KLS here! Just want to give a quick sincere and very grateful thank you to Rebel Paisley, without whom this story would definitely not exist and very kindly put up with my nightmare of tense changes and saved me from tragic mistakes like claiming Aurico called Mirinoi home. Yeah. I have.. no excuses.
Summary: Getting a call for celebratory pizza from T.J. is great. Rocky has no problems with this. He does, however, have a problem with learning that the celebration is for a gathering of red rangers returning from a world-saving mission. After it's already over. From T.J.. Someone has some explaining to do.
Notes: This story ultimately spawned from an excited discussion with Rebel Paisley, followed by brief introspection, and then a smattering of keyboard smashes. We both agreed it was sad Rocky couldn't make it. And then wondered about reasons why Rocky couldn't make it (aside from, you know, the good old boring truth of unavailable actors). And then Rocky... happened. Apparently, he's got a lot of feelings on the matter, too.
This story is a precursor to, and complimentary piece of, Rebel Paisley's Rocky Beginnings. I strongly recommend anyone read it, because it's a fun time. If you found this through that, welcome to Rocky's side of things.
There's a difference between panic and adrenaline, though sometimes it's hard to discern- especially in the heat of the moment. Panic is a reaction, for starters, and if Rocky had to give adrenaline a label, he'd call it an opportunity.
Adrenaline gave possibility, a chance to respond to a situation with intent and focus with the added bonus of fueling forward motion. It was a great tool when it kicked in, and the reflexes he'd honed that got spurred on by such a kick had been directly responsible for saving his life more than once. He loved feeling the rush he got from hitting his second-wind, and it's largely a part of why he's remained so active.
Life hasn't been lived until you've seen firsthand the rush of wonder and excitement that can steal over the face of a seven-year old when they hit their stride. Rocky's the fortunate kind of guy that gets to see it just about every day, the perks of teaching and running a dojo.
It was important to handle though, and even if Rocky couldn't exactly measure it out he could usually make the rush of hot blood under his skin manageable.
Apparently, that was a lot easier to do when he had a clear target in his sights to hit- or at least knew where to find one. Currently, that option was out. The only viable strategy he did have was reckless driving- which was also out because he wasn't at all worried enough to endanger others. Just- trying to manage. Focus.
T.J. had been cheerful- brilliant and content without any extra weight dragging down his tone which could only mean that the mission was successful.
The mission on the moon. The mission on the moon to stop enemies that should have stayed old news from getting Serpentera. The mission that had required the use of ten red rangers.
Ten. Not a full roster team, ten specialized individuals summoned from all over the world- from all over the galaxy- to deal with a threat. On the moon.
His fingers tightened on the wheel and he took a deep breath, calmly changing lanes and reminding himself that no good will come from jumping to conclusions. He was pretty sure he already had most of the answers, and while T.J.'s phone call had been short- "No talking and driving, Rocky; you know how Lightning Cruiser gets."- the follow-up call Adam had insisted he make to NASADA before he went anywhere had been enlightening.
Jason was even back in town. That didn't hurt as much as it could have, because the realization that ten rangers had been gathered for a secret Serpentera-stopping moon mission had sort of overshadowed the fact that his immediate predecessor had wasted no time detaching himself from the good work he did on the regular and Rocky hadn't even been told there was trouble to stop.
Panic. A reaction, and in Rocky's experience, it was far less helpful than most of the other reactive emotions he'd felt over the years. NASADA had confirmed what T.J.'s tone had already told him over the phone- nine rangers (panic, knee-jerk and real accompanied by the sharp pang of a heavy heart) returning home safe and sound with the tenth accounted for and heading back to Aquitar.
Aurico always had his priorities straight, and with no serious injuries at all to deal with, the group of earthbound rangers had apparently decided to hold off on dispersing in favor of a pizza trip. Rocky could recite all of that information and more, carefully pried from NASADA (which was much easier than trying to hassle T.J. without a relaxed atmosphere and a personal touch) but none of it actually helped settle the buzz of his nerves. Rocky doubted anything would, not until he arrived there himself and saw them.
He wasn't even angry. He had zero intentions of letting the others off too easily – someone was going to have this lorded over them for years and Rocky didn't care who – but he wasn't angry. He understood Jason well enough to know that there had to have been a sound strategy, a discussion at some point that reasonably explained the lack of Rocky's presence.
He just hadn't known. About any of it. And dealing with retro-active panic that his friends, that other rangers - people he'd fought with and people that had put their trust in him, people he'd trusted in turn, people he only knew by reputation but still cared for because they were irrevocably joined by Zordon's legacy and the Morphing Grid and the Power they all tapped into but could probably never properly articulate to anyone else… He was struggling. He was trying and failing to reach a balance between knowing that they were all okay and reconciling that with the very real danger they all had faced.
He could have lost them all. He could have lost them all in one moment and he never would have known it. The useless sense of foreboding and anger that thought instilled in him was viscerally real, and much like the knee-jerk panic that was trying to kick at his heart and tighten his throat, he could only try to ride out the tide and push it down into something hard and ugly and knotted in his chest that won't loosen until he sees them with his own eyes.
T.J. wouldn't lie to him. None of them would lie to him, but T.J. wouldn't lie to him or hide this from him. And it wasn't even really like Rocky didn't know what happened. All the Turbo ranger had to do was mention Tommy's name before a cascade of information slotted into place.
Tommy Oliver may have been a great fighter and a good tactician, but the reason he had a team around him and a support network had a lot to do with the fact that the guy had this terrible tendency to lone-ranger it when he went too long without harassment, and delegation would probably be one of his stronger suits if he didn't forget to actually pass on information.
It wasn't an excuse but it was something Rocky could accept. He could understand a battle situation and what had to have been at least one heated tactics discussion (Rocky himself had undergone plenty, it was a given) taking priority over a phone call.
An admittedly important phone call, but a phone call nonetheless.
He wasn't happy about it, not even close, he certainly wasn't thrilled with someone finding the time to call in Aurico and Leo but not him, but it was a reality he could accept and move on.
To be forgotten, though? To sit with the ugly thought that maybe he just didn't make the cut in their eyes? That was something Rocky couldn't stand for. It wasn't something he really thought the others were capable of believing about him either, but being able to dispel those kinds of doubts sooner was far better than letting them fester and grow into something tangible and potentially crippling later.
(Adam had told him about Carlos's fears, and none of them were above self-doubt, but what was important was the people around to support them and how they handled themselves. Rocky would be one of the first to boost up his friends if they needed it; and he knew they'd do the same for him.)
Finding the specific restaurant wasn't hard. Between the jeep with the Silver Gryphon insignia, the Lightspeed car he'd seen plenty of pictures of via T.J., and the man's own Lightning Cruiser – accompanied by a couple of bikes he definitely recognized as Jason and Tommy's, he was not entirely sure he could have missed it.
Against all logic, he couldn't make himself get out. He had to breathe deeply with his fingers tightening and relaxing around the steering wheel before he could talk himself down.
There weren't enough cars -
Stop it. Aurico was accounted for. Leo wouldn't have one. Wes and Eric are in the same city and work for the same place, there'd be no reason for them to travel separately, and someone probably just picked up the newest ranger on their way to NASADA HQ. Carter, if Rocky's sense of geography was at all reliable.
Nothing was on fire, the moon didn't explode, Earth didn't explode, and there were nine rangers relaxing and laughing it up just inside.
Beep-whirrr
Rocky blinked, lifting his head and feeling his mouth stretch into a strained smile when Lightning Cruiser's windows roll down, the doors locking and unlocking in quiet clicks that drew less attention than flashing lights would.
"I know, I know," he agrees, slipping out of his own car and lightly resting his hand on the hood. "Hey, you'd tell me if something bad happened, right?"
Whirr-click click
"I know. You're a real pal, and neither of us would have let anything bad happen. Hold down the fort, right?" He grins. "Want me to have T.J. bring you a slice?"
There was an ominously low and deep growling sound that came from the engine that Rocky felt rumble through his hand and the street that he interpreted as a direct no. He asked sympathetically, "Messy eater?" and got a moody window rolled up in his face for the trouble.
It was another sign of just how weird Rocky's life was that this only made him laugh and pat the car gently, already feeling more relieved than he had in the entire time it had taken him to get here from T.J.'s helpful phone call.
His chest was still tight, the keyed up ball of tension that'd been building since he first heard Serpentera wasn't so easily dispelled, but it was a start and it was something he could work with. He took a bracing breath and stepped forward.
Admittedly, throwing open the innocent establishment's double doors and marching forward so they swung a little too hard behind him probably wasn't easy on the hinges or deserved of the pizzeria. But it helped. So there.
It didn't take him long to pin down the other rangers. They're the largest (and only) group in the place, for one, but mostly they're exactly where Rocky would have put his team if they'd been anywhere but the Juice Bar. Back circle booth with disrupted sightlines from the entrance, but they could all cover the entire restaurant where they were seated from the varied angles alone.
He took them all in while he marched forward, recognized Carter from pictures, would recognize Wes and Eric even without having pictures of them on his own because of the weird screwy time portals Justin sometimes ranted to him about and the fact that they were about as public as rangers came. He only recognized Leo because of T.J., and that might have been an iffier guess if he didn't have a much better description for Andros and knew all the rest. There was someone he actually didn't know, which might have been Leo but was probably Cole just from the last traces of what had obviously been an awed look toward Tommy, and while T.J. grinned and relaxed back in his seat a bit, Jason just looked mildly surprised and then concerned and then- after a brief glance toward Tommy, oh yeah, this is absolutely on you- resigned.
Probably, most people would be a little concerned about the range of intense, sort-of angry and concerned and definitely intent glares he's bombarded with on his path of righteousness. Rocky wasn't most people.
Fortunately, they were all about to learn that.
Personally.
End notes: The moment Rocky is thinking of when he's detailing Carlos's self-doubt is from the 'In Space' episode 'Always a Chance.' Basically, Carlos ended up hurting Cassie in a fight and doubted whether he should be a ranger, and Adam showed up to train him and share inspiring words and also risk his life using a damaged morpher to morph. As he does.
The Serpentera mission is, of course, referencing Wild Force's 'Forever Red' episode.
Tommy's lack of organization skills (and need for others to, you know, remind him of things) is bits of head canon that stem from the Mighty Morphin' episode 'Mighty Morphin Mutants'. I'm pretty sure. Like 97% sure. He's a scatter brain when he's not fighting something or thinking about fighting something. (How he managed to convince anyone to let him go be an archeologist I have no idea. I'm assuming he didn't ask for permission because everyone would have told him no.)
Again, for anyone curious about the details of how Rocky's meting with the reds actually goes- please check out Rebel Paisley's Rocky Beginnings. (So much more clever than me! I love it a lot.)