"The More Things Change": afterword
So, why Rocky?
I can't claim really any feelings of attachment towards Rocky. I like him, but I certainly didn't ever think that he could become the main character in my stories. My personality, oddly enough, runs more towards Billy's or Adam's. I was just wondering how they were going to explain how a character who spent a lot of time around his friends and where they hung out was not ever going to be seen again. I could have easily used Jason, but some dialogue in the Turbo movie indicated that he was no longer living in Angel Grove.
Thus, "Called Blood" was born. Taking a character and forcing them to become the opposite of what they once were seems to be a speciality of mine: those of you familiar with my fiction might recognize that I did the same thing for Greer Lewis, a Watcher turned Immortal. Rocky was the victim of one of my what-ifs: what if a Power Ranger became a Tomorrow Person, someone who might not like the continual violence but could understand it, and whose agendas might be completely different from either group?
"Called Blood" is where I started the concept, and as such is a bridging story between "Something More in Common" and the other two in the trilogy.
After writing "Called Blood", I realized that I couldn't just stop there. Following on from Adam's comment at the end of "Called Blood", I decided to give Rocky the taste of a regular TP adventure. I was also hard-pressed to figure out what difference Rocky would make in such a story, since he wasn't normal in the TP sense. Finally, I remembered the Bookala from one episode of Power Rangers. That finally formed into the trapped alien spacecraft. Then I realized that they had to find the spacecraft, which turned into the part of the plot dealing with Jesse.
I really found it funny that Rocky had more experience with aliens than the rest of the TP did. This point also let me form a bond between Rocky and the alien, maybe because of Rocky's subconscious yearnings to go back to what he was. Anyway, I was also pleased to give Rocky a potential girlfriend, which I hope will turn into something permanent. Iz is a lovely character, and she will appear in other stories.
In "But Keep the Old", I wanted to wrap up the stories, in particular "Something More in Common". I don't think I did very well, but it was a fun ride. It's interesting to watch Rocky as he makes his choices. He's gone a long way since becoming a Tomorrow Person, and I don't think he's always comfortable with the change in his life.
I tend to write Rocky's serious side, and certainly that was at the forefront in "But Keep the Old" as he wrestles with his identity. What drives this story, I think, is the fact that he's a very stubborn person and he's not about to let a little thing like being unable to kill stand in the way of helping his friends and saving the world. (Of course, his body has a way of reminding him that things have changed.)
"But Keep the Old" closes a kind of loop in "Opposites Attract" and in particular the "The More Things Change" trilogy. In "Something More in Common" he was part of the team, in "Called Blood" he was feeling seperated from his friends, in "Some Things" he had mostly disassociated with them (because he didn't want them to find out what he was), and finally in "But Keep the Old" he's forced to get back together with them again... and finds that he never really lost them.
(In fact, the title of "But Keep the Old" has to do with friendships - it's part of a round that has to do with friends: "Make new friends/ but keep the old/ one is silver/ and the other gold".)
It's not the end of the line for Rocky or his friends, either - they're showing up in two more stories. One, "Between Worlds", has him meeting another person who must deal with conflicting definitions of herself. The other should tie up what's left of this serial (groan).