Avatar: Chaos Water

"You are here as recruits. Your wealth, titles, or social standing are not important when you are a recruit. Only one thing matters: your exploits in battle and the honor you can receive for them. 

But it is not easy, you have to learn to work together, follow orders, and kill" In a rather militarized training camp, a middle-aged man dressed in red and black, symbolizing his army affiliation, showed what he held in both hands.

It was a long object made of metal and parts of wood, its overall black finish with white details just making it look like a nice 'stick', but Zuko's eyes wandered a bit to look at Shisui who was standing next to him. 

The two of them were standing in rows with other young men their age. None of them were wearing soldier's clothing, just a white flannel and black pants. They were all standing and looking at the strange object in the man's hands. 

"It is called a 'musket', a creation of a sage that allows anyone, even non-benders, to use the power of fire to destroy enemies. Less complicated than the bow and arrow, but just as dangerous, if not more so.

Your training will not only include how to join the military but also how to effectively use this new weapon in a war. You will learn about muskets, you will love the musket, and you will be the musket. Do I make myself clear, recruits?" the man asked, staring at the crowd of young men before him. 

"Yes, sir!" some shouted weakly, making the instructor sulk. 

"Shout, you bastards! Do I make myself clear, you bunch of turtle ducks!" the man's severity seemed to shake the recruits, who fared better this time. 

"WE DO UNDERSTAND, SIR!" they all shouted even louder, but the instructor still sulked. 

"If you went to school, you know how to march. But if there's a forgetful fool or someone who bribed the teachers to come here and doesn't know, I'll explain it to you nicely. Start with your left foot, okay? 

Lift your legs to a good height, keep your arms swinging, and don't stop walking until I tell you to, even if you have to take steps in the same position, don't stop. 

I don't care if you faint, I don't care if you are hungry or thirsty, you will follow my command, that's what I want you to do at this point. 

Don't you want to do it? Fight, achieve, rise! The Fire Nation will not stop you from reaching great heights, but it will depend on your effort to get there. 

And please, sing a nice song while you march, okay? Sometimes it's boring to be here with so many useless brats," the recruits began to march at his command, and out of nowhere, one person began to sing a song.

"Who lives in a pineapple in the spirit world..."

As they marched around the compound, Zuko looked back at Shisui and took the opportunity to whisper to him, now that they were out of the instructor's sight. 

"Why didn't Petra come?" asked Zuko.

"She wants to spend a few days with her parents before she joins, although she is going to the Army's development area, who knew she was so mechanically talented?" replied Shisui, who had not expected that Petra would receive a direct invitation from the Army researchers.

Shisui also received such an invitation from many places, including the Navy, but he decided to start at the bottom of the military because it served his purposes better. 

It wasn't as if he couldn't go anywhere else, being practically a member of the royal family gave you certain privileges whether you wanted them or not. What he hadn't quite expected was that Zuko would follow him, in Shisui's mind, Zuko in the canon looked more like a sailor than a soldier, but it was an interesting development. 

Destination? Canon? Who cared? He didn't, so he had a pretty good time when the instructor's orders changed from marching to jogging. His physical condition had recovered nicely after his fight, and he even felt like he had gotten a little stronger. 

By the end of the day, only he and Zuko were still standing, albeit with severe shortness of breath, while the others were lying down or on the ground with exhaustion. 

"Well done, little sprouts, but they are still hothouse flowers in my eyes and will not leave my hand until they are flowers with poisonous thorns. Fortunately, it's dinner time, so let's eat.

The curfew is at 9 p.m. If you're out of your resting place by then, well, we need volunteers to clean the latrines, you know?" the instructor frightened the poor recruits with these nasty words, and more than one lost the desire to eat. 

But they ate, they had to because they knew they would have to live like this for a while. Many of them were in good physical condition, but today's training had pushed them to the limit and they needed to replenish their strength. 

So they spent six months training in a standardized, unified way, not to build muscle, but to synergize with each other as part of a whole. 

They were taught how to understand orders, how to use certain methods of transportation, how to use the new weapon called the "musket," and how to form a wall of metal shields or spears. 

They were even taught the basic techniques of using chi, many of which had been jealously guarded by some or created by others in recent years. 

How to hit harder, how to skillfully run up walls, how to lessen the impact of falling. In addition, Firebenders were taught the techniques of the army, how to attack in groups, how to use the flames on the battlefield, and how to combine their fire with that of a partner. 

Though there was some surprise to learn that Shisui was a Waterbender, there were already several Waterbenders in the army, even Earthbenders, so it was not unusual. 

Sure, the higher-ups in the military camp knew who Shisui and Zuko were, but that did not translate into any privileges, and they were even much stricter with them than with the rest. 

It was in this atmosphere that both the prince and the sage melted into the great machine that was the Fire Nation army. They were still recruits, but they were the recruits of the Fire Nation, not of any other people or nation. 

"Now, if you have a little more character in you, you know you are my worst group, but I am not lying to you when I say that I hope you can return home after fighting for our country and our way of life. 

The war in Ba Sing Se is still going on, I'm sure you've heard rumors, but I'll tell you straight. Even if we can't get through those giant walls, the fighting is fierce. 

Follow the orders of your superiors, fight with all your might, and bring honor to your families. Now, grab a helmet and leave before I decide you need another six months of training," the instructor pointed to a pile of Fire Nation helmets, then turned away, not wanting to see what was about to happen. 

He hated having to send young men off to war; only the spirits knew how many of them would return safely. Even if they would not fight directly on the front lines for some time, the idea was still bitter to him.

At least it was a lot better than before when the Fire Nation's over-the-top expansionism sent young men to die for it. Fortunately, these recruits would go several years without seeing more than a small skirmish before they entered a real battle. 

Except for these two, of course. The instructor turned to look at Zuko and Shisui, who didn't move with the others, just stood there and waited, even if they got strange looks from the rest of their classmates. 

After a few minutes, though, they understood the situation as a metal vehicle spewing black smoke approached them. The emblem of the Fire Nation was carved into the side, and it was a much more advanced model of the machine they learned to use in training. 

"Direct orders to recruits Zuko and Shisui, report," a young man in an army uniform stepped out of the vehicle with a pair of parchment scrolls in his hand.

A young woman stepped out after the man and smiled at Shisui and Zuko, who easily recognized her. It was Petra, but why she was here, they would find out later. 

Soon, the orders were placed in the hands of the two young men, while Petra handed them two different helmets. Shisui's was completely black, with only a few golden details.

Zuko's was a mixture of black, red, and gold, but the shape of the helmet as well as the color distribution was quite special. Petra pointed with her thumb to the car behind them. 

"You will be going directly to the Ba Sing Se battlefront, fortunately, General Iroh sent me certain items that you both will like and a gift from me, I just hope you will give me your feedback when you use them," Petra's words silenced the noise in the surroundings. 

The classmates of the two young men looked at her with some astonishment. They knew that Shisui and Zuko were quite special, but no one associated them with important people. 

Do you know how many people were named Shisui and Zuko? There were three Shisui and four Zuko among the recruits!

"Oh... looks like the black one is going to haunt me for the rest of my life," Shisui said before putting on his helmet, even though it was a bit strange, he was already used to wearing one because of the training, so he got used to it quickly. 

"Too conspicuous," Zuko complained about his helmet, although he found a note written inside it, and when he read it, his face turned red like a tomato, then he wasn't so reluctant to wear this object anymore. 

'I painted it for you,' the note said, and he recognized Mai's handwriting from their long time together and the letters he exchanged with her. 

With varying emotions, the two got into the car and drove away from the training camp that had made them soldiers, but now they would face the harshest part of their situation. 

The real war. For their transportation, they took one of the first working prototypes of what was first called a "flying boat", but later became known as an airship. 

A magnificent structure that demonstrated the Fire Nation's technological superiority, imagine Shisui's surprise when he learned that Petra was part of the group that piloted this magnificent contraption.

"Few people have learned how to operate this baby, it's not just pouring coal into the furnace and waiting for the hot air to do its thing, you know?" said Petra, who wore glasses on her head and had her hair completely disheveled. 

"Aren't you supposed to be an Earthbender? Why do I see you so happy in the air?" asked Zuko curiously, causing Petra to roll her eyes. 

"Just because I'm an Earthbender doesn't mean I hate not having my feet on the ground," Petra joked with the pun, but Shisui thought of something and glared at her partner. 

"You're trying to master 'metal-bending', aren't you?" Shisui asked suddenly, making Zuko look at the girl in surprise. 

"Isn't sub-bending supposed to be something like an ancient legend? Although that guy did lava-bending, and according to Shisui, he mentioned something about controlling metal. Has he caught your attention since that day?" Zuko's questions hit the nail on the head, but Petra just shook her shoulders reluctantly as she looked off into the distance.

The trio stood on the deck of the airship and saw the dense clouds below them as a vast white ocean, and at a certain point to Shisui, it was exactly that, but those were details. 

"Even the Fire Nation has only vague records of an Avatar using this form of Earthbending in the past. I'm good with crystals on Earth, and I'm even decently good at controlling sand, but there's so little mention of controlling metal that it seems like such a..." Petra remained silent, unable to find a suitable answer, and simply leaned back against the railing. 

"Weird, confusing? The same thing happened to me with that 'heat-bending' thing Grandpa Sozin and Avatar Roku were doing, though it seems more like redirection than effective control. 

Not to mention when I found out there were people who could cause explosions with their minds, luckily I'm good at redirecting rays, which my uncle taught me, it opened the door to trying to create better rays," Zuko spoke about his experience, resonating quite a bit with Petra on this matter. 

"Why is there so little information from the past, wouldn't it be great if everything could be stored and protected in a better way? A book or parchment can easily be damaged, but if we could find a way to store information and how to easily search for it without having to be buried under so many documents..." Slowly an idea flashed in Petra's eyes, who pulled a notebook out of her oil-stained overalls and started writing quickly. 

"Did she just...?" Zuko whispered to Shisui, who nodded as a smile appeared on his face. 

This was what he liked to see, Shisui just gave a small spark that made the minds of this world, trapped in monotony and war, begin to expand further. 

Great thinkers were emerging, and this did not discourage Shisui but rather made him feel particularly comfortable. A civilization could not depend on one man, and although he was intelligent, he had many shortcomings like many others. 

The gravity proposed by New Ton-Ton, the astronomical advances made by Gal-Leo, aided by his improved spyglass, the telescope. In the Earth Kingdom, there had been a certain Darwin who had become interested in the way the same animal was different in different parts of the world, even joining the pirates of the water tribes to explore remote islands. 

A certain Magallan of the Northern Water Tribe was encouraged to circumnavigate the world by boat, and although there was no news of him for the time being, Shisui was curious about the results the man might achieve. 

Some people had even explored the ruins of the Air Nomads' temples, not to loot, no one dared, but to record their culture as best they could, for no one knew if the Airbenders would return, though the hope was small, it was hope nonetheless. 

Imagine their surprise when they found studies on the human body, the composition of air, and even treatises on mechanisms that a certain Leo-Leo Vinci had interpreted and adapted, even inspiring interesting new creations. 

This feeling that the world was finally turning in a way that was not all war, an emergence of science, a step beyond simple conflict, made Shisui truly happy. 

He watched as Petra designed a strange machine, inspired by some ideas published by other people, but she used them differently, and Shisui was amazed to recognize the prototype before his eyes. 

A damned differential machine was born in his friend's hands, then he remembered a useful detail and told his friend. 

"You can use stainless metal sheets with certain coded perforations that when used with this machine, information can be better recorded," those words made the young woman hold the charcoal in her hand tightly, Petra's green eyes focused on Shisui's.

"Thank you, would you like to participate?" Petra offered, and Zuko felt a little strange next to her because he didn't understand much about these things, but he didn't leave, he wanted to see what was happening, something deep inside him told him that he was about to witness something amazing. 

"It will be a pleasure, have you heard of the number system on base 2 where 0 can be 'no' or 'off' and 1 can be 'yes' or 'on'? It's called binary and ...." That day, the concept of what would be recorded in later decades as one of the inventions that revolutionized an era was born. 

From the hands of Petra and Shisui, computing was born.

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AN: As a programming student, how could I not refer to everything they teach me in college? We also showed some of the great minds of other nations, Shisui is not the only one! 

I didn't show much about the dynamics with the recruits, except learning how to use vehicles or weapons, what else could Shisui learn? And not so much about weapons. The brutality of war will be shown a bit in the next chapter!