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Link silently cursed up a blue streak in every language he knew, his internal tirade going on for at least the past five minutes. He’d had some rough moments since he’d woken up in the Shrine of Resurrection with no memory of anything except his own name and how to wield a sword, but this one was certainly making the top ten. If only he hadn’t left his horse behind when he’d decided to explore this ridge!
His mental cursing grew even more vile as yet another beam of light passed right over his head, so close he could feel the tips of his hair burning. The Guardian was getting closer. And he was running out of stamina to keep dodging its attacks.
And then, of course, things got worse.
A familiar roar. Link’s eyes became impossibly wide as he realized just how much trouble he was in. In his mad rush to escape the Guardian, he had apparently stumbled into the territory of a Lynel. He spared a second to glance to his side, spotting the monster in the distance. Only a Blue Lynel, but still. While normally he could have defeated one of those beasts with ease, he didn’t usually face one while also dodging the attacks of a persistent Guardian Stalker. He sent up a silent prayer to the goddesses that for once his luck would be good and the Lynel would consider the Guardian just as much an intruder into its territory as Link, and that it would target the machine rather than him.
A shock arrow slammed into the ground near his feet and this time Link actually cursed out loud. It looked like the goddesses weren’t paying attention today, and his luck was just as bad as usual.
Knowing he had no choice but to try to fight at least one of them off, Link abruptly changed direction, dashing off to the side and into a small copse of trees that lined the edge of the Lynel’s field. The sudden change in direction threw both of his pursuers off, and the Guardian’s beam and the Lynel’s arrows both sailed into the dirt far away from him. Link took the few precious seconds he was given to pull his bow from his back, grabbing the first arrow his fingers brushed out of his quiver.
The Guardian was closer, and thus the easier target, but the bomb arrow Link had drawn at random didn’t even seem to make a dent in its hard outer shell. Its glowing eye swivelled to face him, taking advantage of Link’s useless attack to lock onto his new position hidden by the small saplings and bushes that surrounded him. He could hear the familiar sounds of its beam starting to charge, and Link stepped back to get a better angle, this time making sure to pull one of his precious ancient arrows from his quiver. The arrow was heavy in his hands, but he lined up the shot smoothly, seemingly unaware of the extra weight. He drew back, taking one more second to ensure his aim was true, and then released.
But the moment his fingers let go of the bowstring, the Blue Lynel attacked. Link had been so focused on the Guardian, he hadn’t realized that the Lynel had approached, and he yelped as he was forced to awkwardly roll away from the heavy swing of the Lynel’s spear. He didn’t have time to see what happened to his arrow, only hearing the distinctive sound of its impact against the Guardian’s shell, but he knew he’d missed his target. The Guardian had been dealt a glancing blow at best, and it was still a threat.
Only, right now at least, the Lynel had higher priority in Link’s mind. It swung its spear again, and Link scrambled ungracefully backwards on his hands and feet like a crab to avoid getting skewered. His frantic movement actually pushed him towards the Guardian, and he found himself ducking under its massive form. Rather than stay there and get crushed when it realized he was below it, he flipped over as best he could in the tight space, before crawling his way out as quickly as he could. In the back of his mind, he was very grateful that no one was watching this fight right now. He doubted he looked even remotely graceful as he frantically tried to stay alive. Some hero of Hyrule he was turning out to be.
He emerged from the shadow of the Guardian and finally gained his feet, turning to face his two opponents with his bow drawn and another ancient arrow in hand. But as soon as his vision landed on the pair, his eyes went wide as he watched the unthinkable happen.
It seemed that the Lynel had become frustrated with the Guardian standing between it and its prey, because it roared up at the Guardian in rage before shooting one of its shock arrows point-blank into the Guardian’s face. While normally a Guardian, especially a Guardian Stalker, would shrug off a shock arrow like a Moblin slapping away a mosquito, Link could see that the stray shot of his ancient arrow had actually managed to score a groove in the armor covering the Guardian’s head, revealing the mechanisms normally protected beneath. The Lynel’s shock arrow found this opening, and Link stared in disbelief as electricity suddenly arced over the Guardian’s form, causing it to tremble and jerk like a Lizafols struck by lightning. It went on for only a few seconds, but when the power surge ended, the Guardian let out a sad little beep that Link had never heard them make before, before collapsing to the ground while its lights flickered off and on.
Link stood for a moment in stunned silence; he’d never seen a Guardian be taken down that spectacularly before. But then a familiar growl drew his attention, and Link remembered that the Guardian hadn’t been the only threat he’d been facing.
He barely had a moment to duck as a shock arrow whizzed over his head, the Lynel charging around the body of its defeated foe to engage him. Deciding that the Lynel was closing in too fast for his bow to be practical, Link quickly switched it out for the Master Sword, adjusting his grip on the hilt as his opponent barreled towards him. At the last second Link jumped to the side, the Lynel snarling in rage and raking out at him with its claws, but missing by a hair. Link took advantage of the Lynel’s stumble to dart in and pepper the monster’s side with quick and powerful strikes, the Master Sword struggling to cut through its thick hide. All too soon, though, the Lynel had recovered, and Link was forced to jump back again.
Their dance carried them across the field, Link dodging blows and racing in to strike whenever he caught the Lynel flat-footed. Normally a fight against a Blue Lynel would have never taken Link this long, but after climbing the cliff earlier and almost immediately having to run for his life from that Guardian, he was more than a little winded, and he hadn’t had time to guzzle any elixirs or energizing food to help him recover. He was tiring out, and he knew it.
And then it happened; a foxhole hidden in the grass. His foot slipped into the hole, his ankle twisting and he let out a cry of pain. The stumble actually gave him a few extra seconds of life, as the Lynel’s spear whooshed through the air where his head had been a moment before, but that was the end of his luck. His foot was stuck, his ankle injured, and the Lynel was far too close for it to miss its next attack. It roared in triumph, and Link braced himself for the blow.
But it was the Lynel who was struck. There was a familiar whine, and then a beam of light shot across the field and exploded against the Lynel’s side, knocking it over with a pained roar and causing dust and debris to sprinkle Link’s face and arms like tiny needles. His eyes squeezed shut and his arms came up instinctively to protect his face, so he missed the next few seconds, but when he managed to clear his vision, he was once again left reeling.
The Guardian had apparently recovered, because it was charging across the field, blasting the Lynel back with several quick shots from its beam. The Lynel screamed in pain and fury, but the Guardian never paused, walking steadily towards the two of them as it fired. It reached them quickly, and to Link’s further surprise, it planted itself firmly between him and the Lynel, blocking him from any stray attacks. It made it difficult for Link to follow the rest of the battle, but all too soon he heard the death cries of the Lynel and then a final thump as its massive body hit the ground. The Lynel had been defeated.
There was a short moment when all was still, and then abruptly the Guardian’s massive head swivelled to fix its glowing eye on Link, and he cursed as he realized he should have been taking advantage of the distraction to get himself out of the foxhole and away from the fight. Instead he was trapped, and there was nowhere left for him to run.
Only, the Guardian wasn’t attacking. It was watching him, yes, but rather than its usual threatening pink glow, the Guardian’s lines were glowing a soothing blue, not unlike the colours of the shrines Link had discovered dotting the landscape.
When it saw it had his attention, it let out a series of beeps, the tones sounding almost musical to Link’s ears. He blinked at it in confusion. It beeped again. Another confused blink.
There was a long pause, and then the Guardian’s eye seemed to sweep over Link’s figure, taking him in. Link flinched as one of those long mechanical legs suddenly reached towards him, but rather than try to step on him or strike him, the Guardian simply hooked a claw on the back of his tunic, grasping the fabric with a delicacy that Link hadn’t known they were capable of. Then, with a gentle tug, the Guardian lifted him out of the foxhole, before depositing him carefully on the soft grass nearby.
Link was completely baffled now. This was beyond anything he’d ever seen before, and for a moment he wondered if the Lynel had actually managed to kill him, and this was all just some kind of strange hallucination he was experiencing as he bled to death in the middle of the field. But the painful twinge in his ankle reminded him that, no, this certainly felt real. For some reason, a Guardian Stalker wasn’t attacking him. If anything, based on its earlier actions, it was protecting him. He couldn’t help it; he tilted his head at the Guardian, at a total loss.
The Guardian processed this, and then slowly its long legs heaved until its entire body was tilted at the same angle as Link’s head. He blinked, and then tilted his head the other way. The Guardian copied him once again. Curious, Link lifted a hand and waved at the Guardian, wiggling his fingers. The Guardian’s front leg lifted and its claw opened and shut in its own attempt at waving.
Bizarre. This was completely and utterly bizarre. Link stared at the Guardian in open wonder.
Eventually the Guardian seemed to realize that Link wasn’t going to give it anything else to mimic, because it let out another series of beeps, different from the first. It repeated them once more before Link realized that the sound was kind of familiar, and twice more before he figured out what it reminded him of. Grasping at his belt, Link pulled out the Sheikah Slate which activated with a chime that sounded almost exactly like the beeps the Guardian was making.
The screen itself was familiar, but as he flicked over to his runes, and icon had appeared that was not. It was a set of blue rings surrounding a dot, the icon perfectly matching the appearance of a Guardian’s eye. Immediately Link tapped on the icon, and the screen opened a brand new display that he’d never seen before.
It was similar to the display’s he’d seen when he’d piloted the Divine Beasts in the past. A diagram of the Guardian in front of him appeared, with various parts of its body marked off. The head in particular had a glowing circle on the area where the ancient arrow had cut it open, and when he tapped on the circle, several lines of text scrolled by, listing what looked like damage reports and repair protocols. Most of it used terminology beyond Link’s understanding, so he quickly backed out of that screen before he could go cross-eyed.
Back on the main display screen, he noticed an icon in the lower corner that had a glowing blue dot on its top corner that flashed meaningfully. Link tapped on the icon, and gasped as yet another screen full of text opened up. But this time, it was text he could understand.
Class: Stalker
Line: ZTM-2
Unit: 16825/E
Designation: [Enter Designation]
Command User: [Enter Username]
Status: Defense {damage detected repairs needed}
Statement: No further threats detected in immediate area
Query: Is [Enter Username] damaged?
There was a blinking line at the bottom of the screen. After a few seconds, another line of text appeared below.
Query: Is [Enter Username] damaged?
The line repeated every few seconds, occasionally the line about detecting threats appeared as well. Eventually the repeated text started disappearing into the top of the screen, though the text about the Class, Line, and Status was always visible. The blinking line always remained as well.
It took Link far too long to figure out what he was looking at. When he did, he glanced up at the Guardian hovering protectively over him, eyeing it speculatively. The Guardian was talking to him through the Sheikah Slate. It also took in an embarrassing amount of time to realize he should probably talk back.
“I’m okay,” he said slowly, splitting his attention between the Guardian he was addressing, and the display in his hands. The lines of text halted for a moment, and then another line appeared.
Query: [Enter Username] is undamaged?
“My name is Link,” he said with a huff, thinking of Cherry back at the Akkala Ancient Tech Lab and how she never seemed to know his name either.
The Guardian let out a low beep, and then the screen highlighted the [Enter Username] part of the text.
Username = Link? the screen asked him in cool blue letters. The words “ Yes” and “No” appeared on buttons below.
He tapped on the “Yes” and the text screen updated, the slight change visible at the top of the display
Class: Stalker
Line: ZTM-2
Unit: 16825/E
Designation: [Enter Designation]
Command User: Link
Status: Defense of Link {damage detected repairs needed}
Statement: Command User has been assigned
Statement: Status has been updated
Query: Is Link damaged?
That was a good question. Link took stock of his body, testing it for aches and pains. He had several scrapes and minor cuts on his face and arms from the earlier explosion, plus little wounds here and there when the Lynel had managed to get close. He was also rather tired and achy, but he’d been able to keep going with worse injuries and less energy than this before. His only concern was his ankle, which still throbbed with every beat of his heart. Time to see how bad it was.
He managed to get to his feet, but after putting the lightest bit of pressure on his injured foot, he hissed and stumbled, only being saved from landing face first in the dirt by the Guardian’s leg shooting out to catch him. He braced himself on the cool metal, glaring down at his injury. While he could probably make it to civilization on his own eventually, even with the twisted ankle, it would be very slow going and rather painful. He wished he’d thought to cook up a few more fairy tonics last time he’d found a cooking pot.
Statement: Link is damaged; mobility impaired.
Statement: Status has been updated
Statement: Seeking medical attention
Link barely had time to glance at the Sheikah Slate when the Guardian let out a new series of tones before he was suddenly being scooped up by the back of his tunic again. He let out a little yelp, but all too soon he found himself being deposited on the top of the Guardian’s wide head, fitting comfortably between the decorative knobs on top. He grabbed at the two on either side of himself as the Guardian began to move, its powerful legs carrying them quickly across the open field towards their goal. He knew Serenne Stable was probably the closest settlement, and that they would eventually reach Rito Village if they kept going, but Link wasn’t sure if the Guardian knew any of that. Still, he supposed travelling by Guardian was faster than travelling on a wounded ankle, so he resolved to just sit back and relax and let the Guardian choose the path.
It wasn’t until Serenne Stable became visible in the distance and the first panicked screams reached his ears that he it occurred to him that a Guardian Stalker coming towards them might cause a bit of panic. Biting back more curses, Link started to climb down from the Guardian’s head.
Immediately the Guardian stopped, letting out a beep that sounded almost scolding. Link couldn’t climb down and look at the Slate at the same time though, so the Guardian was forced to wait as he clambered down to the ground. Once he landed, he stared up at the guardian’s glowing eye.
“Stay,” he told it firmly, before glancing at the display.
Statement: Please remain seated while we are in motion
Statement: It is dangerous to climb on [Enter Designation] while we are in motion, please desist
Statement: Ceasing motion; Link is no longer seated safely
Query: Link commands [Enter Designation] to hold position here?
He nodded to the Guardian. “Stay,” he repeated. And then he turned back towards the stable, limping along to keep the pressure off of his ankle. He was worried for a moment that the Guardian might follow him after all, trying to help, but it obeyed his command, waiting patiently by the roadside with its eye fixed firmly on his back.
It was Zumi who dared to come out to help him, the young woman’s wide, frightened eyes darting between him and the Guardian watching them from the distance. But despite her fear, she quickly threw his arm over her shoulder, helping him limp his way over to the stable. As soon as they were safely within range of the building, she started hissing frantic questions to him, but all he could do was shrug. He barely understood what was going on himself; he didn’t have any answers.
She and Sprinn bandaged up his leg for him while Link took advantage of their cooking pot to prepare some dishes to help him heal. He shared a few with the stable workers as thanks, and the first bite of his meal seemed to calm them both. It was hard to stay stressed when your belly was full of Creamy Heart Soup after all. Eventually they seemed to chalk the whole thing up to more of Link’s oddness, which everyone in Hyrule was rapidly coming to get used to, and they returned to their work. So long as the Guardian didn’t seem inclined to attack, they were content to ignore it, though they received noticeably fewer travelling merchants coming from that direction on the path that day.
By the time the sun was setting, Link’s ankle seemed to be on the mend through a combination of Sprinn and Zumi’s care and his own special brand of cooking. He left the bandage on for support, just in case, but he was able to get to his feet without any trouble as the last rays of sunlight started to vanish over the horizon.
“You plan on staying for the night?” Sprinn asked him as the rest of the stable’s inhabitants started to head inside. “Our beds would be much more comfortable than the hard ground.”
But Link merely shook his head, jerking his thumb in the Guardian’s direction. Sprinn’s brow furrowed at the sight and he hummed under his breath. “Fair enough. I’ll be honest, even if it’s not up to anything, I’ll be happier when that thing moves on and leaves us be. Those Guardians make me mighty uncomfortable.” Then his gaze focused back on Link. “Are you sure you’re going to be able to take care of it? I don’t want you getting yourself any more banged up than you already are.”
Link just tossed him a careless grin, already heading out towards the Guardian.
“Be careful, young man!” Sprinn called after him before shaking his head, apparently giving up on the crazy youth. The stable master disappeared back inside the stable to tend to his guests that weren’t insane.
There was no moon that night, but the Guardian’s glowing body lit up the area around it like a torch, making it easy for Link to pick his way across the ground without stumbling. When he reached the Guardian’s side, he pulled out his Sheikah Slate again, tapping through the screens until he reached the display where the Guardian could speak to him.
Query: Link is repaired?
Link proudly displayed his healed ankle, hopping on it a few times just to demonstrate that he was all back to normal.
Statement: Link seems to be fully operational and undamaged once more
Statement: [Enter Designation] is
Statement: [Enter Designation] is
Statement: [Enter Designation] is
The Guardian let out an angry beep, the lights on its body flashing as it seemed to struggle with something. And then...
Statement: [Enter Designation] is happy
Link stared at that little word on the screen for a moment, biting the inside of his cheek. He was pretty sure something significant was happening, but he didn’t know enough about Guardians or Sheikah Technology or really any of this kind of stuff to understand. He only knew enough to get the technology to do mostly what he wanted it to do; that was about the extent of his expertise, and as far as he was concerned that was all the expertise he needed. But right now he couldn’t help but wish that Zelda was with him. He had a feeling she’d be beside herself with excitement over this development.
Only, Zelda wasn’t here. In fact, the closest people who might be able to help him were all the way in Necluda and Akkala, on the other side of Hyrule. It would take weeks to make it all the way to one of the Sheikah, even if he rode on the Guardian’s head like before. While he could warp there in seconds with the Sheikah Slate, the Guardian would be left behind, completely defeating the purpose.
Sighing, Link realized that regardless, he would have to make the journey. This Guardian seemed to have imprinted on him somehow, and he didn’t think it would be a good idea to just leave it wandering around Hyrule. At best, it might return to its previous state and start hurting people. At worst, it might get attacked itself, and after it had protected him and helped him, Link would feel awful if he returned the favour by letting the thing be destroyed. No, he needed to take it to Purah or Robbie; let them figure out what had happened to it to make it change its behaviour.
With that in mind, Link started walking, gesturing for the Guardian to follow. It beeped questioningly at him, but when it tried to reach out and scoop him up again, he dodged out of reach. While riding the Guardian would be faster, he wasn’t exactly sure how to steer it yet, and they needed to get to Necluda as soon as possible. Wandering around wouldn’t help.
Reluctantly the Guardian seemed to get the hint, beeping sadly but trudging along in his wake. Link bit back the urge to pat it as a reward for good behaviour like one of his horses.
Now if only he could actually ride a horse, but he doubted Sprinn would release any of his horses to him while the Guardian was nearby out of fear of them getting hurt. Ah well, maybe he could find a wild herd while they were travelling…
Link soon learned that travelling with a Guardian was a bit of a mixed blessing. On the one hand, he rarely had to worry about being attacked by monsters anymore. Those that spotted the Guardian coming quickly turned and ran the other way, while those that didn’t were introduced to its eye beam. Even other Guardians seemed to ignore them, though Link made a point of avoiding them just in case being near the Calamity-controlled Guardians would somehow reset his own. This was the smoothest trip across Hyrule that he’d ever experienced, especially after he stole a horse from a group of Bokoblins that had been hunting in Central Hyrule and hadn’t seen Link’s Guardian coming. The creamy coloured pinto was malnourished and was covered in scratches from where the Bokoblins had carelessly struck her with their clubs, but she was gentle and took an apple gratefully from his hands when he offered her a treat, letting him climb up onto her back with little complaint. She hardly even seemed to notice the Guardian trailing after them, impressing Link further.
But then there was also the downside of travelling with a Guardian. People screamed and ran whenever they saw Link and his companion coming, and more than once he spotted a familiar face running in terror from them before he could even raise a hand in greeting. Link quickly learned to avoid settlements if he didn’t want to cause a scene, meaning he spent many nights out in the field, cooking food over a campfire rather than a cooking pot, and trying to find a soft patch of grass to sleep. Once or twice they got caught in the rain, and Link was forced to lead the Guardian and his new horse towards whatever shelter he could find from the cold and damp as they waited out the weather. The Guardian made a surprisingly good shelter for a fire though, shielding the flames from the downpour with its bulky body no matter how exposed they were.
It took weeks to make the trek, once Link decided to avoid the roads. He led the Guardian south of the Dueling Peaks, preferring to pass through the highlands of East Necluda rather than risk bringing the Guardian close to Kakariko Village. He could just imagine the look of disapproval on Impa’s wizen face if he tried to bring one of these ancient automatons into her home. Instead together they scrambled over rough terrain, his horse stumbling at times but still trying her best as he guided her along the gentlest slopes he could find, the Guardian trailing dutifully after him all the while. Then, finally, after circling Ebon Mountain and making their way to Hateno Bay, Link found the path that would lead them up to the Hateno Ancient Tech Lab from the south, bypassing Hateno Village.
The look on Symin’s face when he opened the door to Link standing awkwardly on the threshold with a Guardian peaking shyly over his shoulder made the entire grueling trip almost worth it.
“What did you do , Linky-poo?” Purah huffed at him as she climbed all over the Guardian, her goggles fixed firmly over her eyes as she worked. Link opened his mouth to try to explain himself, but then thought better of it. It wasn’t like Purah was actually paying attention to him anyways; she was completely absorbed by his Guardian. The poor thing was trying its best to keep an eye on the diminutive Sheikah as she darted all over and under its shell, but it just couldn’t keep up with her, its one claw grasping weakly and wherever she had been last as it tried futilely to get her to stay still. She moved like a goat on a mountainside as she ducked here and there, taking copious notes in the notebook at her hip and typing away on the Sheikah Slate that she’d swiped from Link’s hands the moment she’d caught sight of the Guardian outside her front door.
“Director, please be careful,” Symin groaned from his place on the ground next to Link. Like the Guardian, he seemed determined to at the very least keep an eye on Purah, even if he couldn’t stop her.
“Damage to the outer casing, exposing inner circuitry,” Link caught Purah muttering to herself as she studied the gash in the Guardian’s head. She poked her fingers inside, immediately letting out a little yelp as she was given a tiny shock. Rather than take that as a warning, however, Purah furiously jotted something down in her notebook before pulling some sort of tool out of the pack on her back, a worrying grin on her face.
“You...might want to come back a bit later,” Symin eventually sighed, finally addressing Link. “When she gets that look on her face, nothing will stop her until she’s satisfied she’s found all of the answers to her questions. You have a house in Hateno, right? I’ll find you there when we’re done. Maybe you’ll want to register your new horse? Dueling Peaks stable isn’t exactly close, but by the time you travel there and back, we should be done.”
Link hesitated, glancing up at the Guardian. While he hated the idea of leaving it behind after they’d travelled together for so long, he knew it was in the safest hands it could be. And after this long, he doubted it would go back to attacking people. Besides, if anyone knew how to take down a rampaging Guardian, it was Purah. It really was for the best.
“The sooner you leave, the sooner you’ll be back,” Symin pointed out, and with that Link’s mind was made up. Besides, his new horse had been so brave and so loyal; she deserved a bit of pampering at a stable.
But there was one last thing to do before he left. He strode up to the Guardian’s side, and, quick as a flash his hand darted out and snagged the strap of Purah’s pack as she darted by, lifting the tiny Sheikah into the air.
“Link!” she squealed. “Put me down, I’m in the middle of work!”
Silently, he held out his hand, giving her an expectantly raised eyebrow.
She huffed, and then reluctantly handed him the Sheikah Slate. “Fine, I’ll use the Guidance Stone instead. But you better bring that back soon! It’s a much more mobile interface!”
Nodding in agreement, Link carefully set her down back on the Guardian’s leg, and she immediately got back to work as if he’d never interrupted her. Taking a step back, Link made sure he’d caught the Guardian’s eye before speaking. “Stay,” he told it firmly.
The Guardian trilled sadly, but he knew it had gotten the message without even checking his Slate. Giving it an approving smile, he turned away to remount his new horse, patting her soothingly on the neck as he turned her towards the road. And then with a wave goodbye, he headed down the path towards Hateno and the road beyond.
Link only stopped in Hateno long enough to check on his house and refresh his supplies before he headed on towards the shadow of the Dueling Peaks rising on the horizon in the distance, eager to finish his errand as quickly as possible. It was strange, travelling on his own after so long having the Guardian as a companion. Though he stuck to the road and therefore avoided most of the monster attacks he’d encounter if he cut cross-country, he still had to deal with the occasional pesky Yiga attack or the odd Bokoblin camp lurking too close to the path. While none of these opponents caused Link to even break a sweat, he had to admit it had been kind of nice to bypass them all before.
But it was when he arrived at the Dueling Peaks Stable three days later that something finally occurred to him.
“You want to register this horse?” Tasseren asked him as he guided his steed up to the stable window. Link nodded in agreement. “Okay, not a problem. I’m assuming you’re able to pay the registration fee?”
He didn’t even pause as Link pulled a red rupee from the pouch at his hip and tossed it towards the stable master, merely catching it out of the air and signalling to his twin brother who sauntered off to grab a saddle and bridle from the back. “Excellent, now. What are you naming this horse?”
Link froze, his breath catching in his throat. A name. A name . Why had he never thought of that?
“...Sir?” Tasseren prompted him when he didn’t respond.
“...Sugar,” Link answered absently, naming his newest horse after her favourite sugarcube treat and her sweet temperament. But his mind was a hundred miles away, almost quite literally; it was fixed back on the lonely Guardian he had left behind at the Hateno Ancient Tech Lab.
He’d never asked it if it had a name .
“Alright then,” Tasseren announced cheerfully, clapping his hands. “Sugar is all registered. You can just follow my brother there, and he’ll get your new horse all geared up. Do you need to stay the night as well? If you do, just meet me inside the stable and I can get you set up.”
But Link had no intention of staying the night. The moment that he saw that Sugar was all set up in a stall, properly boarded and pampered as she should be, he was going to warp straight back to the lab. He wanted to hit himself, how could he have been so thoughtless?
Once Sugar had been safely passed off to Rensa to be cared for, Link slipping her an apple as a treat before he let her go, Link quickly checked his pouches to make sure he had everything he needed. Satisfied that nothing was missing or left behind in Sugar’s saddlebags, he pulled up the map function on the Sheikah Slate, scrolling towards the Necluda Sea. The moment the correct icon appeared, he immediately tapped on it and activated the warp function, completely ignoring the surprised gasps of the various stable residents as he vanished into a swirl of blue lights right from their midst.
He blinked as the world came back into existence around him, the blue void of the teleportation fading into dirt, thin grass, and the worn wooden walls of the Tech Lab behind him. Link stepped away from the threshold of the lab’s doorway, already heading towards the hill nearby where he had last seen Purah and the Guardian. But when he got there, there was no sign of either of them. Biting his lip in mild frustration, Link headed back towards the lab, hoping there would be someone inside to point him in the right direction.
Sure enough, when he pushed open the door, Symin looked up from the main table, where pages and pages of notes were strewn across the surface. Link spotted a few diagrams that looked like depictions of the Guardian Stalkers before he dismissed it as being unimportant.
“Link!” Symin greeted him in surprise, “We weren’t expecting you back for a few days yet at least! I’m assuming you teleported?”
Link nodded, his body tense as a bowstring. Symin must have noticed, because rather than go through the usual pleasantries, he got straight to the point.
“Purah’s research has been going well, and she’s managed to do a thorough workup of the Guardian’s specs. She’s just running it through a few tests right now, just to check that its performance is still optimal. They should be down by Hateno Beach right abou - oh, okay. Bye Link!”
Link at the very least spared Symin a distracted wave goodbye, but the moment he’d been given a location, he was already out the door.
Using shield surfing to get down to the shoreline faster was probably a bit of a waste of his shield’s durability, but Link really didn’t care at the moment. He could always pick up another one later anyways by sneaking into an enemy camp or scouring an old battlefield. No, right now it was important that he find his Guardian as soon as possible.
Sure enough, as he skidded to a stop where the path became sand, he spotted a familiar glowing shape just down the shore, a teeny figure in white standing dwarfed next to it. He jogged over, watching as Purah seemed to scribble down some notes, before gesturing towards a boulder half sunk into the water. Link was too far away to hear what she’d said, but only a second later he had an answer; the Guardian took aim at the boulder and fired it’s eye beam, the laser striking the stone and causing it to explode in a burst of rubble. The shards of rock peppering the beach gave Link the hint that this wasn’t the first boulder to meet such a fate here. Purah waited until the dust cleared, and then gave a little hop of excitement before her pen started whizzing away yet again.
By then, Link had finally reached the pair. The Guardian noticed him coming first, beeping cheerfully at him as he approached and clenching its one claw at him in its attempt at a wave. Link grinned and waved back, his other hand going to the Sheikah Slate at his hip.
“Oh, Link! You’re back already?” Purah said as she looked up from her notes, but Link ignored her, all of his attention on the Guardian now. He waited until he stood before it, looking up into its glowing eye with the Sheikah Slate open in his hands and ready before he asked it the question he should have thought to ask weeks ago.
“What is your name?” he rasped out, his voice barely audible over the crashing waves nearby.
The Guardian didn’t immediately react, its eye continuing to stare. Link watched it, glancing down at the Slate in anticipation, but nothing seemed to be happening. Brow furrowing in confusion and concern, Link repeated himself, thinking maybe the Guardian just hadn’t heard him the first time.
But still there was nothing.
It was Purah who finally answered. “They don’t really have names,” she told him almost gently, as if sensing his worry. Her eyes flickered between him and the Guardian, her usual energetic personality subdued as she watched Link’s face carefully. “They can be given designations by their Command User if needed, I believe, but I don’t think that was typically done.”
At Link’s lost expression, she elaborated. “Now, this is all speculation of course, based on my research. But I believe that Guardians used to work in Units, answering to a Command User. But each Unit would have dozens of Guardians, and they never really worked as individuals, so they were rarely given anything like names. One Guardian is pretty much the same as the next, really. Or at least, that’s how it used to be. This Guardian is a bit unique now, of course.”
Link shook his head in frustration, refusing to accept that answer. This Guardian had protected him, had helped him. It deserved a name!
Something Purah had mention struck him as well, niggling him in the back of his brain like a Goron hacking away at a promising vein of ore. He puzzled over her words, trying to figure out what had caught his attention in her little lesson. His eyes drifted down to the Sheikah Slate as he thought hard, his lip caught between his teeth.
And then he spotted it. At the top of the text screen, there was the answer he was looking for:
Class: Stalker
Line: ZTM-2
Unit: 16825/E
Designation: [Enter Designation]
Command User: Link
Status: Assessment
Command User. The phrase stared up at him, and next to it, in glowing blue letters, was his own name. He was this Guardian’s Command User.
When he pointed this out excitedly to Purah, she immediately perked up as well. “Well no wonder it was responding so sluggishly to me!” she grumbled, planting her hands on her hips and giving Link a teasing glare. “I thought it was just due to lingering damage, but of course it would be reluctant; I’m not set up to give it orders!”
Link thought this was a little irrelevant at the moment; his only concern was finding out what the Guardian’s name was. This time he focused on the little line of text right above the one listing his name. Designation...that was just a fancy word for a name, wasn’t it?
When he looked at Purah expectantly, tapping on the line on the screen, she tilted her head. “You want to give the Guardian a designation? I guess that would count as naming it. Here,” she pulled the Slate from his hands momentarily, typing away on the pad so quickly her fingers were a blur. When she handed it back to him, the screen displayed one message:
Enter Username: ___
“There,” Purah said smugly, looking quite pleased with herself. “Now you can enter a name for it.”
Link looked down at the screen, then up to the Guardian that had been patiently watching them throughout all of this. It stared back at him with its glowing blue eye, and even though it had no face, Link would almost say it looked eager, even hopeful.
But Link hesitated, his fingers hovering over the keys that would let him enter the Guardian’s new name. Was it fair of him to pick out the Guardian’s name for it? While he was fine with naming his horses when he registered them at the stables, that was because he knew the horses didn’t care one way or the other what they were called. So long as they were fed and cared for they’d answer to anything. But this Guardian on the other hand wasn’t just some animal. While Link was smart enough to know that it certainly wasn’t exactly a living creature, it had responded to him with care and concern when he had been hurt. And when he’d returned to it, all healed up…
Link’s eyes went wide as he realized that he didn’t need to name the Guardian. It had given him a name, long ago, he just hadn’t known at the time. With a pleased grin, Link swiftly typed in the new name for his Guardian, hitting the ‘yes’ button with gusto to accept the change as soon as it was complete. He stared at the new screen, feeling very proud as it updated with this new information.
Purah blinked at the screen before looking up at Link. “Happy?” she drawled. “You named the Guardian...Happy?”
He smiled at her, nodding his head.
Before them, the Guardian seemed to light up with its new name. Its body glowed blue, and it waved two of its legs in the air in celebration, whistling a cheerful tune. Happy the Guardian embraced its designation with all six legs bouncing and a song.
Purah shook her head at both of them, muttering something about how these two weirdos were perfect for each other, but Link didn’t care. He just grinned at his friend, and waved his hands along with the Guardian’s dance.
Happy was happy. And so was Link.
The continuing adventures of Link and Happy the Guardian:
- Whenever Happy and Link come across another Guardian in the wild, Link clings to Happy’s back and Happy does this awkward side-step thing so that Link stays hidden. It looks stupid as hell, but none of the other Guardians ever seem to notice
- Link learns to understand
droidGuardian beeps so that after a while he doesn’t even need to use the Sheikah Slate to understand what Happy is trying to tell him. He also starts beeping back. Their conversations are very musical...and annoying - All of Link’s horses don’t mind Happy, but Sugar is Happy’s favourite and Sugar pretty much loves Happy too. Happy loves to feed her apples while Link is busy cooking or doing other things
- When Impa finds out (Purah is such a tattle) she gives Link the exact disapproving glare he knew she would. He can’t do anything but squirm while Happy tries to hide behind him
- Within a month or two, every stable in Hyrule knows when “that crazy blonde guy with the pet Guardian” is coming, and no one even bats an eye anymore
- When Link’s quest is finally over and Ganon is defeated, he introduces Zelda to Happy. And is pretty much immediately pushed aside as Zelda falls head over heels for the Guardian. Happy absolutely adores Zelda too, and Link ends up pouting as he’s quickly replaced as favourite person by them both. (Secretly it’s all lies. He’s thrilled they like each other)