This series has already been partly uploaded to Ao3 so I'm cross-posting the currently published chapters here over the next week. This story has zelink as end game, with hints of zelinkpha here and there. Please enjoy and let me know what you think~

It was getting late into the evening, and Link had been so focused on severing the legs of the Guardian in front of him, that amid the sparks and flashes of light reflecting in the heavy rain storm, he hadn't noticed the laser sight of a second Guardian honing in on him. After making it this far, sneaking though the fields in his full Sheikah gear, he hadn't expected to draw any attention from the malicious sentinels.

Readjusting the grip he had on the guardian battle axe he twisted his body back, building momentum to take another swing at an intact leg. Only, he never got to make the swing. The weapon was sent spinning off into the distance, its blue glow disappearing into the ruins of an old settlement, and a sudden pain burst from his shoulder as if it were burning. He absently noticed that he was also now incredibly off balance.

"A shout exploded from him as he dropped to his knees, narrowly missing another laser that sailed over his head. Too close to the guardian before him and hidden by grass from the other, he was able to avoid being spotted for the time being. The two Guardians swivelled their singular eyes this way and that before losing their aggressive red glow and slinking away.

Link noticed that his body was shaking uncontrollably and he still felt like he was listing to one side, even with his centre of gravity now so close to the ground. Deciding to attend to the burn on his shoulder first he turned his head to assess the damage and nearly threw up.

His entire right arm was gone; eviscerated by the blast.

The shaking, he now understood, was shivering as his body went into shock. His heart rate sky rocketed as the absence of his right arm was processed and panic started to rise. He needed to make a plan of action before hysteria or despair set in, neither of which would be productive to his current situation. At least he wouldn't bleed to death as the wound left by the Guardian attack had been seared over.

Taking measured breaths and trying to fight his remaining shaking limbs, he reached down to take hold of the Sheikah Slate. Shaking it awake he feverishly looked over the map, trying to decide where to teleport to. Had he been in his right mind the obvious location to travel to would have been anywhere but here. Unfortunately, his fight or flight response was at war with each other, and he was therefore going through the pros and cons on who to contact for help. He ruled out the Zora immediately; Sidon would probably suffer a stroke seeing him in this state and there wasn't anything they could do to help currently anyway. He couldn't sneak his way into Gerudo Town to see Riju, and he wasn't in the best condition to deal with the climate of Goron City or Rito Village. It wasn't that he thought they could fix his condition exactly, he just wanted to go somewhere with people he trusted.

Link mentally cursed himself for being so stupid in his fight with the Lynel in the coliseum, who had achieved a lucky hit to his ribcage. Mipha's Grace had activated, healing his perforated diaphragm and splintered ribs, but now she was unable to heal, her ethereal energy still recovering. If she even could have healed this. He had no idea if her gift was powerful enough to re-grow an entire arm. He doubted it, but still, her presence would have been nice.

Finally deciding that the best place to go was to Kakariko, to see Impa, he placed the slate on his lap and numbly tapped the screen for the shrine on the hill overlooking the village. The sensation of his body disassociating from his mind was for once soothing rather than disconcerting.

Reforming in the same position he had been in previously, he stood on legs that still felt disconnected and wobbly. He put on his hylian hood, drawing the cape at the back around over his shoulder and walked carefully down the hill. Not daring to look up from the ground, lest he alarmed one of the guards, he took the steps up to Impa's home gradually. He refused to show signs of his imbalance and fatigue, willing his body to function properly.

Upon reaching the door, he pushed it open to see Impa in her customary position before him with Paya kneeling to the side of her with a book open on the floor.

They both looked up as he entered, Paya surprised as always but Impa was immediately concerned, taking in his clouded eyes and extremely pale complexion. He opened his mouth to tell them that he may have made a slight miscalculation before is vision took a sudden tilt to the left and then disappeared completely.

Paya, send for Purah and Robbie immediately. Tell them safety be damned. Yes, with those exact words, my dear.

…

Oh, SNAP! How in the name of Hylia did this happen?!

He's lucky it was only his arm

Lucky?! I'd rather he still had both arms

…could have been worse

That doesn't help Rob!

Well, how the hell do we fix this?

...

No, Robbie.

Is that even possible?

Theoretically; I have been testing to make it possible.

Oh, boy…

Do you have a better idea?

…

Oh, he is going to hate this.

When Link regained consciousness he instantly recognised that he was no longer in Impa's home. He actually didn't recognise where he was, but as he was lying down staring at the ceiling he could see various pieces of ancient technology hanging from the rafters. He therefore assumed he was either at the Lab in Hateno or Akkala. Grimacing, he recalled the events that brought him to this point in time, and wondered why he hadn't made the decision to come to one of the labs first.

Because Impa was less likely to immediately call your actions idiotic. He sighed and tutted to himself, irritated.

"Oh thank all of the goddesses, you're awake."

Startled, Link turned his head to the left and saw Symin coming over, no doubt to check on his condition.

Oh, Hateno it is then.

"Can you hear me, Link?" Symin asked, leaning over to click his fingers by Link's right ear and watched as it twitched back at the noise. Link nodded anyway. "Oh good, try not to move, I just need to get the directors."

Directors? Link thought but nodding again at Symin's request. He didn't feel like moving anyway.

"Purah! Robbie! He's awake!"

"Oh, finally!" came an older male voice, that Link recognised as the man he'd met in Akkala Tech Lab.

Where am I? Link asked himself. The frequency with which he had asked himself that question since waking in the Shrine of Resurrection should have been concerning.

"We worried you'd be out for a lot longer than this, but at least it wasn't a century, huh?"

"Robbie, dear, that isn't very tactful."

This voice Link recognised as Robbie's wife, Jerrin. However, if both Symin and Jerrin were here, then which Tech Lab was he at?

"It was a genuine concern!"

"Hey, Linky!" Purah suddenly popped up into his field of view where Symin had been standing before. "You've been out for about a week since we brought you to my lab. How are you feeling?"

Link decided to answer this question with a withering look that screamed 'how do you think?'

"Well, he's still got attitude, so that's something," she said grinning, but the grin didn't completely hide how thoroughly relieved she appeared.

"Say, Link," Robbie approached, oddly cautious, which caught the Hylian's interest immediately. "Could you sit up? I need to give you a good look over."

Link couldn't resist a small comment, noticing how he was only wearing his sheikah leggings. "Do I get to keep my clothes on this time?"

Symin, who unfortunately had been taking a sip of tea in the corner at the time, snorted into his cup and then began choking. While Jerrin was making sure he didn't asphyxiate, Purah was judging Robbie with an expectant stare, to which Robbie ignored.

"Yes, yes, very funny," he waved his hands at Link dismissively, "now up you get if you can, please."

Remembering to shift his weight onto his left arm, he braced himself into an upright position. Only, his balance wasn't quite so lopsided anymore. Teetering over to the left too much, before either Purah or Robbie could help him, his brain instructed his right arm to steady himself, and a right arm obeyed.

Link's eyes widened as he stared at the arm bracing his body against the edge of the bed he had been lying on. The arm looked to be comprised of the same material as the ancient armour, but Link knew one thing. This new limb screamed Guardian tech.

"Oh … well … look at that. It works," Robbie noted, but neither he nor Purah moved a muscle from their positions.

Link pushed himself back into an upright position, with both arms, and then began to study his right arm more closely.

It really did look like the interlocking plates of the ancient armour, but rivets along the edges showed a source of blue light beneath the surface. He lifted his arm slowly, noticing the lack of pain, and then slowly drew the arm back. He could see Robbie and Purah to the side watching with absolute fascination, and even Symin and Jerrin by the back wall were transfixed.

He slowly started to rotate his right 'arm', watching as the new scar tissue he had acquired around his shoulder stretched with the movement. The movement was fluid and controlled, the action slightly more precise than his left arm. Lowering his new limb again, he clenched and unclenched his fist, impressed with how quickly it responded, as if it were his own arm just covered over by metal.

"Turn this way a moment, Link, I need to document this progress," Robbie beckoned quickly.

Link silently obeyed, shifting over to the side of the bed as Robbie motioned for him to hold up his hands.

"Can you touch the tips of your fingers to your thumb one by one, please?"

The Hylian did as he was told, the reaction time and precision of each action on his left hand was mirrored perfectly with those on his right.

"Alright! Now, one final test," Robbie muttered, which must have been the cue for Purah to perk up and lob her pen directly at Links face.

He immediately blocked the projectile with his right hand, as was instinct for him, but he also accidentally crushed it, the pen audibly splintering in his grip. There was a silence, Link slowly lowering his arm and opening his hand to inspect the pen debris in his palm, before Purah let out an excited whoop.

"Snuh-AP! That was awesome!"

"Indeed! So, Link, what do you think?" Robbie asked, placing his hands on his hips and looking expectantly at the Hylian Champion.

"… You have a real sick sense of humour, Robbie," Link answered after a pause, causing the older man to let out a bark of laughter.

"So, you like it then."

He really did. Honestly, he was a little glad he had passed out when he did. Left conscious in his state any longer and the despair of the situation would have settled in. How in Hylia he was going to storm the castle unless he was at full capacity being one of his concerns. He was going to go back to Kakariko immediately and promise Impa that if she ever needed anything he was going to drop everything and do it. Robbie and Purah were geniuses and had not only fixed his problem, but actually made his situation slightly better.

"We also decided if we were going to do this, why not go the whole way! So, we in-built the same weapon system the Guardians have into your arm. Cool, huh?"

Turns out he could now generate energy to be fired out of his hand after enough charge time in short bursts, similarly to the training guardians he encountered in shrines. The blue glow he could see thrumming beneath the surface of his right arm was the molten equivalent of the blue flame that powered their research. It was both an adequate reminder of his colossal recklessness, and a nice little bit of irony to smack in Calamity Ganon's face. Assuming he had a face, of course.

The only downside to his new arm that Link could see was that the Master Sword did not respond to him while being wielded with his right hand.

Oh well, Link mused, at least now I have an excuse to go back to being left handed.

I was reading the Twilight Princess manga adaptation and Link loses his arm (then has it healed but y'know), so I considered how Link in Breath of the Wild would lose an arm. VERY easily was the conclusion.

Then I considered how far can the ancient tech be utilised and I gave him a mech upgrade. It's not my fault. The idea of Link having a part of himself made from the tech of the guardians was just too good.

Chapter art can be found under the #Ironic Technology tag on my tumblr sarcastic-sketches