Couple of the Wild (ZeLink)

Chapter 37: Dealing with Guardians

"Link... I thought you said we would be mining..." Zelda said curiously. She and Link had been sitting on a hill just a short distance away from the Akkala Tech Lab for what had felt like hours. Link, sitting peacefully, stayed silent as he looked up towards the clouds. Zelda couldn't help but frown a bit. What on this earth could he be thinking about?

"Link... Link!" Zelda called out, getting tired of waiting for Link's unlikely response from her first statement. Link's eyes darted her direction before he sighed.

"I guess there is no safe way of doing this..." Link mumbled as he stood, dusting himself off as he turned to face the still sitting Zelda. He frowned as he watched her look up at him, her arms tightly crossed.

"I hate when you do that," Zelda said with furrowed eyebrows. "You could at least respond when I say something to you..."

"Sorry, sorry," Link said loftily, raising his hand up in a simple apology. "There's just... ugh. There's something I need to teach you before we head to the islands. And it's not particularly a... safe... thing to learn."

Zelda stood, also dusting herself off as she gave Link a curious look.

"What do you mean, Link? I've hit a rock with an axe before... I'm sure it can't be too complicated." She said doubtfully. Link however shrugged.

"Yeah that's true, however it's not the hit it with an axe part I'm worried about. It's more the enemies I'm worried about there. You need to know how to defend yourself." Link said, putting his hands on his hips. Zelda raised an eyebrow.

"What enemies are there? Please don't tell me it's a Lynel..." Zelda said worriedly. Link shook his head as he stretched.

"No, but it's just as bad... arguably," Link said.

"Link, stop beating around the bush and tell me what I'm supposed to learn here!" Zelda said, trying to get to the point. "I'm going to have to learn about it sooner or later, and you trying to make it worry proof isn't getting us anywhere."

Link raised an eyebrow at Zelda's sudden firing at him.

"Alright then. I'll show you," Link said. He took a few steps over and waited. Zelda, curiosity showing in her face, watched. What was he waiting for?

Link brought his fingers up as he began quietly counting down from five. The moment the final finger went down, he took one step back towards his original position as a blue beam shot past him. The beam rang as it passed as Zelda's eyes grew wide at the sudden attack.

"Was that a Guardian beam?" Zelda asked loudly as Link walked back towards her. Link nodded.

"You see that rock over there?" Link asked, as he pointed down the pathway that led up towards the Akalla Tech Lab. "There's an old active Guardian body that keeps returning every Blood Moon. The islands are watched by Guardian Skywatchers. They will try and shoot down at us, and there's not a lot of fighting room on those islands. So..."

Link went into the Sheikah Slate before dumping a group of Traveler's Shields onto the ground.

"You will be learning to defend yourself against them."

Zelda stared down at the lump of shields on the ground before looking up at Link.

"I'm going to be... what?" she asked nervously.

"Defending yourself. In particular, getting used to blocking Guardian lasers," Link said as he picked up and inspected one of the circular shields. "I will obviously be there to defend you... However, if there's any time to learn about guardian beams and how to defend against them, it's now. If anything I should have taught you a while ago..." Link added on, remembering the battle with the guardian he had fought alongside Zelda a few weeks ago.