Rose knocked on the door to Varian's house, surprised to see no one answer. Then, after the fifth knock, the door was opened, and an exhausted Varian stood in the doorway.

"Oh my goodness, are you okay? You look like you haven't slept all night," Rose exclaimed.

Varian's eyelids were half-closed, and he blinked a few times before answering. "I stayed up all night trying to finish my invention for the Exposition of Sciences. It was worth it, though. It's all finished!"

"That's great!" Rose said. "Can I see it?"

Varian smirked at her. "Not yet. You'll get to see it the same time everyone else does: at the Expo. Now," Varian opened the door wider, showing a cart with a blanket covering something beneath it "Want to help me bring this to Corona?"

"Of course I will." Together, they brought the cart down the few steps, then headed off towards Corona.

At the kingdom, they stopped to find Cassandra, the lady-in-waiting to Princess Rapunzel, tying up a banner that read: EXPOSITION OF SCIENCES.

"Who's ready for the expo?" Varian asked Cassandra in a loud voice. Rose heard her groan, but didn't think Varian heard. "Hey, Cassie! Hey, you wanna see my new invention? Rumor has it it is a shoo-in for the first prize in the contest." He lowered his voice. "I started the rumor."

Rose stifled a laugh as Cassandra turned around to respond. "Hey, Varian. First off, it's Cass, not Cassie. Secondly, I'm slammed, so-"

"Oh, yeah, I hear ya." Varian interrupted. "Hey, so did I tell you that my invention can create an entirely new element? I call it-"

"Cassandra," A guard came storming over to the lady-in-waiting, intervening on what Varian was about to say. "I thought you should know, the Captain is short on guards for the expo. This could be your big chance!"

A huge smile came across Cassandra's face, and she scurried down the ladder she stood on to follow after the guard.

Then, Rose noticed the banner start to fall. Apparently, Cassandra hadn't tightened the rope very well.

But before she could do anything, Varian scrambled up the ladder and caught the rope, which Cassandra's pet owl was struggling to hold onto. He tied it back on, then sighed in relief.

Suddenly, Princess Rapunzel and Eugene came sprinting down the road, stopping near the banner. Rapunzel wore some strange goggles that covered most of her head.

"Cassandra! Lookin' good! You should see some of the inventions on display! Look at these crazy goggles! Oh," She seemed to have suddenly realized it was Varian she was talking to, not Cassandra. "Hey Varian! I haven't seen you since we-"

"Since your last invention almost killed us. So glad you're here. With what looks like another invention," Eugene cut in. Then he saw Rose standing next to him. "Uh, who are you?"

"Oh, I'm Rosalinde. Or Rose," she explained. "I'm one of Varian's friends."

"Nice to meet you!" Rapunzel said, taking the goggles off her head. "I'm Rapunzel, and this is my boyfriend, Eugene."

Rose smiled. "I know. I'm pretty sure everyone in Corona would recognize their own princess."

Rapunzel laughed. "Right."

Varian had finally come down from the ladder. "Wait until you see my invention. I think, uh, everyone at the expo will be impressed." He chuckled. "Casandra's going to be here, right? Not that I'm doing this for Cassandra," he added with a laugh. "But, yes, she's gonna be there, right?"

Rapunzel grinned at him. "Yes, I do believe that Cass will be there."

"Great!" Varian yelled. Then he cleared his throat. "I mean, uh, cool."

Rose laughed at Varian as Rapunzel and Eugene walked away. "Looks like someone has a little crush."

Varian's face went bright red. "What? Who?"

"You!"

"I do not." Varian protested, folding his arms. "It's perfectly okay to ask if a friend is going to be at an event or not."

"Okay," Rose said with a grin. Varian grabbed his cart by the handle, and started walking away, Rose following closely behind with a huge smile.

After a while, Varian had told Rose that he was going to the castle to visit Cass. After a little bit of teasing, Rose then said goodbye to him and started checking out the nearby inventions. A guy on stilts, a faster way to milk a goat, and an automated pancake flipper. All were really cool, but Rose knew that Varian's invention would be the best.

After a few hours, everyone was gathered up to stand in front of the stage. Master St. Croix-- a fat, older man-- stood near a podium, his nose up in the air as if he thought everyone around him weren't worthy to be in his presence.

"One of you will walk away with the greatest prize in all of sciences: my approval," he started to say." As for the rest of you," he glared down at the crowd. "May the universe show mercy on your wretched souls."

Gasps erupted throughout the crowd. Rose and Varian shared a look of shock.

"Good luck."

Varian raced up the stairs to catch up to Cass, who was dressed in a guard's uniform. Rose moved her way to the front of the crowd to hear their conversation.

"You ready? Because a certain alchemist could use his assistant." Varian said with a large grin.

"Listen, Varian," Cass started to say, "I'm really sorry, but things have changed. I can't help you anymore. I'm St. Croix's personal-"

"Hello? Security detail?" St.Croix called from his podium. "I have moved my person in this direction," he grunted.

Varian's gaze moved to the ground. "A personal security detail. Must be a big deal." He grabbed the curtain as he got ready to walk away. "Don't worry about me. I'm sure I can find another assistant in the next five minutes."

Rose glared at Cass. How could she turn down Varian for stupid guard duty? He was a friend who needed help. She balled up her fists and walked towards the back of the stage as Master St. Croix yelled, "Let the judgment begin!"

Varian was standing by himself near the curtain, staring at the ground. Rose paced up the stairs and stood next to him.

"I'll be your assistant."

Varian looked up in surprise. "What?"

"I'll be your assistant. I know you need one."

"How did you..."

"I just know things. I'm awesome like that." Varian smiled, causing Rose to grin. But it quickly faded. "Plus, I heard your and Cassandra's conversation."

"Oh," Varian's smile also disappeared. "It-it was nothing. She just had guard duty to do."

"But for me, friends come first." She grabbed his hand, causing him to blush ever so slightly. "Now, come on, we have a contest to win!"

They waited in line as contestants presented their inventions. At last, they were next to go. There was some chatter from the other side of the curtain, and eventually Master St. Croix shouted, "Next!"

Varian took a deep breath, then stepped through the curtain's opening, Rose close behind him.

"Behold! The power of alchemy!" Varian shouted. "I give you..." Rose opened the curtains to show Varian's invention. "The Elemental Remogrifier!"

There were ooh's and ah's as the crowd saw the invention. It was a strange cylinder-shaped device, with a few levers sticking out of its side. Rose stared at it in amazement.

"Assistant?" Varian turned to Rose. She grabbed a nearby bag of sand-- which was really heavy by the way-- and dumped it into the device. "Here we go," Varian muttered to himself.

Varian pulled a lever on the machine's side. "The rotation causes friction," he shouted over the machine's noise, "which heats the sand, while the counter-centrifugal force promotes particle compression. The end result?" The machine stopped moving, and everything was silent. Varian reached his hand into the opening in the device. "Fifty pounds of sand turns into - this."

As he raised his hand out of the machine, a tiny purple gem glittered in the sunlight. It was beautiful.

"I call this new element," he glanced at Rose. "Rosium."

Rose stared in surprise at Varian. Had he really just named an element after her? She took a step back in shock.

But she had misstepped and fell off the stage, causing a series of events until a knife came hurtling towards Master St. Croix's face. Cass had caught it just before it sliced through his nose.

Master St. Croix growled. "Despite its lack of flair and panache, I was almost inclined to give your device a mediocre assessment."

Varian gave him a confused look. "Flair? What does that have to do with-?"
"However," St. Croix continued, "considering your assistant," --he glared daggers at Rose as she found her way back onto stage-- "nearly lanced my nasal cavity, I've no choice but to disqualify you. Next!"

Rose heard Cass step up to Master St. Croix. "Sir, with all due respect, you can't disqualify him because of his assistant."

St. Croix glowered at Cass. "You stick to guarding, I will stick to sciencing. Got it? Hmm?"

Rose turned to Varian, about to apologize, when the curtains opened and a new contestant entered the stage. She wore a pink dress with a matching bandana on her head. Her hair was bushy and black, and she had darker skin. Her mouth was in a wide grin.

"Everybody at this expo make some noise!" The crowd cheered. "This is the momensationl moment you've all been waiting for. But first," she pulled a rope, causing candy to rain on the crowd. "I give you chocolate!" The crowd cheered some more.

"Jaws, prepare to drop. Larynxes, get ready to scream, and eyeballs, how about you take a good look around, because once I unveil my marveltacular creation, the world will never look the same! I give you the Fantasphere!" She uncovered her invention, showing a table with two pieces of wood sticking out of the top. A large pearl sat between them. When she pulled the lever, the pearl floated in the air. She gasped at her own invention. "How'd she do it? Oh my gosh! It's awesome!"

Varian looked puzzled. "But what does it do?"

"Uh, the real question, kid, is what doesn't it do? Now, here, have some chocolate and shut up." She threw a tiny piece of candy at Varian.

"It's luster is glorious!" Master St. Croix exclaimed. The girl gasped dramatically. "I see no need to continue this contest!"

Rose turned to face Varian, only to see him sitting on a fountain a few feet away. She got ready to go over to him, but watched as Cass sat down next to him. They shared a few words before looking over at Master St. Croix, who was messing with Varian's invention.

"Master St. Croix! No! No! Don't!" Varian rushed over to St. Croix, grabbing his arm to stop him from pulling the lever. "You're-you're building too much pressure!"
Master St. Croix pulled his arm away. "Back off, boy! I'm a scientist."

"Don't!"

The machine started making a strange noise. "Somebody do something!" St. Croix shouted.

As the machine started bouncing around, it sped towards where Rose, Varian, and Master St. Croix stood. Rose pushed Varian to the ground, and St. Croix got knocked into the machine.

"You chose me!" Varian said, exasperated.

"Yeah. But, come on, we've got to stop that machine!" Rose shouted, helping Varian up.

They stared up into the sky as the Elemental Remogrifier spun in the sky, dark clouds surrounding it.

"Oh, this is bad," Varian said. Cass caught up to them and looked up with them.

"How bad?" she asked.

"Introducing counter-centrifugation to the magnetism could result in... well, that!" Varian told her, indicating to the machine in the air. "Its angular momentum is rapidly approaching critical velocity. Once that happens, it'll suck up everything in sight. Us! The castle! Everything!"

"Okay, so very bad," Rose noted. "How do we stop it?"

"There's only one way to stop it. I gotta get close enough to pull the hand brake." Varian started taking a step forward, but was stopped as Rose put a hand on his shoulder.

"Where do you think you're going? You're going to need an assistant."

Varian nervously laughed before getting pulled up into the air. "Whoa! Rose! Help!" Rose grabbed his ankle before he could get away, but was, too, pulled off the ground. She felt a hand wrap around her own ankle, and saw Cass holding onto her.

Varian reached with all his might towards the machine. "I can't get close enough. The vortex has gotten too strong!" he shouted down at Rose and Cass. "We need an equally powerful wind source to counteract it!"

Rapunzel gasped. "The Mega Dry! The Mega Dry can generate that kind of wind speed and blow against the vortex!"

"Yes!" Varian yelled. "He needs to create a counterpole to the cortex's critical velocity!"

Rapunzel turned to Max, who was standing on a running track that powered the Mega Dry. "Max, he means you have to run backwards!"

The horse nickered, then turned around to run backwards. After a few seconds, Varian could finally reach the lever. He looked down at Rose and Cass. "Hold on, guys!"

The lever was pulled, and instantly, they all fell. They cheered as they got up.

"Yeah!"

"We did it!"

Rose walked away from the group as she noticed something on the ground. It was the winner's ribbon, covered in debris. She picked it up and brushed the dust off of it. She turned around and padded up to Varian.

"I believe this was meant for you," she said, pinning the ribbon to his shirt.

Varian smiled warmly at her, then held up a necklace, the element Rosium hanging in the middle. "And, um, this was meant for you."

Rose gratefully took it, placing it around her neck. "It's beautiful. Thank you."

Cass strolled up to the two. "Varian, about putting my own ambition in front of our friendship, I'm sorry."

"It's-it's okay, Cassandra," Varian said.

"Hey, call me Cassie," Cass smiled. Varian smiled back.

"Well, I guess I should start cleaning this mess up," Varian said.

"I'll help," Rose offered.

The Captain of the Guard walked up to Cassandra. "Cassandra, you helped prevent what could've been a disaster for all of us. Well done. And I have another assignment for you."

"You know what, Dad?" Cass said, taking off her helmet. "I'm gonna set this aside for now. I think my friend needs my help." She gave Varian a sideways glance.

"Well, as Captain of the Guard, turning down an assignment doesn't bode well."

Cass stared at the ground.

"But, as your dad, I'm proud of you," he added with a smile. Then he strolled away.

"Wow, you turned your dad down for me?" Varian asked.

"I'll find a way to make it up to him." She glanced at the necklace hanging around Rose's neck. "Is that the element you're named after?"

"Yeah," Rose said, examining the gem.

"I actually got the idea after discovering a cluster of these strange, black rocks by my village," Varian explained.

Rapunzel padded up to Cass's side. "Black rocks?" they said in unison.

Varian, Rose, Rapunzel, and Cass walked up to a group of black rocks sprouting from the ground. Rose had never seen them before, but Rapunzel and Cass seemed wary of them, as if they knew something she and Varian didn't.

"It was amazing," Varian started to say, "They just kind of sprouted up a couple weeks ago. I have never seen anything like it."

Suddenly, Rapunzel's hair started to glow a bright yellow.

"Fascinating," Varian said, studying her hair. "The rocks are demonstrating an actual, physical response... to you."

Cass and Rapunzel shared a look. "Shh! Varian. I need you and Rose to promise to keep this between you and me, okay? And them."

"Wh-why?" Varian asked, confused.

"Because my dad has forbidden me from talking about these rocks to anyone. We collectively are going to figure it out. But I need to know that I can trust you." She eyed both Varian and Rose.

"You can count on us."