On New Paths
An Avatar Fanfic
Disclaimer: The thoughts, actions, and views expressed in this publication do not reflect those of Nickelodeon or the creators of Avatar: The Last Airbender
Chapter One: Discovery
Ten years since the end of the war. Iroh had stepped in as Firelord while Zuko trained up for the stupefying boredom of the politics of the Fire Nation. He already regretted being born into nobility. Classes went on for eight months a year, seven days a week, ten hours a day. His four month vacation was well earned each year in his opinion.
Zuko wasn't the only person who appreciated time off. Suki had recently been put in a position on Kyoshi's council, which kept her busy during the legislative assembly time. She guessed that the only reason she had been put on the council was because of her tenure with the Avatar.
Sokka and Katara went back to the South Pole to find it utterly transformed. It seemed that the group that had left the North Pole had put work in to make the South look just as beautiful as the North.
Aang and Toph spent time traveling together. Aang because he figured that's what the Avatar had to do, and Toph because she didn't want to go back to her parents.
In spite of all this, they found a couple months each year to vacation together. This year they were exploring the mountains northwest of Omashu. Aang said it would be perfect for all of them. Since he spent so much time traveling around the world, nobody disagreed.
And so they set off on their yearly vacation, leaving the Fire Nation Palace (it made such a convenient meeting point) and heading towards the Earth Kingdom. Along the way, everyone was brought up to speed on what everyone had been up to.
Sokka and Suki were talking very animatedly. Aang was wondering when he would just move to Kyoshi and be with her. It was obvious enough for him to see it.
Zuko talked with Katara about the changing political climate in the world. Ever since the war was over, businesses had been attempting to move in and exploit the resources in the Fire Nation, figuring that a country that had just lost a war would be at the disadvantage in a trade relationship. Zuko said his uncle had proven the companies wrong by flat-out rejecting every single proposal.
"Uncle said that he would not stand idly by and allow the Earth Kingdom to trample over us while the world heals and rebuilds. Therefore, he's rejected all the trade proposals. He thinks that if the internal economy recovers well, which it has been so far, then soon he'll be on equal footing with the companies as far as trade rights go," Zuko said.
"Wouldn't it make more sense to take at least one of them though? Find the most favorable one with the most return so you can show the world you're ready to do business with them again?" Suki asked.
"Not when they're all equally unfavorable. None of them offered return rates higher than twenty percent, which is ridiculous since it'd be our natural resources."
"How can they offer profit returns on resources leaving your nation at a rate of twenty percent? You should be getting at least fifty percent," Aang said.
"Something they call a war penalty. It doesn't help that Uncle was the general who laid siege to Ba Sing Se. But hopefully our economy will bounce back enough to the point where we can deal as equals," Zuko said.
"But what if it doesn't without outside help? Billions of marks1 didn't exactly flush into your economy after the war ended. Nobody was exactly willing to help out the Fire Nation," Katara said.
"Something will happen. It always does on this planet," Zuko said.
"As opposed to the five hundred other planets in our interstellar empire that have nothing going on right now," Sokka said with a twinge of annoyance in his voice. This was all well and good for them, but Sokka hated politics, and hated economics. Sure, science was good, but that was only because he reasoned everything out, strange as that was to believe. A labor intensive job was much more suited to his tastes.
"My point was that it's never quiet. There's always something going on," Zuko said with a strained voice.
Aang thought it best to break up the argument before it came to blows. So he showed them a new Airbending trick he'd made up at the Southern Air Temple. It utilized the same principle of the Scooter Ball, except it was used to send things to other people. When Aang made up the trick, he realized that there were more effective and less messy ways to do what it accomplished.
But he was bored.
Having shown them his new trick, they were coming up on the area that Aang picked as their vacation spot. It was truly stunning to look at. The mountains rose up out of the ocean, as if they were taunting the vast expanse of blue before them with their magnificent height. Their snowcapped peaks merely accented the natural beauty of the massive craggy things. Mountains were something everyone could appreciate.
Except, apparently, Zuko.
"You just can't stand nature, can you Zuko? Here we are, looking at one of the natural wonders of the world, and you're just a bitter old person, except you aren't old," Sokka said.
"No, a natural wonder of the world is the fact that I or your sister has not killed you yet. Or anyone for that matter," Zuko said.
"Hey, we're on vacation. Let's pretend we like each other," Aang said.
As they landed, Toph jumped off and starting praising the earth and all its…earthiness.
"Guess much doesn't change in ten years, huh Toph?" Aang asked.
"Can it Twinkles. What's say you and me do some sparring? Stretch out our legs," Toph said, getting up and walking to a flat piece of ground.
"Sure. Couldn't hurt to stay sharp," Aang said.
Fifteen minutes later, Aang had a feeling he knew the meaning of sharp. Toph had long since abandoned conventional attacks, and was now trying to deliver the hurt with showers of pointy rocks. Aang didn't know how much longer he could hold out.
"Come on Twinkles. You make this too easy!"
"Oh yeah? Try this on for size!"
At the word this, Aang unleashed a massive earthquake, heading in Toph's direction. The idea behind this attack was to get her to move, or to make her vision fuzzy, or to do something big and manly. One of the three.
In fact, the end result was something no one expected.
A bunch of black goopy stuff. Raining everywhere. On everyone.
"What is this stuff?" Katara asked, looking blacker than coal.
"Who knows?" Suki said, trying to get enough stuff off of her to be able to see.
"It's kinda oily..." Sokka said.
"Maybe it's rock oil!" Aang said.
"No such thing you twerp. Rock's don't make oil," Zuko said.
"Well, maybe they do," Toph said, as she earthbended the hole closed. The black stuff was everywhere by now.
"What should we do with it?" Aang asked.
"Katara, why don't you waterbend it away?" Zuko asked.
"Right." But try as she might, Katara simply could not waterbend the substance away.
"What…what is it? If it's not water, and it's not polluted water, then what could it…?" Sokka stammered about.
"Maybe…Lemme me try Earthbending," Toph said.
"What? That's impossible! There's no way that came from the earth," Sokka said incredulously.
"It's worth a shot. It might give us a clue as to what it is," Katara said.
Toph just focused on trying to manipulate the substance. While she was able to get it up into the air, controlling it was a different story. While everyone looked on in awe as the foul substance lifted into the air, Toph concentrated on moving the liquid around. And then she realized what it was. Or rather, what it was made of.
"Guys…this stuff is like coal…kind of. It's been in the ground for so long that it became like earth…" Toph said, mesmerized at the fact that she was bending the substance.
"But what use is it? What can we do with it?" Suki asked.
"Why don't we bring it to the Mechanist? We can assemble some guys together from all the nations to have a look at it and see what can be done," Sokka said.
"Guess this means our vacation got cut short…" Aang said sadly.
"Don't worry Twinkle-Toes. We'll go on another one soon enough," Toph said.
"What if soon enough never comes?"
"Quit thinking all sad. Look on the bright side. We found some new stuff to check out," Sokka said.
"Oh, that reminds me. What should we call it?" Katara asked.
"How about…Oil…since it's oily…." Sokka said, his voice trailing off into his own stupidity.
"How about…petroleum," Zuko said.
"What's it mean?" Suki asked.
"It means rock oil. It's from an ancient language they've been teaching me back at the Palace," Zuko said.
"Petroleum…has a ring to it….it's nice," Toph said.
"Why do you guys listen to Hotpants and not to me?" Sokka asked.
"Because you're a blithering idiot," Zuko said.
Sokka fumed, but didn't speak again.
One month later…
"Mr. and Mrs. Bei Fong, we present to you, kerosene. This chemical is a derivative of a plant based energy source known as petroleum. This marvel of a chemical can keep your house lit for ages without having to worry about replacing anything. Just stick a wick in and go. What's more, we've also found some other chemical derivatives. We haven't found a good use for them yet, but we believe with funding and proper research, plus market hype to get people excited, we can build up industry on this planet the likes of which we've never dreamed of.
The amount of money we are requesting is quite a lot. But not so much as to bankrupt you. We simply need startup funds to set up a large scale refinery, and money to hire surveyors to find more deposits. The pool that Aang discovered dried up after multiple taps were made into it, and with a bit of environmental mismanagement.
What we are proposing will change the world. Imagine lamps lit day and night without having to light them constantly. Imagine cities heated throughout the cold winter months. Imagine…anything," the Mechanist said. He'd practiced his speech a thousand times on the way to Gaoling. He'd never imagined the response he got.
"You have our full backing. As of right now, the Bei Fong Oil Company is founded. We will begin hiring surveyors to find more wells of this new substance of yours. The only thing I require of you,
Mechanist, is to keep this under wraps. I want full market control of this new commodity," Lao Bei Fong said.
"Yes sir. I completely understand," the Mechanist said. He bowed, and exited the room.
Lao motioned for an assistant to come over.
"We'll need laborers, pipefitters, plumbers, welders, construction workers, iron workers…we'll need everyone," Lao said.
"Yes sir," the aide said.
"Keep it as quiet as possible. We'll deceive all the other companies for as long as we can. Until we can guarantee full control of this resource, we'll pretend it's just another massive construction project…what would require a lot of workers of all different walks of life?" Lao asked.
"Theme park?"
"That…might actually work. Let's get a team of surveyors together before we do anything however," Lao said.
"Where do you suggest they start looking, sir?"
"Something tells me stuff like this would tend to accumulate in large deposits. Consider what the Avatar found an exploratory well. Have them search in the area around there."
"Yes sir," and with that the aide left.
Lao had a feeling that this was going to be big. It could even be bigger than the war.
Five months later…
Lao opened up the Gaoling Star, the local rag, to find just the headline he was looking for.
"ONE TRILLION BARREL DEPOSIT OF NEW SUBSTANCE CALLED PETROLEUM DISCOVERED"
"And so a new era begins…" Lao said.