The next morning, Romeo and Asuka were in the marketplace. They were on top of the awning of a fruit stand, ready to score food for breakfast.

"Okay, Asuka. You know what to do?" Romeo asked with a smile.

"Are you kidding me? I was born for this," Asuka winked her eye.

"Go!" Romeo instructed, and Asuka responded with a salute. She went down while hanging over the edge with her feet to get a melon. The one running the stand was a long crimson haired woman named Flare Corona.

"Melons! Get your melons! Get your melons here!" Flare called. "Just a taste will send you straight to heaven!"

Just then, a giggling Asuka bent downward and picked up a melon. Her giggling was so loud that it caught Flare's attention. "Hey!" she exclaimed. "Put that down, you little freak!"

"Make me, miss red ugly lady!" Asuka taunted Flare, doing a raspberry.

"Why, you…!" Flare growled, before she grabbed the melon away from Asuka after a brief tug-of-war. "That's what you get for messing with my melons." Once Flare snatched the melon back, she began to put it back before she even noticed Romeo dipping down and snatching another melon from the stand. She turned to Asuka, "What in the world?"

"Bye-bye," Asuka grinned and raised her hat before she zinged back up, leaving Flare confused. Asuka was back on top of the stand with Romeo holding the melon.

"Smart move, cowgirl," Romeo smirked.

Asuka giggled, "Can't you see the look on her face?"

"One of the oldest tricks in the book," Romeo chuckled, as he sliced the melon into equal halves. "And the good news is, the old tricks always work."

Romeo handed Asuka the second half of the melon. She said in delight, "Yummy!"

"Yummy," Romeo repeated Asuka with a smirk. "Breakfast is served!"

And so it was indeed. The two kids began eating their own half of the melon. Meanwhile, Wendy, still wearing a cloak, entered the marketplace passing by shopkeepers calling out to her.

"Hey, pretty lady. But a pot," Hibiki Lates said. "No finer pots in brass and silver!"

"Candy! Have some candy!" Ren Akatsuki said. "You want some pistachio ice cream with that?"

"Care to try on a necklace?" asked Eve Tearm. "A pretty necklace for a pretty lady."

Wendy was charmed by the action. She never imagined how life outside the palace can be so exhilarating. And out of all these places, the marketplace would be the first. At the same time, though, Wendy blushed, nostalgia rushing in for a 12-year old.

Smiling, she continued onward, but is startled by a vendor named Lyon Vastia who shoved a fish right into her face, yelling, "Fresh fish! We catch 'em, you buy 'em!"

"Uh, no thank you," Wendy blushed as she backed away, until she bumped into a fire eater named Ichiya Vandalay Kotobuki, who was startled into swallowing his fire. "Oh, I'm sorry," Wendy apologized. Ichiya gulped and then belched out the fire from his mouth. "Eww!" Wendy exclaimed disgustingly.

"Nothing to worry about, miss," Ichiya assured. "I've got gums of steel." He then posed with lights flickering around him, "Man."

It was at this moment that Romeo noticed Wendy, a strange look coming over his face. It appears he is falling in love with her.

"Wow…" Romeo spoke softly, seeing Wendy putting her hood back on.

Asuka was quick to notice this. She said, "Romeo? Hey, what's wrong?" She waved her hand in front of his face, "Hello, Earth to Romeo? Are you alright?"

But Romeo paid no attention as he still watched Wendy. Asuka sighed and placed an elbow on her lap while holding her chin, pouting, "Oh, boy. Romeo's got it bad. It's like he's looking over a different stand from up here." Then suddenly, her eyes widened in alarm. "Or maybe…"

Wendy stopped over a fruit stand and noticed a little girl named Zeira reaching for apples. She asked, "Hey, are you hungry?" Zeira simply nodded, and Wendy picked one apple and gave it to her, "Here you go."

As Zeira ran off happily with the apple, an angry voice echoed, "You'd better be able to pay for that." That voice belonged to the owner of the fruit stand, Karen Lilica.

That caught Wendy's attention as she said confusingly, "Pay?"

"No one steals from my stand!" Karen glared.

"Oh, I'm sorry, ma'am! I really am!" Wendy said shyly. "It's just that I don't have any money…"

"THIEF!" Karen screamed, grabbing Wendy's arm and causing the latter to scream. Her scream caught Romeo and Asuka's attention.

"W-Wait! Please, wait!" Wendy cried. "If-If you let me go to the palace, I'll go get some money from the Prime Minister! Honest, I will!"

Wendy's wrist was slammed onto the table, as Karen pulled out a sword and snorted, "Do you know what the penalty is for STEALING?!" It was Karen's intention to chop Wendy's hand off.

"No, no! NO! PLEASE!" Wendy screamed, tears streaming down her face.

The sword drops, but Karen's hand was stopped by Romeo's. He said, "Oh, thank you, kind ma'am! I'm so glad you've found her!" She turned to Wendy, "I've been lookin' all over for you!"

Quickly, he began to escort Wendy away as she whispered to him, "What are you doing?"

"Just play along," Romeo whispered back.

"You know this girl?" Karen asked.

"Sad to say, yes," Romeo nodded sadly. "As a matter of fact, she's my sister." He circles his fingers around his ear, "She's a little cuckoo in the head."

"No, I'm not!" Wendy protested softly.

"She said she knew the Prime Minister," Karen frowned, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, well, she thinks the little cowgirl over there is the Prime Minister," Romeo gestured to Asuka, who had been about to pick a pocket, but quickly straightened up.

Eventually, Wendy played along with this idea. She bowed down to Asuka and said, "Oh, wise Prime Minister, how may I serve you?"

Asuka was confused at first, but a signal from Romeo made her realize what was going on. She began playing along and acted like a princess, smiling, "Oh, yes. You can start by polishing the thing and the… things… and the… things…" She patted Wendy on the head. This made Karen feel sorry for Wendy, even though it's just a trick.

"Sad, isn't it?" Romeo leaned forward, picking up another apple from the fruit stand with his foot. "But no harm done." He quickly picked up Wendy, "C'mon, sis. I'll take you to see the doctor."

"Hello, doctor," Wendy said to a horse standing nearby. "How are you?"

"No, no," Romeo deadpanned. "Not that doctor." She turned to Asuka, whose pockets are bulging. "C'mon, Prime Minister."

"I bid you all adieu, my loyal subjects," Asuka said in a royal accent. "Someday, I will return. Unless, of course, I can't find you or if I forget." She bowed to the crowd, only for a bunch of stolen stuff to fall off from her pockets.

Asuka started to panic, catching Karen's attention as she exclaimed, "What the…?"

Asuka quickly gathered up the stuff she'd stolen, and yelled, "RUN!"

Romeo, Wendy, and Asuka began to run for their lives as Karen yelled while the crowd watched in amusement, "COME BACK HERE, YOU LITTLE THIEVES!"

Meanwhile, in Brain's lair, Cobra was running on a gear operating an hourglass-shaped contraption, which was creating a fake storm.

"This is ridiculous!" Cobra huffed. "Couldn't we just wait for a real storm?"

"Save your breath, Cobra," Brain answered back. "It would take a few months or so before a storm comes."

"And another thing, why do I have to run this machine?" Cobra whined, still panting. "Shouldn't we have Racer do it instead? It'll be like, in seconds!"

"But you are more stronger, Cobra," Brain seemed to be making the best out of a bad situation.

"You're only making me do it just because Racer hates me!" Cobra yelled in outrage.

"Really?" Brain chuckled amusingly. "And I thought you mistook Racer for Hoteye. Now, enough arguing. Faster!"

He placed Queen Grandeeney's diamond ring in the hourglass.

"I hear you loud and clear, boss man," Cobra complied by running faster than ever by the use of his Poison Magic. His hands glowed purple and boosted like a rocket, increasing Cobra's speed. Soon, a lightning bolt hits the diamond ring. The sand in the hourglass began to swirl around and formed a mini version of the Dragon Cave of Wonders.

"O Sands of Time!" Brain chanted. "Reveal to me the one who can enter the Dragon Cave of Wonders!"

The sand spun around and went to the bottom half of the hourglass, revealing Romeo climbing a ladder with Asuka, along with Wendy in disguise.

"Yes. Yes!" Brain beamed with glee. "There he is. My Rainbow Fire in the Rough."

"That's him?!" Cobra huffed in disbelief. "That's the guy we've been waiting for? He's only a k…" He accidentally lets go of the bar that kept his balance, "WHHHHOOOOOOAAAAAA!" He slipped and was sucked into the gears of the contraption, screaming in pain.

"Let's have the guards extend him an invitation to the palace," Brain suggested. "My intention was to send one of our own to capture him, but that would raise suspicions in the kingdom. We have to keep up appearances at all times. It would be troublesome if one of us were caught." Before long, a screaming Cobra flung out of the contraption and flew past Brain. "Shall we, Cobra?"

Cobra, slammed on the wall and covered in black soot, coughed out, "Swell." before he fell unconscious.

Brain's evil laughter echoed with his eyes fixed on the hourglass.

To Be Continued…