It was still dark when the two got to the lakeside. Link arrived first, though Zelda was close on his heels; he had intentionally gone slower than normal.
"You slowed down," Zelda observed, panting heavily, hands on her knees.
"Of course I did," Link said, barely breathing hard. "I didn't want to leave you behind."
Zelda rested her hand on his shoulder as she straightened up, giving him a slight push. "You're a good friend. You know that?" He simply smiled.
"Do you think the view would be better from that bridge?" Link asked, pointing towards a rope bridge that ran out from the shore to an island.
"Yeah, that looks like a good spot."
-o-
The two young trainers sat on the bridge, their pokémon by their sides, and watched as the sun crested the surrounding hills. The light shone down on them, casting deep shadows across the lake. A slight breeze blew, just enough to cause ripples in the water below. The tiny waves lapping at the shore, and the other disturbances on the surface, started to sparkle as the sun climbed higher.
As they took in the view, marveling at how clear the water was, a Dragonair leapt out of the lake and over their heads, then gracefully dove back down into the water before swimming out to the larger island, which housed the Water Temple. It swam out of view, but it had been a very memorable moment in an almost perfectly idyllic scene.
"Wow," Zelda said eventually, patting Tatl on the head. "I'm so glad we were able to see this. It's beautiful." Link, on the other hand, was simply speechless. He had never imagined anything so breathtaking, and to share it with his best friend… no, his three best friends, was even better.
Of course, no good thing could last forever. In this case, the moment ended as the bridge shook slightly, signaling another person's arrival. Link looked further down the bridge, away from shore, and saw a welcome, if slightly annoying, sight. Ruto, Queen of the Zoras and Sage of Water, quickly closed the distance and sat down next to the kids. There were six pokeballs around her waist, Link noticed.
"Good morning, brave one," Zelda greeted her. "To what do we owe this pleasure?"
"Ah, Princess, I am simply enjoying the view, same as you." When met with an incredulous stare, she explained, "I know your disguise. It doesn't fool me like it fooled the Dark King all those years ago." Ruto smiled. "I'm sure most hyruleans know, too. Feel free to keep it on, but do know it's not as effective as you would like."
Zelda thought for a minute, then began to remove her headwraps. As she did this, Link asked, "Your Majesty, are you a trainer too?"
Ruto's smile widened. "Of course. All of the sages are sworn defenders of the kingdom, and this is but one way we carry out our duty." She gazed out over the lake. "Pokémon in Hyrule used to be much more powerful, and much more aggressive, as Ganon's evil faded. It was important we protected the people from them then. These days, you have to actually search for them in the wild."
"Things have been changing recently, then," came a new voice from the near end of the bridge.
Without looking, Ruto greeted the man. "Good morning, Professor Deku. What do you mean by that?" Link looked, and saw a kid dressed just like he was. The Professor must be Kokiri, he reasoned.
Zelda whispered to him, "That's one of Sage Saria's friends. It's tradition for pokémon professors to name themselves after trees, so he chose the mightiest tree in the kingdom."
"Well, I've been abroad recently in order to get my certification," the professor explained, "so I'm not sure what it been like for the past few years. However, it seems that pokémon around here are getting stronger day by day." He noticed Zelda's confusion, and headed off her question. "Kokiri are able to travel anywhere, as long as they are protected; the Great Deku Tree was just one of many scions of nature capable of this protection. Another, Shaymin, travelled with me in Sinnoh while I studied."
Zelda thanked him, then remembered something important. Nudging Link, she said, "Sage Raru said he borrowed two of your pokémon, and asked us to bring them back." Both children held out the balls that held the fainted pokémon.
The professor took the balls. "Thank you. I guess he wanted to test your battling abilities?" Zelda nodded. "Well, in that case, I should probably teach you how to catch wild pokémon. Follow me."
He walked into the nearest patch of tall grass, Link, Zelda, and their Ralts close behind. "Now, the thing to remember about wild pokémon is that each one has a specific habitat. Be it a lake, a cave, or just tall grass like this, you'll never find a wild pokémon outside of their area." Suddenly, a patch of grass flattened out, and a tiny, blue and red bird hopped into it. "Ah, a Taillow, that'll do. Normally you would want to rough it up a bit, but I didn't bring any healthy pokemon with me. So, once you've hurt it a bit, just throw a pokeball at the pokemon, like so." He demonstrated, lightly tossing an empty pokeball at the bird. A beam of light enveloped the pokemon and pulled it into the ball, which shook three times before the professor picked it up. Once he did, the grass went back to normal.
"The ball will shake three times, like that, before it locks. Once it does, that pokemon is caught. The pokemon can break out while it's still shaking. Pretty simple." He handed five empty balls to each of the children. "I expect you'll want to try it out too, right?"
Link looked at Zelda. "Ladies first," he said, patting her shoulder for encouragement.
Zelda bit back a retort, walked into the grass, and almost immediately encountered a wild pokemon. In fact, she almost stepped on it before the grass flattened.
"That's a Slakoth," Professor Deku told her. "They're rather slow, but can get really powerful down the line."
Tatl stood between the wild pokemon and Zelda, who ordered her to attack with Confusion. The attack hit, and the Slakoth retaliated. It got up close and raked its claws along Tatl's chest, causing the Ralts to move backward some. Both stood in position afterwards, waiting for Zelda's action.
She threw a pokeball at the Slakoth, watching as it shook once, twice, then a third time, then finally clicked shut.