An Unknown Face

The sun was rising signaling the start of the next day, and Smash Champs were in trouble. A lion with supernatural abilities came and beat them into next week and on top of that, abducted two of their companions. Right now, King was staying in the medical room with Teddy, Jag, and Spike on the beds recovering from their injuries. Sensei had tended to everyone's injuries the night before when King brought everyone back and explained the situation.

"Amigos, ay yi yi."

"What happened?"

King turned and saw Sensei standing in the door.

"No lo sé, I don't know. One minute we were having some late night training, the next thing we knew, this león came out of nowhere and attacked us."

"A lion?"

"He was no ordinary lion. He had supernatural powers and he beat us like a dusty rug. He then abducted Ember and Al."

"(sighs)"

"We don't know anything about him or what's he capable of."

"(grunts)"

King and Sensei looked up and saw Teddy moving. He was trying to get up.

"Teddy, amigo!"

King stood over Teddy.

"K-King? What... happened? I..."

"Relajarse, amigo. Relax."

King tried to keep Teddy laid down so his pain wouldn't get worse.

"My stomach... it hurts..."

"You took quite a beating. You should rest."

"What about everyone else?"

"Jag and Spike are here, but Ember and Al were taken. Remember?"

Teddy then thought back and briefly remembered Ember and Al being wrapped in chains and disappearing with the male lion.

"I remember them... being tied up... and... disappearing. I also... got blasted..."

"Take it easy, compañero."

"Yes, you must regain your strength."

"Sensei..."

"We don't know what it is you've faced, young one. For now, it is best to stay here and rest." He said and turn to leave.

"He's right, rest."

Teddy's gut was practically screaming for him to not fight the pain and rest. He realized that King and Sensei were right, so he lowered his head back down and his eyes closed.

As for Sensei, he was heading to his room to meditate and try to figure out how to deal with the lion that took down the team. He then heard knocking on the dojo's front door. He went to it and when he opened the door, the white figure Jag bumped into earlier, was standing at the door.

"Can I help you?"

"Actually, I was wondering if I could help you."

"Excuse me?"

The figure then reached for the hood and pulled it back, revealing it's face. It was a female lion and she had a strange symbol on her forehead.

"I believe you have a team of 6 animals that fought a male lion. To be exact, those animals are: a jaguar, polar bear, hyena, gorilla, gator, and a fox. 2 of which were abducted and taken away."

Sensei had a shocked look on his face as the female lion explained all that.

'How does she know this?'

"I know because I had witnessed it from last night. When I was in the woods taking a midnight walk, I overheard an explosion. I ran in the direction of the sound and found those same animals fighting a lion with supernatural abilities. However, they were losing and was defeated. 2 of them became the adversary's hostages and thus, was taken away."

"..."

"I came now to offer my assistance. I know who he is, and I can help defeat him. I'm asking for that chance to help. Please?" She asked

Sensei wasn't sure what to say. This lion seemed to know a lot just from watching and yet, she was offering to help them. Can she really be trusted? Or does she have some other ulterior motive?

"I understand that you're skeptical of me. But I don't mean any harm to you or your allies, I only just want to help."

"Hmm..."

"If you think I can't be trusted, I understand." She said and bowed her head.

"I'll make a deal with you: if I let you help me, you tell us EVERTYTHING you know. If you cause my team any harm, I will personally make you regret it. Do I make myself clear?"

"Crystal clear. I promise, I won't cause any trouble." She then bowed her head again.

"I will be watching you." Sensei said and welcomed her in.

"Oh, I didn't properly introduce myself. My name's Lucia."

"I am Master Wu Chi."

He led her toward the medical room where King, Teddy, Spike and Jag were located.

"Sensei? Who's this?"

"My name is Lucia. I know about the lion who attacked you last night."

That got King's attention.

"I heard an explosion and saw the battle you were in. I came to offer my assistance."

"Assistance?"

Lucia walked over to Jag, who was still out of it. She closed her eyes and concentrated. The next thing King knew, the mark on her forehead started to glow white. Her eyes turned pure white and her hands started giving off a visible white radiance. It spread all over Jag's body and King couldn't tell, but it was healing Jag. Then, Jag woke up.

"(gasp) What-? Where am I?"

"Relax amigo, you're in the dojo. Lucia here helped you."

"Lucia?"

"That's my name."

She then walked over and did the same thing for Teddy and Spike. Once they woke up, Sensei brought them some water to drink. Everyone was sitting in the room as Lucia introduced herself and explained.

"Sensei says you know about the lion we fought before. Is that true?"

"Yes, I know him. His name is Rakan, one of the former members of a clan we're in called the Celeste Crusaders."

"What kind of group is that?" Teddy asked

"There are animals and humans in the city with a special talent like what you saw with Rakan. We're not known because we kept our talents hidden from the world. If people knew about our skills, there's no telling what they would do to us. Some people might try to take advantage of us, so we keeps our powers a secret."

"Really? Rakan sure showed us his talents."

"Hold on, you said 'former'. What did you mean by that?" Jag asked

"He was next in line to be the leader of our clan, however, he let it go to his head and didn't it take it seriously. There were times where he took advantage of his title and abused his powers. He then was exiled out of the clan, but he swore he would get revenge on us for kicking him out."

"But if this is about revenge, why abduct Al and Ember?"

"He needs backup because he knows full well, he can't take on the clan by himself."

"What does he plan on doing with our friends?"

"There's a ritual we perform when a new member joins our clan. If there is potential in them, we can sense it and help them tap into it. If he kidnapped your friends, he sensed potential in them and he's going to unleash that. He plans to use them in his plan for revenge. If he succeeds, he will rule the clan with an iron fist and there's no telling what he'll do after that."

"Thus, you came to ask us for help. You help us and we help you, is that right?" Jag said

"Yes. When I bumped into you by accident the other day, I wanted to ask you and your friends for help, but I didn't think you'd believe me."

"What about now?"

"Depends. If you do believe me, I can help you get your friends back from Rakan. I left the clan to go find help from someone, anyone with the potential. But I won't force you to do it. If you don't want to, I understand."

Everyone was silent as they thought about her offer. She was asking them for help in exchange for her helping them. But was she telling the truth? If she is telling the truth, they might have a chance at saving their friends. If not, they could be walking into a trap. They looked at each other wondering if someone was gonna say something.

"I'll go."

Everyone looked up and saw Jag standing up.

"If what you're saying is true about him, then someone needs to put him in his place."

"You'll help me?"

"As long as you help us rescue our friends, sure. Besides, I want a rematch since that guy had an unfair advantage." Jag said cocky

"Don't get ahead of yourself, young jaguar. You're still in weak condition."

"I've been through worse."

"He's right." Lucia agreed. "You can't challenge Rakan again in your current condition. You need to rest up until you're 100% better. All of you."

"What about Rakan?" Teddy asked

"He won't make a move right away. He may be arrogant, but he plots things to get what he wants."

"Well, if Jag is going, I'm going too!"

"Make that three of us." King added.

"What about you, Spike?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I wanna go thrash Rakan. (laughs)"

"Wild as always." Teddy said

"Thank you, thank you all. Once you're all in peak condition, we'll head there. But for now, you should listen to your master and rest."

"Right."

Lucia stayed at the dojo while Teddy, Spike, Jag, and King spent the next few days recovering. Once they were ready, Lucia would help prepare them for the journey ahead.

Author's Note: Hope you enjoyed the chapter and please review.