The basement still held the feeling of lifelessness that it had before, but a small glimmer of hope shone from one of the doors. Instead of an eerie purple mist, it displayed an image of the Swordfighter Sparkla on it.
"Toadsworth was right! The Sparklas are down here. I hope he's alright..."
Stella grabbed the doorknob. "No time to talk, we have to help him now or he won't be fine!"
The stage was small, but distorted. Large chunks of the walls were missing, and random objects floated stationery in the air in the distance.
"This place is so creepy. This is like...raw dark magic. Did that Grape person make this place?" Stella asked quietly.
"I think so," Peach said. "But let's no worry about that. We have a Sparkla to save."
After defeating a group of Sour Bunch members, somebody cried for help. Peach hurried, spending less time on the Sour Bunch than she had been. She entered an arena, where the Swordfighter Sparkla trapped in a cage.
"Aah! He's captured! We have to help him!" Stella said.
Peach headed for the stairs, but a giant knight sliced them down. He slammed his sword into the floor. He was the same deep purple as the Cowboy's face, except a bright glow of purple fire came from his eyes.
"You think you can free that Sparkla? That's unfortunate, as Madame Grape needs his Sparkle for her grand plan." He pulled his weapon out the ground and pointed it towards Peach. "So you must battle me for his freedom."
"Fine then. An Garde!" Peach pulled out her rapier.
He wasn't too difficult, she just had to dodge his attacks and hit him from behind. The only time he hit her was a trick attack, but she figured it out the second time and took him out. The stairs returned and Peach attacked the cage to free the Sparkla.
"Thank you! Say, is that my Sparkle you're using?"
"Uh...yeah! Sorry about that."
"Don't worry about it, I'm just glad to be free."
He suddenly pulled out his rapier and held it out in front of the both of them. The Dark Swordfighter's sword clashed against his.
"Swordfighter! Take him out, once and for all!"
"Right!"
Peach charged the Dark Swordfighter as the Sparkla knocked his sword away. They both sliced the Dark Swordfighter in half, and he broke into pieces.
The Sparkla bowed to Peach, who returned it. "Thank you kindly, Swordfighter. Could I get the name of my rescuer?"
"Princess Peach, but you can just call me Peach."
"Princess? But if you are, where is your crown?"
"It blew off when that strange wind picked up in the theater when it was invaded."
The Sparkla looked to the side. "Look there! A portal out of this place! Come, we will talk more once we have escaped."
Going through the portal felt strange, but in a good way. That was, until they entered the basement again, where the cold feeling returned.
"Alright, Princess. Explain what happened."
Peach told him everything up to the point where she arrived. He nodded periodically, then closed his eyes when she finished, considering something.
"I see...So this Madame Grape captured us all, and trapped the Sparklas in the basement for safe-keeping? But...while down there, I felt so drained. Perhaps she could be taking our Sparkle?"
"Taking your Sparkle?" Stella asked. "But how, and why? Sparkle is light magic, so what would a dark witch like Grape want with that?"
"Hmm...I wonder..."
"What's wrong?" Peach asked, worried.
"I suppose she could be using it to fulfill a wicked dream."
"What do you mean?"
"With all the Sparkle from the Sparklas and this theater combined, she can change the fate of the world."
"Huh?! That sounds bad, but I don't really understand."
He opened his eyes. "You see, this theater controls fate. If the shows suffer a bad ending, then so will the world. So we keep the endings happy and satisfying, in order to keep the world the nicest place we can. If the theater ends, so does the world."
"So if it gets destroyed..." Stella started.
"Oh no, not destroyed. If it were to get closed down for good, or we run out of ideas for plays, then that's when the world will suffer a terrible fate."
"That does sound bad," Peach said. "Now we really have to make sure Grape doesn't succeed. If she went through all this trouble, then we know she's definitely up to no good."
"Princess, can you put a stop to Madame Grape's villainous acts and save our theater? Please, it would mean so much to us all."
"Of course! Just because it sounds terrifying, that doesn't mean I was just going to back out! Plus, Grape sealed the doors shut, so it's not like I have a choice..."
"Thank you, Princess Peach! I will be supporting you, all of us will!" He bowed again.
Peach curtsied. "I will try my best, and I won't let you down."