I was merely a normal character, but people have guided me on one too many mysterious quests leading from the Mushroom Kingdom to galaxies further than I once could have imagined.

No wonder I'm so damn exhausted.

I am old. I'm becoming forgotten. If it weren't for Princess Peach, I may have died out long ago, and be cast into the oblivion of Old Games. Does anyone remember Pong? Asteroids?

The games too old to play. Technology in the Real World had advanced. I have been moved and copied from Super Nintendos to N64's to Wiis.

Things are beginning to get boring. Bowser wrecks havoc, Princess Peach is kidnapped countless times. It's a recurring cycle.

Luigi is already being cast away into the Old Games. Birdo, Princess Daisy, all my friends are leaving me. Not on purpose, of course, but they just are.

Bob-ombs, the unforgettable, explosive annoying pests remain in only a few Worlds now.

The game of Mario is dying. With it, so will I.

But some people from the Real World want to save me. People keep my legacy alive with garb. Some people will come and say, "Mario! Oh, good times. 90's children only, oh what happened to him?"

I only wish I had a human mouth to communicate with them, and tell them, "Hey, you happened, you people who say Mario is dead. It only influences my downfall. Within years, I could be cast into the Old Games!"

As of now, I'm sick. Literally, sick. Aged too far, too fast. I mean, PacMan is doing fine at it's, what, forty years or something?

And sick of this repetitive cycle I've been drawn into.

See, there is not just one Mario. Of course not. That would be overwhelming. I am, I suppose, the being of Mario. I live within the technological universe that connects all games. I am not on your screen, more I am behind it. Doesn't even hurt when a Koopa steps

Waluigi, Wario, even Shy Guy have all fell to the Old Games. Our evil twins, I'll say our rivalries weren't the most fun, but they had their meaning.

Here I am, sitting on the front porch of Peach's Castle. It's a sunny day, the grass is green, the water is blue. Like usual.

Apparently Toad and Toadette are getting married. Finally! I'm not a romantic, more considered a hero, but I've been anticipating their coupling for YEARS. Literally, and it's been getting on my nerves. Toads are just so naive.

The wedding is happy, cute, adorable. Of course, it has to be. Toadette's half NPC already, she'll be falling into the old Games soon enough.

Mario Kart keeps us alive. All the old characters are only hanging on by that hope. Everyone can race in Mario Kart. The characters live there, when they're not in the real game.

But Toad has a better side. The persona of innocent, cute Toad doesn't cut it for him. Toadette is losing her underlying personality. So is everyone. I hang on, we all try to hang on.

It's not that fun to hang on, either. People get hurt. Eventually, we will become one with the game and it will be no more than a game lost in ages.

We are created through the players. Through the passion and love in their hearts. But nowadays, the players know they can find another video game if theirs dies, or they finish. The whole Game World is at stake, on the brink of extinction.

"Where're you taking your honeymoon?" Birdo asks Toad and Toadette. They reply in sync, "World Three, Super Mario Bros Wii world. The snow is so beautiful!"

"Really?" I ask. Of course, I know full well how pretty that world is. Never been there myself, but I know it. It's also dangerous. Not exactly a vacation sight unless they'd like to encounter ice-throwing Koopas wherever they step.

"Yeah, it's gonna be so cool!" Toad exclaims.

"Toad, we've gotta talk," I say. Toadette whimpers as I pull him away. We find a quiet corner and sit down. Toad finally looses his wimpy face, and gets a bit tougher, like he usually is. Behind our front-face, we're all grumpy old people, yet a little more than that.

We never discuss all the matters of our world together- that'll expose us all. But we know what lies behind everyone's masks, but we still hide it.

"Mario, what is it?' Toad asks, groaning. "You understand Toadette finally said yes? I wanted it to be perfect! Couldn't this have waited?"

"Birdo. She's especially pixelated today. I'm worried she's gonna fall soon."

"Mario, I've suspected her falling into the Old Games for so long. I'm surprised she's held on this long. Mario Kart isn't even enough, is it?"

"I don't think so. It may be. We'll just have to wait and see. There's no way to get her back if she falls."

"It'll be Pong all over again."

"Tails from Sonic."

"Parasect from Pokemon."

"I know…"

Mario stopped short. The world shook. "Another drop?"

"Beta testing for a new game. There's gonna be drop soon!"

Stupid drops. Even just the beta testing would drop new items into our world, new places, new Worlds, new Galaxies.

We went to hide under the nearest object, just to avoid being hit by whatever random object(s) happened to fall out of the sky.

I watched as a black pixelated hole opened in the sky, and a blurred image dropped out.

Everyone crowded around it. The thing wasn't a Power-Up, or a 1-Up. All of the gang, Goomba, Dry Bone, Peach, Daisy, even Bowser, we sat there pondering it's existence.

It was a small silver box, luckily no one was in the way to get hurt, with colorful gears, glowing buttons, shiny switches and an indented area where it looked like a hand could fit perfectly inside. An electronic Mario World hand.

No one was brave enough to try. So Bowser went first.

He pushed his hand into the little area, but nothing happened. He banged on the box, so carefully, Shy Guy slipped it away from him.

"What's up with it? GRR!" Bowser clenched his fists. I knew it was only an act. Bowser was a very frustrated man- dinosaur, and he had difficulty controlling himself. He also had a great sense of pride…

He hated how the Real World had put him off as an evil, uncontrollable, selfish monster.

The same way how Toadette had hated how she was put off as innocent and permissive, and how Peach was put off as the damsel in distress.

I take the device, mustering all courage. Bowser, strangely, does not object. I take it to my Mushroom, and stare at it for hours pondering it's existence- this time alone.

I flip a switch or two, place my hand in it, sit back, and wait for something to happen, but nothing does. It's a Power-Up you have to unlock, and no one in the Real World has yet, I conclude. It's merely been created, yet it's powers have not been unlocked.

We've always dreamed that someday we'd have something to help us, and every new Power- Up that drops gives us hope and dismay. Because of all this, we've become faithless.

Even in each other…

So when I dream that night, and a sequence of numbers, letters and colors comes into my mind, I instantly check the device. Maybe it's a sign.

One- W- Blue- Six- H- Yellow- Four- N- Yellow.

I examine the box. The first switch is green. I flip it, and automatically turns blue. One-Blue.

After doing that, I turn the dial underneath the switch to W. One-W- Blue. It's all falling in the place, and I'm surprised I could make such a correlation. So I continue the pattern, in the exact order, because- who know? Maybe it has to be that exact way. Probably.

One- W- Blue- Six- H- Yellow- Four- N- Yellow.

I slip my hand into the special compartment, and watch as the world swirls in various shades of rainbows, from magenta to olive green, to the fire that burns in all World 8's.

And all the neons flash before me- it's dazing, entrancing, menacing, inspiring. It hurts my head, most of all. My eyes flash before me and I start to feel sick. Everywhere. A stomachache- the same feeling in my left ear, in my ankles, knees, and eventually everywhere else.

It feels as if every part of my body is going to vomit. But that feelings finally releases it's firm hold on me, and everything turns black. I still spin- I can feel the wind very well.

The once stomachache turns to soreness, and the soreness turns to an agonizing pain. Starting in my head, spreading down, lingering in my stomach like a rock, and to every square inch of my body.

Can you feel your spleen when it hurts? How about your blood? Ever felt your blood hurt? Every last nerve in your body, your hair, perhaps?

It's not familiar, nor is it probable, maybe not even possible, but I know I felt it. While I perch the brink of insanity, about read to topple over, I finally regain my cool.

Thank God for that, whatever deity or mystical force lies beyond the world that my friends and I live in.

Insane Mario wouldn't be that good, but I've already been driven near insanity by the boredom I've suffered. And I know invoked this upon me.

This Power-Up has done something seriously weird to me. I don't know how or why or what or when. Hell, I can't even tell left from right.

Trying to figure where I am is pointless, since I've come to the conclusion that I am nowhere.

But I finally see something.

You see, I've seen some "realistic" video games, just glimpses. Apparently, Mario is not realistic, and I can tell. We're a little shiny on our heads, which are too big, along with large hands, short stature, mushroom heads?

Well, let's say I'm looking at my hands. They're leaner. Longer. Bonier. More detail. I see the knuckle folds. My fingernails are short, a little frayed.

Wait… I have fingernails? Knuckle folds? Detailed hands? My short, stubby, glossy hands with no detail are these?

I'm just wondering what became of the world.

Then I see everything.

Green diamond shaped things hiding in the plants. I feel something heavy on my back. A child carving something into a stick, or carving something out of the stick, I can't tell which. Maybe both.

I doubt I'm in the Mushroom Kingdom anymore. Actually, I'm assured of it when I stare at myself in a short puddle.

My mustache is not so curly, not so shiny. My hat- my hat!- looks like a red bag on my head, and strands fall out, actual strands, not chunks, and I can see the fibers in the fabric and hair.

Lean face.

No potbelly. No overalls. No balls for feet. I'm wearing a red tunic, tied up in the front, brown boots.

Where the hell am I?