There is always a thing as too much stress. Everyone always has a limit.

Unfortunately, Luigi feared that his older brother Mario was nearing the end of his.

For the past couple of months or so, Bowser had been unleashing one hell of an invasion in the Mushroom Kingdom. At first, he started off simply. He sent massive amounts of troops to each of the lands, and re-conquered all of the fortresses with ease. Then, he started the real plan, kidnapping Princess Peach. He had his son Bowser Jr. sneak into the castle and whisk her away while everyone was busy running in panic.

Of course, this wasn't a new thing, and both Mario and Luigi were plenty ready to head on over to Dark Land and rescue her. They traveled their way through all eight worlds, confronted and finally defeated Bowser after a long and arduous battle, then safely brought the princess home.

Happy ending, right?

Well, if only things remained that way...

Bowser, however, fully expected the defeat. Turns out it was just another step in his "oh-so-brilliant" plan. The very next day, without giving the brothers as much as a respite, Bowser stormed into the Mushroom Kingdom again, attacking and quickly invading the nearby lands, with twice the number of minions as before. Once again, he ran off with the princess.

As per usual, Mario and Luigi dropped everything and yet again embarked on another week-long journey through the eight worlds to save their monarch. Again, they succeeded, and then brought her home. The princess was thoroughly grateful for their help.

Unfortunately, the very next day, it was the same thing all over again. Bowser invaded the land again and kidnapped Peach again. Again, the Mario Bros. set out after her and rescued her yet again after battling another risky lava-induced battle with the Koopa King. By this time, it was clearly annoying everyone that Bowser would keep kidnapping Peach. Didn't he know what would happen every single time? Didn't he know that he would be defeated each time? Why keep going?

The day right after they brought Peach home, Bowser came and attacked again. But this time, it came with a twist. He went and snatched Luigi, too. Now he had two captives to bargain with.

Of course, all this sent Mario into overdrive. It was bad enough that Bowser had to kidnap Peach for the fourth time in less than three weeks, but now Luigi? This was insane!

The red-clad plumber immediately set forth to save his brother and the princess. However, it was much harder than before. Bowser had somehow managed to disable or steal all the Floating Blocks, so all the coins and Power-Ups were gone. Mario now had to rely on only his speed, strength, will power, and the occasional Invisible Block that he was lucky enough to hit.

By the time he managed to reach the castle, Mario was clearly tired and battled Bowser with half the vigor and energy he normally had. He was tired. But as luck would have it, he succeeded. Both Luigi and Peach were overjoyed at being rescued, and showered their hero with countless praise as they trekked their way back to Peach's Castle. Now that his sibling and his princess were safe again, Mario felt that he could relax.

However, that brief respite didn't last. The next morning, just after the sun has risen, Bowser came storming into the kingdom once again, roaring and breathing fire and whatnot. He had his multiple airships blast Bullet Bills into the castle and the village, using whatever resources necessary to scare the hell out of all the half-asleep citizens. Needless to say, the invasion was successful, and Bowser managed to run off with Peach, Luigi, and now Toadsworth, all before breakfast.

Bleary-eyed, Mario once again set forth to save his friends. But his energy was being seriously drained. The Floating Blocks that housed Power-Ups and Coins were still missing, and now all the Toad Houses had been either raided or had mysteriously disappeared, so Mario only had a handful of mushrooms that he managed to obtain from the castle beforehand. And as if things weren't already bad enough, there were now twice as many enemies, and they were quite stronger than the ones Mario normally encountered. Just his luck, huh?

As usual, Mario encountered Bowser again in the dark castle and battled him. You would think that this would be nothing more than a repetitive thing each time, but Bowser had actually planned this ahead. He had totally different battles each time his nemesis faced him, so Mario never really knew what to expect. Something was always different.

Once again, Bowser was soundly beaten (thanks to a hidden Fire Flower in a certain Floating Block), and Mario then returned home with Luigi, Peach and Toadsworth.

However, the next morning, it was all the same routine again. Bowser came crashing through the walls of the castle, before the sun had even risen this time. He snatched Peach again, as well as Luigi, Toadsworth, and a few helpless Toad children who were unlucky enough to be separated from their parents during the whole chaotic ordeal. The number of captives were rising.

All this was taking its toll on Mario. He should have known that Bowser would have attacked first thing in the morning by now! Why on earth had he let his guard down? Why? And now, because of him, not only were Peach, Luigi and Toadsworth in danger, three innocent Toad children all below the age of ten were also in danger. He had let all this happen.

As he trudged through each world slowly, determined to save his friends and family, Mario's overly-tired mind started thinking about not-so-nice things. He began to feel that he wasn't doing very well as a protector. How could anyone call him a hero when Bowser was able to snatch his loved ones away as quickly as Mario could bring them back? Was he failing? Or was he just not good enough?

All of this was clearly stressing him out. He wanted his friends back, and he wanted to kick Bowser's can all the way to Kingdom Come, but he still felt as though he was failing as a brother's keeper and a princess's guardian, as well as a kingdom's hero. Bowser just kept snatching them away, right under his nose. This wasn't fair.

He was indeed exhausted by the time he finally reached Dark Lands (in about twice the time it normally took him to get there), but he just couldn't bring himself to rest or take a break. Not when Luigi, Peach, Toadsworth, and the children were in potential danger. What kind of a friend would he be if he just snoozed all night while his friends were probably sitting in those dark and creepy cages, fearing for their safety?

It was this thought that pushed him to keep going, no matter how much his body screamed at him to rest. It also didn't help that he didn't bother to eat, as well. All that seemed trivial to him. Saving his loved ones was his number one priority.

When he came to the final showdown with Bowser, poor Mario was so tired that Bowser basically just swatted him around like a rag doll. After the first three hits, Mario was out. He couldn't stand up anymore, but that was because he was thoroughly exhausted, not because of the multiple bruises that Bowser pounded onto him.

Surprisingly, after Mario went down, Bowser merely laughed. He congratulated the exhausted plumber for at least trying to defeat him. He then released his six captives and allowed them to leave with Mario, which definitely surprised them all.

But just as they were about to leave, Bowser called after them in a big and sinister voice, "I'll be back soon, so you better watch out."