This could be a test of the Water Dragon," contended Aizawa. "Her last words to you were to protect the sea and future generations. I won't force you to accept it, but if we entrust this child to an unrelated party, there's a chance you, potentially even all of us, could fail her test."
"Are you being for real right now...?" asked Ginka, staring dumfounded at Aizawa. She hadn't considered it previously, but if taking care of the brat really were some kind of test, could she afford to fail it with the condition the world was in?
Shifting her gaze to Izuku, Ginka adopted an awkward smile, a bead of sweat forming on her left cheek as she said, "Fine. I'll agree to take care of it, but only if Midoriya-kun agrees to be the father. No way am I riding this potentially sinking ship alone."
Catching Ginka a little off guard, Izuku didn't hesitate to respond, "I don't mind, but weren't you going to entrust it to your mother? If she's willing, I imagine she'd be better suited to the task since you'll be focused on your Hero work and venturing into breaches."
Feeling annoyed at Izuku's willingness to foster a child with Ginka, Nejire, puffing her cheeks slightly, interjected, saying, "Hey, can't we talk about this later? We need to take this little one to the surface and get him some food and a proper diaper. Also, stop referring to him as an it. We know his name. It's Yoshio-kun."
Nodding in affirmation, Aizawa said, "Hado's right. For now, we'll return to the FOB and get our new charge something to eat while I step outside to contact the Principal. Once all the relevant parties are at the metaphorical table, we can decide the child's fate."
With no one having any counterarguments, Ginka sent a signal to recall her brother before everyone returned to the FOB for a short rest and to report what had transpired. They could have split their forces to send a second group to meet Wamdus, but since Aizawa was an integral part of the 'experiment' they had been sent to conduct, they needed him on-site before moving to phase two...
...
..
.
(A/N: I Guess Ginka isn't ready to be a mommy shark, doo-doo, doo-doo, doo-doo~)
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone