Episode II

Truth and Lies

Chapter Seven

Sean inhaled an Ujjayi breath for the two hundred twenty-second time, feeling it coast throughout his body down the various streams of blood vessels, enriching each cell with life, strength, and stability, and reinforcing clarity within his mind. After he had probed Trini's mind, he had dragged himself into vajrasana pose. Though difficult to initiate, after his third Ujjayi breath Sean felt stronger. Periodically shifting his weight from his toes, ankles, shins, and kneecaps had provided the perfect distraction of his continuous energy depletion. The past hour's meditation had provided him much needed rest.

Yet although he was deep in thought, he devoted a fraction of his concentration to being aware of his surroundings. Times as they were and had been, Sean could not afford to be lazy, regardless of his physical discomforts. Some would argue that Sean was overreacting, but then again hardly anyone else had spent as much time observing and learning about the currant Monarch of Evil.

And Sean had ever since he first discovered Jason. Sean had always found time, even if he was in another galaxy, to check in on Jason; whether by teleporting to Earth, keeping in contact with Alpha 5 and Zordon, or psychically sensing Jason's status whenever he was within proximity to Earth. Though doing it without arousing suspicion from his allies, companions, friends, and Dark Specter's forces had proven to be less of a challenge than others might have guessed.

Yet no matter how much he meditated and focused his mind, he was still tired. Were the circumstances different, he would sleep. His body craved for it. However sleep for him was not an option. Yet it did not matter now. Gone was the temptation to sleep, replaced instead by his mission to protect his protégés, and reinforced by his perseverance to ensure it.

Zack, Tommy, Adam, Kimberly, Billy, Trini, and Rocky were indeed protégés, for that was what they were meant to be; if not Sean's, than protégés to themselves—to their sacred animals—and to the universe. Valuable though his knowledge, experience, and wisdom would be to them, Sean had taught Billy well over the past eight years, and was confident in Billy's ability to relay his teachings to his friends. Not only that, but he was confident in the other rangers' skills, wisdom, and character. Busy as he had been over the past twelve years with Jason, he had watched over them, and was very pleased with their development—especially Tommy's. Though the truth about Jason was hitting Tommy incredibly hard—more so than Trini—Sean had validated faith that Tommy would get through this. Tommy's accomplishments the previous year spoke for him. Above all this, Sean respected Zordon's choices in those who he had chosen to be Power Rangers.

Reminding himself of these facts comforted Sean and made it easier for him to focus on the currant problems: Trini's depression, her mental instability, Jason targeting and mentally raping her, Sean's energy drain, and the other rangers' shock and frustration to the past day's events (particularly Tommy, Zack, and Rocky's). He did not need to squabble on which one was more important. However valid the other rangers' inner struggles were, Trini took priority followed closely by his energy drain.

The fact that Trini was sleeping was comforting to Sean, though the mental fortress she had constructed and buried herself within concerned him. No matter how much she tried to convince herself otherwise, Sean knew that she remembered most of what had had occurred during the year following Jason's return from Muiranthius. She alone out of all of her friends knew the real reasons why Jason had chosen to be evil. And she also knew why Jason was a telepath, and why she was an empath, even though she did not wish to access that knowledge.

A mixture of sadness, pity, and compassion swept over the river of tranquility within Sean. The psychological and emotional repercussions of Jason's onslaught on Trini's mind were as of yet undetermined. Trini's E.S.P. had already begun to exert itself which was a dangerous case in itself. Though not as psychically powerful as Sean was, Trini's empathy used to be incredibly sensitive and strong, especially when around Jason. Sean was unsure of how strong her senses would be after seven years of inactivity. If it resurfaced as powerful as it once was, he worried that Trini's sensitivity may deteriorate her already weakened mental state because her mind may not be able to process or handle the external signals and emotions.

And that was one of the reasons Sean was there—not just being a sentinel, but as a friend to Trini. He had been there for her when Jason discovered what he was, and he would be there for her now and later. As an experienced and accomplished psychic/telepath, he could guide her in certain mental exercises to build up her mental strength, and harness her E.S.P. once more if she was willing. Forcing his mental training on her would only make the situation worse.

Unfortunately, as important as Trini's wellbeing was, Sean remembered his second priority: himself.

It had taken more discipline and energy than he had anticipated in maintaining his mental projection while communicating with Billy and to probe Trini's mind—neither of which Sean had needed for years. And this concerned him. What concerned him more was the fact that he still felt torn, stretched, and slightly incorporeal, and insubstantial, as if a piece of him was missing. Over the many hours of the night, that feeling had only intensified, darkening Sean's perception of his own doom.

Yet despite this predicament, Sean did not feel as though he was dying. Weak and exhausted his body and mind were, his wisdom and experience shined through, more so after meditating, telling him that he would live. Throughout his life, Sean had come close to death countless times and he could tell that this was not one of those areas. However the question remained: if he was certain that he was not going to die, than what was the reason behind his energy drain? He had theories, but was lacking one bit of evidence. Time will tell if I am correct though, Sean thought.

He inhaled deeply, opening his body once again to the moist air. It swept down into his lungs, inflating them with new energy, which swam through the rest of his body. He opened his eyes, taking in the partial overcast. After many hours, the storm had finally begun to dissipate. Slowly with a determined look, he rose to his feet gingerly and leaned upon the wall with his right hand.

Soon, he became aware of a tingling in his left hand. Looking down, he noticed two pale, thin, and emerald green energy streaks swimming along the outline of his hand and up his forearm. Instead of panicking, Sean sighed. He had seen this energy pattern before on Kimberly when her power coin had been stolen by Katherine. However, Kimberly's streaks had only been pink. Half of these had silver tinted cores instead of the pure white Kimberly had experienced, while the other half were yellow tinted.

Lifting his right hand slightly as a green wave of energy slid down around his forearm into his hand, Sean gazed at his palm as the green wave materialized into his power coin.

"Good," he whispered. "I still have it."

He scanned it minutely, flipping it around to see every perspective of it. To his immense satisfaction, it was intact, undamaged, and unchanged—neither in color or shape. However, Sean sighed as he willed his coin to melt into his skin as green energy.

Then my fears are validated, he thought, as he gazed at the second stage crescent moon, stealthily shielding his mind from outside penetration. Jason was up there, alert and awake. Sean could feel him. No doubt Jason has seen this. But I won't be as helpless as Kimberly was.

Turning his attention back to his energies, he sought to balance them. His theory being that if he could equalize the distribution of them, Sean could minimize the leak and therefore remain stronger longer. Now that he had the evidence he had been waiting for, it was imperative for him to be as energized as possible.

What are you planning Jason? he thought. How long will you remain silent?

It was uncharacteristic for Jason to remain on the sidelines for too long during an established ranger conflict. Sean recalled of the time when Lord Zedd had captured Tommy, Zack, Kimberly, and Trini with the Octophantom, at which time Jason engaged the monster in single combat while Billy constructed a device to gain the upper hand on the monster. Sean smiled as he remembered. Jason had always been a fighter—a perseverant fighter at that. Therefore the lack of a follow-up attack by a monster, tengas, or even putties (whether Rita's, Super, or Lord Zedd's) was slightly disconcerting to Sean, which meant that Jason had a bigger agenda. Regardless of what it was Sean knew that it had something to do with Trini. However, all he could do now was wait. And Sean was very good at that.