Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender, k? Never have, never will. Except for my OC's. Those are mine.
A/N: So yea, ATLA fan fiction with OC. 2 OC's from the "real" world, nonetheless. And it's my first fanfic. Whew. Wonder how this is going to turn out. You'll have to see! Mainly this first chapter focuses on exposition, because it wouldn't make sense to drop them in the middle of a plot without explanation, now would it? As for reviews, mainly I want feedback on these OC's. Also in general, because, you know, first fanfic. Basically this chapter is about who they are and how they came to be in the ATLA universe. Now, enough talk, on with the story!
Chapter One: Quantum Physics for Dummies
(POV: CARSON)
His brother was going to kill him.
Well, not really, but he sure was pissed at him. Of course that was probably due to the fact that they were both falling through the air at terminal velocity, clinging to Alex's damn invention, the "quantum drill" something or other.
"You idiot!" Alex was screaming.
"What? Me?" Carson yelled back over the wind as they continued to fall.
"Yes! I told you not to touch anything. And what did you do?"
"It wasn't my fault! Something threw me into it!"
"Never mind! Assume a diving form! It'll minimize the impact!"
"What?!" Then he looked around, realized his brother was one step ahead of him, as usual. They were falling towards a black ocean at speeds no skydiver would dare fly at.
"Ohhh…. SHIT!" The words were ripped from his mouth as he slammed into the water and blacked out.
1 Hour Earlier...
"What is it this time, Alex? Want me to be your lab rat for the cure to cancer?", Carson said into the phone as he was doing what most fifteen year old boys would be doing on a Sunday morning, playing video games in his underwear.
"Nah, but I just wanted to show you something that will blow your mind forever! Meet me at the abandoned assembly plant, like usual." Alex said excitedly as he hung up, leaving his brother none the wiser.
Well, he thought to himself, it's not like Alex is just going to leave me disappointed when he says something like that. Carson pulled on some decent clothes, and left the house to walk the short distance to Alex's "evil lair", as he liked to think of it.
Alex, of course, was no ordinary fifteen year old, and boy did he know it. Carson was convinced he was the real-life Jimmy Neutron. Except for the oversized skull, Alex had an IQ and mental abilities that gave most college professors a run for their money. Technically he was still a high school sophomore, but he had already taken every math and science known to mankind. Not that he wasn't proficient in his other classes, but he wasn't the savant he is when successfully challenging major scientists in their own field with things Carson couldn't begin to understand; whenever Alex would begin spouting terms like "quantum gravity" and "the derived parallax of nine dimensional apeirogons", Carson would pretty much tune him out during his long conversations at dinner which their mother pretended to comprehend. Not that he was full of himself, no way, Alex still managed to be one of most understanding and nice people he had ever known. Maybe that was just because he was his brother.
"So what have you got for me this time?" Carson asked as he entered the complex.
It was obvious, of course, as he noted the massive amount of arcane equations completely covering several blackboards, as usual, with a select few being circled repeatedly. And there was a large, round, unknown contraption hidden under a tarp like he wanted to hide it from a spy satellite. Carson just hoped it wasn't a remake of the giant static ball Alex had made for their school's science fair in the seventh grade. He won with it, of course, and the science teachers were thoroughly impressed, but everyone ended up with raised hair, which annoyed the girls Carson was trying to hit on.
"That boy is a freak," they said as they walked away to talk to everyone else about how their oh so important hair had gotten messed up for the rest of the day. The flack being thrown at his brother had hurt Carson, and so it was also then that he had realized just how much of a genius loner Alex would become. He supposed he was his brother's only real friend, although he had tons of scientist friends, as he found out when he walked into Alex's room while he was in the middle of a Skype call / theoretical physics debate with Michio Kaku. He did not envy his brother, but was proud of him nonetheless. Although sometimes he did come up with silly innovations. Like the cheese ray. He didn't need another one of those.
"You may not fully appreciate what I have accomplished, but I believe I have created the universe's first quantum tunneling device."
He let that sink in for precisely one second before saying,
"You're right, I can't appreciate it because I don't know what the hell you're talking about!"
Carson burst into laughter while Alex's ears pinked.
"Of course you wouldn't. Imagine a Tardis, but without the "bigger on the inside" concept. It's a vehicle designed for travel through the fabric of reality, more or less."
Carson had seen his fair share of science fiction due to his brother, and caught on quickly. "Wait, you're serious?!"
Carson gestured to the spherical thing hidden under the tarp.
Alex walked over to the mound and yanked the cover off. Underneath was something so beautiful and complex it took Carson a second to register that this was a machine, a machine capable of feats any reasonable person would have thought impossible. It was a craft roughly eighteen feet in diameter, with gentle blades radiated from two poles along a central axis, running under a seat in front a large set of dials and gears. He didn't see the point to having the blades, but for all he knew it could be a way to battle quantum monsters or something. Behind the saddle sat a large quantity of glowing bits for which he was at a loss for. It looked like the time machine out of The Time Machine. He actually had just one question for Alex.
"Why does it look like this is something out of the nineteenth century?"
"The electromagnetic field generated by its flux would tear any electronics to shreds, therefore none are present. Besides, you don't need computers on the craft itself; it is just a pod, technically speaking. A ship that will be pushed though the fabric of reality."
"It sounds too good to be true."
"Really?" Alex gestured to the blackboard. "I basically just discovered and researched an entirely new field of science so far known only to few, and toiled forever on this revolutionary device. I'm sorry, but I think I'm entitled to some self-pride and joy."
"And you're gonna do it with me." Alex grinned.
"Wait, WHAT?" Carson was stupefied.
"You heard me. I'm ready to take the universe's first quantum vehicle for a test drive. I've quadruple-checked every possible detail. What could go wrong?"
A lot, actually. Carson thought.
But this was Alex. When he was sure of himself about something, he felt he could invest confidence in him. But this, this was something else. Something no human had ever tried before. And Alex wanted to do it with him.
"I guess you're right. So what do you want me to do then, now that I'm here?"
"Sit in the saddle, I suppose, while I power up the quantum foci. And don't touch anything." Carson sat in the seat, as three mirrors appeared that he hadn't seen before. They were spaced evenly apart in a circle, all facing the machine.
"These foci are just as important as the actual vehicle; without them, this would never work. Excuse me while I reroute the entire town's power here for 30 seconds." Alex smirked.
"Wait… how can you do that? Why do you need that?" Carson gaped.
"You think ripping holes in the fabric of reality is easy? Besides, stop acting so surprised. You should've learned by now to expect the unexpected from me."
It was true.
Alex typed for several seconds on his laptop he had set up nearby, and the discs began to glow with a bright light. Alex rushed onto the machine, sat in front of Carson, who was still in awe, and pulled one lever. The tripod legs supporting the quantum craft retracted, and he realized they were free floating.
Alex began murmuring to himself. "Activate quantum entanglement, confirm leg retraction, power up distribution field…"
The blades radiating from the axis didn't seem so useless, anymore. They spun and spun until they became a blur, indistinguishable. A light far outside the craft next to one of mirrors began flashing yellow.
"Here we go…" Alex said as the light turned green and the three lenses flashed.
Instantly, the world outside had vanished, leaving the craft suspended in an infinite void, now with a shining white sphere of light all around the whirring blades.
His brother began laughing in triumph. "YES! I knew it was possible. Haha!"
Carson sat up in awe, looking around. Suddenly something seemed wrong.
"Wait…" he said, but was stopped when the back axis exploded in a golden shower of light. Suddenly they found themselves free-falling above a black ocean, on a world not much different than their own, but with a reality that would be hard to accept.
Go on, review! I'll love you forever! I'll be posting at random intervals, based mostly around my own motivation, I suppose. (Hint to review)