Okay, so I'm new to the whole Static Shock Fanfiction thing. I recently began watching the episodes online and realized how much I missed the show. So, I decided to write a fanfiction. This is actually a one-shot. I had wanted to get people's opinion and if the reviews were positive, I would write a full fanfiction with chapters and everything. The pairings would be RichieXOC and Francis/HotstreakXOC. I hope you enjoy it and I hope that Francis is in character.
Disclaimer: I don't own Static Shock or it's characters.
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It was a warm, sunny afternoon in Dakota and the students of Dakota Union High had long since left for home. All except one.
Katrina Blake was hunched over one of the school's flower beds. Though both the flower beds and the flowers in them were new, the plants were already wilted and dying.
Katrina's waist length chocolate brown hair was tied back in a messy ponytail, her bright ocean blue eyes narrowed in concentration. She was wearing her usual blue T-shirt with the large black rose imprinted on the front, her jeans, and her black sneakers, all of which had bits of dirt here and there. On her hands were dirty green gardening gloves.
Wiping the sweat from her forehead, she turned her attention back to the flower bed. Sighing, she gazed sadly at the plants she and the school's environmental club had planted. It was obvious that the janitor had neglected to water them.
"Which means that someone will have to stay after school from now on to water them." she thought to herself.
The rest of the club had offered to help Katrina, but she had stupidly told them that she could handle it herself.
"Now I wish I had taken up their offer. While I do love gardening, this is a little much, even for me." she muttered. She began wishing that she had at least asked her sister, Kathrine, Richie, and Virgil to help her, or even keep her company while she worked.
"Not that they would even be able to stay very long," she whispered bitterly to herself, envious of her friends, "They have to patrol the city tonight. I wish my powers weren't so useless." Katrina shook her head in an attempt to rid herself of the negative thoughts, "That's not entirely true. Healing is still a useful ability." She then sighed, still not feeling any better, "It's just not useful where it counts. In a battle."
Shaking her head again, she looked back to the flowers. "Speaking of powers, let's see how well they work on plants."
Katrina placed her hands on either side of what used to be a red tulip, careful not to touch the brittle brown plant. Taking a deep breath, she began concentrating on the health of the tulip. When nothing happened, Katrina frowned. She removed her gloves and threw them to the ground, deciding that they were in the way, before putting her hands back in their original position. Once again she breathed in deeply and focused on the plant. This time, her hands started to glow a faint green, causing Katrina to smile. The green glow extended from her hands and outlined the tulip in the dim light. Slowly, the color returned to the plant until it was back to full health, like it had never even wilted in the first place.
With a wide grin, Katrina clapped her hands together, inwardly cheering at her success. It was short lived when a row of four tulips burst into flames next to her, turning them to ash. Katrina stared at them in disbelief. "Oh, no!" she groaned, cursing her luck, "Now I'll have to plant new ones."
"Wouldn't you have to do that anyway? I mean, they're all kinda dead."
Katrina almost growled in annoyance, now knowing why the flowers combusted and who was responsible. "Francis..." she groaned, exasperated, "I can put up with you glaring at all the boys who come near me, I can deal with you flirting with me, I can even tolerate you following me around school, but please, please, do not set my flowers on fire."
"First of all, I told you that my name is Hotstreak-"
"And I told you that I refuse to call you such a ridiculous name."
"Second," he continued, ignoring her outburst, "The flowers are dead. You'd have to plant new ones anyway. You should be thanking me for helping you."
Katrina scowled at Francis as he leaned up against the wall of the school. "Francis, the next time you think of a good way to help me with gardening, do the opposite."
Francis walked over and crouched down next to her, eyeing the single healthy tulip with curiosity. "I thought they were all dead. What's with this one?"
"I was using my powers to revive the flowers. Or at least, that's what I was trying to do before someone went and torched them!" she gazed at him in disbelief, "Honestly, is this how you try to win over the girls you like? By setting their hard work on fire?"
Francis shrugged, knowing Katrina wouldn't be upset long seeing as how it was an easy fix. Saying something stupid, or what she perceived to be stupid, could result in a full blown lecture and Katrina storming away to let him think about what he had done. She had a lot of patience for him though, knowing that it was difficult for him to interact normally.
Francis had never had to win over girls before. Usually they were either afraid of him, or were easy. Katrina was neither. She had claimed many times that, if needed, she could kick his butt, which he had yet to see. She also often preached that relationships and love were special, and that people who went around sleeping with everyone they saw made her sick. Katrina was innocent, yet somehow knew the horrors of the real world. She was kind and compassionate, normally someone he wouldn't waste his time on. However, she was so different, so interesting, that Francis found himself drawn to her. She wasn't afraid of him, she would willingly spend time with him and show him kindness that he was completely unfamiliar with.
Still, all he had ever known was violence, destruction, and intimidation. Communicating with others was still difficult for him. Though she hadn't changed him all that much from when she met him. He just didn't do anything too major. Francis would still make fun of Virgil and Richie, though he now refrained from hitting them, he'd pick fights with Kathrine since she was the only one who would take him on even with his powers. He still even set things on fire and occasionally stole things, though discretely as to avoid Katrina's lectures. Hey, he never said he'd go completely straight.
"So, have you changed your mind yet?"
"Have you stopped breaking the law yet?"
"...So, your powers work on plants, too?"
Katrina smiled knowingly at the sudden change in topic. She knew that he now knew that she would not go out with him until he cleaned up his act. Though it still surprised her that he was still trying. Francis seemed like the kind of guy to just take what he wanted when he wanted it. She was pleasantly surprised to discover that she was wrong.
"Apparently so. It seems I can heal both people and plants." she said, moving onto another tulip. Putting her hands around the once white tulip, she began using her powers. Francis watched with interest as her glowing hands revived the flower.
"So, where's the rest of the club?" he asked, trying to make conversation.
"Them? I told them that I would take care of the flowers myself. Apparently, the janitor didn't feel like watering them so they're either dead or dying." she explained, turning her head to look at him.
"What? Why? What about Frieda and that chick that Hawkins likes? They're in the club too, and they just left you with all this because you said you could handle it?" For the life of him, Francis could not figure out why Katrina was so nice. If it were him, he would have told the club to do it themselves while he left, and maybe set their work on fire, too. In his opinion, there was a such thing as being too nice, and Katrina was at times.
Katrina sighed at him, not surprised that he didn't remember her friend's name. "That "chick that Hawkins likes" has a name. It's Daisy. I told her, Frieda, and the rest of the club that I had it all under control. Besides, I've never been curious about my powers after the Big Bang until I came to this school, I wanted to see what else I could do with them. I can't exactly do that with other people around."
"You're not a superhero like some of the other bang babies, why don't you let others know since your powers aren't dangerous?" Francis asked.
Katrina gave him a sly smile, "And how do you know I'm not a super hero?"
Francis smirked, "Because you're the only Bang Baby I've met or even heard of that has healing abilities, and there isn't a superhero in Dakota with your powers."
Katrina smiled before putting on a look of mock horror, "Oh my goodness! Francis Stone is using logic? Oh no, the world's going to end! We'll all perish!" She wouldn't say it out loud, but Katrina loved teasing Francis, partially because she knew that she was the only one who could get away with it without him trying anything violent.
He rolled his eyes, "Yeah, yeah, laugh it up. Despite what you think I do think things through."
Katrina stared at him blankly.
"Sometimes," he amended, "I sometimes think things through."
It was her turn to roll her eyes as she tried not to laugh. She liked this relationship she had with Francis and she liked how he usually made her feel so happy and content. Though no one would believe her if she told them that she liked spending time with him or that Francis was actually a really nice guy. Her sister looked at her like she was crazy the first time she told her.
Francis looked back at the flower she was working on and instantly his eyes went wide. "Trina, look!"
Katrina blinked at the use of her nick name and looked down at her work, gasping at what she saw. The tulip was now back to full health like the previous one, but it was no longer white like it once was. The tulip had turned a shocking blue.
"What on Earth?" she asked, more to herself than to Francis, as she stared at the plant in amazement. She plucked it up and began analyzing it, wondering how it happened.
"I didn't know you could do that." Francis said, looking just as amazed as Katrina.
"Hey, what a coincidence! Neither did I."
Francis stared a moment longer before turning back to Katrina. "What else can you do?"
"I don't know." she responded, placing the tulip behind her ear, "But I'm going to find out."
Katrina looked around the area, her eyes landing on a rose bush up against the school wall. The two walked over to it, quickly making sure that no one was watching. Like the other flowers, the roses were brown and wilted, but that didn't stop Katrina. She plucked a rose from the bush, mindful of the thorns, and began restoring it's health as she had the others. Once that was done, she concentrated on the flower, though her focus was no longer on it's health. Hands glowing brighter than before, she twirled the rose in her fingers, watching as the petals fell and drifted away. It wasn't long before Katrina was holding a whip with thorns.
"That's awesome!" Francis said, "But I thought your powers were healing. How come it changed the flowers?"
Katrina thought for a moment, staring intently at the weapon in her hands. "Maybe..." she mused, "Maybe I've just been misunderstanding my powers this whole time."
"What do you mean?" he asked, feeling clueless as he leaned back up against the wall.
"I mean,I think that healing is just one thing I can do with my powers. I don't think healing is my power, rather it's the ability to manipulate living matter." she explained. He could see the wheels in Katrina's head turning so he stayed silent. "From what I can tell, if I channel my energy into a living thing, I can control them into doing what I want. When I heal people, I'm actually controlling their cells into working faster to heal injuries. I bet that with enough work I could even learn to control animals as well as plants."
"What about people?" he asked.
Katrina shook her head, "Theoretically, I could, but I don't want to. No one should have that much power and I don't want to go crazy with it like Ebon."
Francis nodded, knowing she was right.
Suddenly, a huge grin spread across her face, "With this, I could be a superhero!"
He stared at her for a moment, not comprehending why she had just told someone like him, someone who was a known criminal, that piece of information. "Why are you telling me this?"
She gave him a sweet smile. "I trust you." she admitted softly, "I know that you're not the person everyone makes you out to be. I trust you."
He would never admit it, especially to himself, but her words touched him and made him happy. Instead of expressing this, he just groaned. "Great, that's just what I need. Another superhero on my case!"
She stuck out her tongue, "Well, stay out of trouble and we won't have that problem. I can't wait, soon I'll finally be able to make a difference!" Her happiness disappeared when her eyes landed on the still wilted flowers. "First, though, I need to make a difference with these flowers." Katrina sighed, "Honestly, was it too much to ask that the janitor water the flowers?"
"Do you want me to stay until your done?"
Katrina gave him another sweet smile, overjoyed by his offer. After all, she was the one in the club, not him. "I'd like that. In fact, I'd like that a lot."
Katrina chatted happily with Francis as she worked and what she thought would take hours only took thirty minutes.
The next morning, when Katrina walked into school with Frieda and Daisy, they were met with an amusing sight. The janitor was watering the now healthy flowers with a panicked expression on his face. Leaning up against one of the school walls, glaring at the old man was none other than Francis. It didn't take long for Katrina to put two and two together.
Bursting into a fit of giggles, she grinned, shaking her head at Francis. "Though you're not the same thug I first met, you haven't really changed, have you Francis?" she thought.
Catching sight of her, Francis smirked and winked at her.
She let out another laugh, waving back at him. "But I wouldn't change that about you even if I could."
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That was a lot longer than I thought it would be. Anyway, I'm only a beginner when it comes to writing, so I'd appreciate any constructive feed back. I'd also like to know what you think and if I should write a full fanfiction. This, I think, would go into it as a chapter. Please review.