Chapter 4: Facts

A few minutes later, "Reia" found herself looking at a bowl filled with…something. She carefully picked out a piece of cereal out of the bowl, and looked at it closely. "And…what is this supposed to be, exactly?" "Cereal, silly! It's what we're having for breakfast!" said the blond one, who's name she had remembered as Bubbles. "Oh…you guys have this every morning?" Reia asked. "Nah, it's just what we're having today." said the green one, Buttercup. "Sometimes we have cereal, others we have stuff like pancakes, biscuits and eggs, toast, that sort of-" Then she noticed Reia's confused expression. "Uh, no, just…sometimes." she finished. "Eh, whatever." Reia eyed it a little closer, took a quick sniff, and after a moment's hesitation, popped the small piece in her mouth. A quick crunch, and she mad a face. "Interesting...but not my first choice for my first meal." "Figures." said Blossom. "Say," she said after a thought, "just what would be your first choice? I mean, what do you eat in the mornings, or at all?" Reia thought about this. "Well, normally, I like Kova." "Kova?" she asked. "It's made up of a creature on my planet called a Hembue. That's all I can really say without confusing you too much." About now she noticed that the Professor was eyeing her a little eagerly. "Uh…yes?" She asked while looking out the corner of her eye.

The Professor seemed startled-and embarrassed-that he'd been caught looking. "Oh, sorry," he said. "It's just that, well, this is happening quite fast, I mean, only yesterday we found you, and next thing you know, you're having breakfast with us. It's very unusual, and to be honest, quite the rush. I mean, after all, you are a giant…eagle…thing from another world," he confusedly said. Reia seemed to appear a little indignant at the remark. "Phoenix." She simply said.

"Pardon me?"

"My species is called the Phoenix," she said indignantly. This seemed to spark an interest in all of them. "Hold on," said Blossom. "You're a real Phoenix?" she said, amazed. "Yeah…what about it?" she asked. "It's nothing special."

Blossom shook her head. "No, no, that's just it! You ARE special on our planet!" Reia raised an eyebrow, which she seemed to be doing more often. "You serious?" she asked. "Oh, very!" added the Professor. "You see, on our planet, the Phoenix race is a legend." By now, Reia was very interested in this. "You don't say…tell me, what kind of story is behind us 'legends', hmm?"

The Professor smiled- he seemed to have prepared for this. "Well," he said, "There are many, many different versions of the legend of the Phoenix, and recounting the all would take far too long, so I'll just give the basic story. The Phoenix is a bird of fire, and is a supernatural creature, living for 500 to 1000 years. Once that time is over, it builds its own funeral pyre, and throws itself into the flames. As it dies, it is reborn anew, and rises from the ashes to live another 500 to 1000 years. Or, it lays an egg in the burning coals of the fire, which hatches into a new Phoenix, and the life cycle starts to repeat itself." He was slightly out of breath afterwards. "So, how much of it is correct?" As he looked at her, he could she that she was trying (and failing) to hold in more than a few chuckles. "Well, I'll say this; they got one thing…half right." What she did next surprised everyone.

She put her clawed hand up to her beak, and breathed out hard. A plume of fire shot out of her beak, and engulfed her hand. Everyone had to shield their eyes from the intensity of the brief flame. The next thing they saw was Reia, claws outstretched, the fire burning on her hand, and seemingly doing nothing to her. In a sense, she was holding fire on her hand.

"We are technically 'birds of fire', as you said, seeing as we can doing that and not get hurt," she explained. Buttercup was impressed. "Whoa! You can breathe fire? Cool!"

"But, how can you do that and not get hurt?" she asked. Reia shrugged.

"I dunno, I just can." she said. She popped another cereal piece in her mouth. Then, she looked down at her bowl, and she noticed that the bowl that had been set in front of her was nearly empty. She had absent-mindedly been putting cereal piece by piece in her beak.

"Huh, guess they were better than I thought."

Then she stood up. Her height was still surprising, as she had to look down at the Professor. "Well, thank you for the hospitality, but I have…other things to attend to." She turned towards the three girls. "I'm guessing you're the ones who brought me here, since I remember you voices from that first night. If you would bring me back to my ship, so I can try to make repairs and get going, I'd be thankful." Then she noticed the solemn looks they were giving her, and an alarm rose in her head.

"What? What's going on?" Blossom was the first to speak up. "Well, your ship…sorta got found."

That was enough to make her go into shock. "What?" she asked in a small voice. The Professor spoke this time. "Yes…apparently, some others saw your -ahem- 'landing', and decided to investigate. Most likely, its pieces are in the hands of some of the world's top scientists, who are trying to figure out what they are, and how they work as we speak."

He shrugged, embarrassed. "I'm afraid you don't, well, having any way of getting home. I don't know what to do for you…I'm sorry. If there's anything we can-" That's when he noticed Reia's reaction. Her face had gone an odd off-yellow color, and she was stock still.

That's when Bubbles spoke. "Uh, Professor, if I didn't know any better, I'd say she was gonna-"

Too late. She passed out on the floor.

Bubbles looked at the fainted phoenix. "Huh…guess I don't know any better."

The Professor sighed. "We'd better get her on the couch. Blossom, bring some pillows. Bubbles, get both a cold and hot towel."

"What's the hot one for?" Bubbles asked. The Professor answered, "She may react to something hot better than to something cold, being what she is. Now hurry, please. Hopefully, she'll wake up soon."

A few minutes later, the hotline rang, and Blossom rushed to answer it.

"Hello, Mayor? A monster attacking? We're on it!" She turned to her sisters. "I think our visitor can handle herself for a while. Hopefully we won't be gone for too long. Let's go!"

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Not 5 minutes later, Reia did wake up. And she let it be known. She shot straight up.

"Ack!" she said, and suddenly started speaking some odd language.

"Vo shoe cale knocan! Tebelma sacoco voule far pasdande!" she shouted. Suddenly, the Professor came up from the lab.

"Huh, what? What was that?" She looked slightly embarrassed at being heard. "Uh…nothing," she spoke in English/Rylian. "That was just a little Alkerian. A common language where I live. Nothing big."

"…Oh," he said, looking slightly confused. "Er, just how many languages do you know?" "Hmm…10, I think." she said unsurely.

"Really? Why so many?"

She had to cover up the real reason. "Oh, being a traveler, you have to know a few languages to get around good." He nodded. "I see." Then, he sighed, and looked to the window. "Whatcha looking out there for?" she asked. "Oh, the girls went out to fight some monster or other. They don't usually take this long, though."

"Oh, that's…" then she caught what he said. "Wait a darn second! They went out to fight a monster?" she asked, amazed.

The Professor looked surprised. "Well, of course. I mean…wait-of course you don't know!" He chuckled. "I'm ashamed to admit that in all of this that, well, they haven't shown anything extraordinary, and I forgot to tell you!" He straightened proudly. "You see, my little girls are very special."

"Other than the fact that they float and you don't?" she quipped. "Ah, so you did notice!" he exclaimed. Reia again looked offended. "Well, of course! It was pretty hard to miss! I didn't say anything because I thought, y'know, maybe it was something all the young beings have on this planet, and I figured it disappeared with age."

The Professor chuckled. "Oh, goodness, no! It's something that only my girls have because, you see, they were…" Suddenly, the rumble of a huge explosion shook the house.

"What the…what was that?" Reia asked. The Professor looked slightly nervous, too. "Well, my guesses are that either the girls have defeated the monster, or that it just destroyed something probably flammable. I hope it's the first one. It usually doesn't take too long for them to beat a monster, unless it's unusually tough." She could sense the smallest amount of worry in his eyes.

"Oh, don't worry. They'll be fine, seeing as they're super powered," she said. She had guessed it when he said the 'very special' bit, and was taking a swing at the theory. Although she thought the fact that these small, big headed(she hadn't let that get past her either), yet unbearably cute young beings was amazing, ironic, and strangely brilliant, if she was right, this recon mission would be easier than she thought!

As she was thinking, the Professor was trying to get over his initial shock at her figuring them out so quickly. "What?" he exclaimed. "How'd you guess so easily?"

"So, I was right! Sweet!" she thought. "Well, it wasn't so much guessing as it was careful observation." "Incidentally, how strong are they, Professor?" she asked. "Oh, very," he replied. "I'm not sure, exactly, though I know they train a bit , and-"

"Where do they train?" she asked. "I'd like to see for myself …mind showing me?"

"How about we show you ourselves?" came a voice. "Girls!" the Professor exclaimed. They looked tired, and their hair was messed up in some places, but other than that, they looked none the worse for wear. "That one was a little tougher than we thought," said Blossom, "and I was thinking we needed a bit of extra training, anyway. You can watch us."

"Well, actually…"

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"YOU WHAT?" The idea was ludicrous.

"What are you talking about, 'you what'? I want to try it out!" Reia exclaimed. "I know that I'm probably not as strong as you, but brawn doesn't always win fights, you know!" "Believe me, I do," Blossom argued back, "but the kids of things we go up against in there are-"

"-only fake! You can just cut it off if it gets too intense, y'know." "Well, I guess, but…I…I just don't know. You shouldn't…" Reia noticed she was starting to crack. Just a little more…

She turned to the Professor. "Professor, what do you say? Think I can't handle it?" She was almost sure he would let her try it once…

He looked very uneasy about this. "I don't know…the things you'll encounter in there are ferocious, and I'm not sure you…" Suddenly, she dashed for the door, and before anybody could register that she was going to do it whether they liked it or not, she had closed the door, and was inside.

"This thing looks a little like the Holo-trainer back at HQ…" she thought. "Excellent!" She looked outside, her posture and voice defiant.

"I'm gonna do this whether you like it or not," she shouted, "so you might as well started it up already!"

The girls and the Professor stared at each other, then at her.

"If she thinks she can…" Blossom started.

"Let her try!" said Buttercup. "Once she see how tough the things we fight are, she'll want out of that thing quicker than she wanted in!" It seems the Professor had no choice. Letting out a sigh, he said, "Fine. But let's not let her get too in over her head." He turned to Bubbles. "Bubbles, would you mind going in with her? In case she needs some help, I mean." "No problem, Professor!"

Then he turned to Reia, who was anxiously awaiting the hologram to start. "Reia!" he called out, "Do you mind if Bubbles comes in with you?" he asked. Reia let out a sigh, but nodded. "Good." Bubbles stepped into the Danger Grid, and floated to Reia's side. The phoenix eyed her for a second, then fixed her attention onto the coming fight.

Outside, the Professor simply sighed again, went to the control panel, and activated the Grid.