Utterly shell-shocked by the news, the eldest Know-it-all brother turned on the main speaker line. His voice quavered over loudspeakers around the cartridge.

"All people concerned, please report to the Infirmary."

The youngest brother's gaze was glued in shock to a progress screen that showed the file status, until his elder brothers included him in a three-way embrace.

Malon was sitting despondently in a chair when the alert sounded. She looked up in shock, and ran out of the room before anyone else could say anything. It had something to do with Okareena, she was sure of it.

Halfway there, she ran into the six sages, who were hurrying to the same location, Zelda and Sheik among them. Saria was still perched on Darunia's shoulder, yet this time she was wide awake and alert. Only her small stature and short legs stopped her from running, herself. She'd never be able to keep up.

Ganondorf dared to look out of the study. He steeled himself for the disappointing sight he had already laid eyes on. He was sorely mistaken. He rushed to his friend's bedside, where Koume and Kotake were already fussing.

Link's eyes were open, and he was looking dimly around the room.

"LINK!" Ganondorf bellowed in ecstatic surprise. He laughed out loud as he ran over.

Link pushed himself up into a sitting position, only to be tackled and winded by a flying hug from Ganondorf.

"You're alright!" Ganondorf said in relief.

"Uh!" Link grunted. "Lemme catch my breath..."

Smiling apologetically, Ganondorf released him.

"You had me worried there." He said with a mock-irritated smirk.

Link grinned in vague rendition of his usual, 'you caught me' way. "Sorry about that."

"And what was all that dramatic nonsense before you passed out, anyway?"

The expression faded into a quizzical look. "Dramatic nonsense?"

"LINK!" Saria shrieked, and vaulted off of Darunia's shoulder to tackle Link on the bed.

"Ack!" Link cried out, and landed heavily on his back.

"Oh, I'm so sorry." Saria apologized, getting up off him and the bed. "I was just so worried."

A few beds away, Doc and Okareena had just awakened to the same treatment from Zelda and Malon.

No one had previously expected the wave of happy relief that filled the room now.

"How are you feeling, Doc?" Zelda asked.

"...Doc...?" the bedridden man she questioned looked slightly confused.

Zelda looked around, hoping someone could explain.

Kotake walked over.

"Link's file has been restored with the same name. Doc and Okareena's have not yet had such activity. They are going through the stall period between game entries." She explained. "After the post-corruption shock wears off, they'll be perfectly fine."

Zelda looked wholly relieved as she realized what happened. She hugged Doc again. Sorting his thoughts out, he returned the gesture.

Okareena merely glanced dumbly around the room, then smiled in amusement at Malon, the look in his eye telling that he was putting up an act.

"How do you know all that?" Ganondorf asked.

"We've been in steady contact with the Know-it-all brothers, silly. Do you think we wouldn't be, in a case like this?" Koume explained, entering the room.

Ganondorf nodded slowly. "So, he won't be quite the same as he was, even after the shock from the corruption wears off?" he asked.

"Not quite the same." Kotake agreed. "But you've seen him go through deletions before, so you'll know what to expect."

Ganondorf nodded, then looked to Link with a smile.

Link returned the relieved look, and then cast his gaze on the still-sleeping boys.

"What about them? Are they okay?" he asked.

"They were more receptive to the whole incident from the start. They'll require a little more recovery time. Your junior shouldn't take quite as long, as the file being written should give him a bit of a jump start."

Link nodded in understanding.

Ganondorf's smile brightened suddenly. Link noticed it, and turned to face him inquiringly.

"Hey. Before you passed out, you told me that if anything happened to you, I had something to tell Saria for you. Do you remember?" Ganondorf asked.

Link stared into the distance for a few seconds, composing his thoughts. He twitched slightly. Ganondorf grinned. That twitch was indicative of him remembering.

Saria grinned at Link. She knew what this was about. Without warning, she tackle-hugged him a second time. This time, he was ready for it.

He wrapped his arms around her, and smiled at Ganondorf over her shoulder.

"I guess our bet's completely through, then, huh?"

END

(A/N: Not the great finish I was hoping for, but I'm still happy with it. I apologize if the 180 from comedy to drama bothered anyone. I haven't touched this story in years, and my writing style has changed drastically since this began. Also, I was having trouble with keeping continuity before, and this seemed to click into place well.

As the newly updated summary reads, this was based on true events. The legendary 'Destructo-child' is a nephew of my neighbor. His name is Cody, and he became good friends with my younger brother a few months before that fateful day.

I have been, and always will be, VERY protective of my games and systems. That one day, we happened to be borrowing my buddy's Gameshark when Cody arrived. Reluctant as I was to let him touch my beloved N64, I had no ground on which to prevent him, so I watched on in anxious fear as he was unleashed on my baby. He had already once before dropped the system, and successfully contributed to the destruction of a controller by beating it on the floor in frustration.

He eventually grew bored, and wanted to play outside. My brother agreed, and I quietly rejoiced. Before he left, though, he saved the game, with many Gameshark cheats active at the time. I was in a devastated panic, as I knew many friends who lost or ruined data this way.

I couldn't bring myself to check on my game for almost three days. When I did, the file names were completely scrambled. In a gut-wrenching panic, I turned off the system.

The next day, I dared to check on the game again. The third file was wiped clean, and the remaining two were scrambled even worse than before. I checked again the next day, and the second file was wiped. A third time and all three files were completely erased.

After all three were gone, I tried starting over. Luckily, nothing else was affected, and I started new games. After that, Cody was forbidden to even be left alone near our games without strict supervision, for a good number of years.

Today, my game is fine, as if nothing had ever happened, and 'Destructo-child' has matured significantly, to the point of being trustworthy. He hasn'e damaged anything game-related since. Now, my wooden sword collection is another story. It never was the same after that...

All in all, I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. It's been a trip, for sure.)