1 / 1 / xx01

We have received our Plates. Lynda found the Flame Plate and I got the Icicle Plate. It bothers me how two Plates could be so close to each other...it was as if they were intentionally placed there for us. Even one Plate alone can warp the surroundings to fit its element. I bore freezing cold to obtain mine, and Lynda had to endure sweltering heat for hers. I have had training with cold temperatures back with Mom Lass, but nothing like this...and yet Lynda, with her type disadvantage, stuck out up there. I can't imagine what she went through if she had to fight in those conditions. It's a miracle she's even here right now.

We had to fight off a Salamence together. Surprisingly, I was able to distract it long enough for Lynda to get in and knock it out. She must have had some prior training. After we...settled our outstanding issues, we left without any real direction to go in. Where could other plates even be...?

And what did Arceus mean when he told me to be with her no matter what...?

1 / 4 / xx01

There must be a way to alter these Plates. We cannot simply stride into cities with a nature-warping item graced by Arceus himself without causing some sort of temperature inversion. Clouds follow our position and I fear a storm may brew if we stay in one place. I must admit, having a freezing cold back isn't really how I'd like to travel. Perhaps we can find a blacksmith somewhere.

Our Plates have attracted numerous wild Pokemon trying to fight us for ownership of them. Getting into these battles is starting to get tiring, and our supplies won't last forever. I am only lucky that both of us are at least somewhat resourceful...and experienced in battle, from our successes.

Lynda has shown some...possessiveness over her Plate. Often I find her staring at it, and she has it out of her bag often. I can understand not wanting it to burst into flames, but we're supposed to keep these things on the down-low. I offered to have both of the Plates in one bag, but she wouldn't have it. I suppose she hasn't grown to trust me yet.

1 / 9 / xx01

We have travelled into a snowy area. This is different than the mountainous area I grew up in before. On our way we found a caravan of nomads and decided to hitch a ride with them, saving them from a pack of Beartic that were angry about their territory being trespassed on. Lynda seemed to channel some fire to help ward them off. I did not ask if she was able to use such powers before.

With the cold weather there is little indication around us that we even have Plates. We must make our travel brief.

1 / 10 / xx01

We have learned we are north of the Johto region. Asking the nomads, we figured out that there's a smithy at Blackthorne, a town surrounded by mountains on all but the south side. We begin our trek southeast, parting ways with the caravan. For saving them, they gave us some money and pointed us to Mahogany Town, just a bit south past a lake.

Something came over me as we were departing, and I couldn't walk. Lynda had to carry me for what felt like forever before I had the strength to go on my own. I wanted to say sorry, but she was adamant that it wasn't my fault. So long as she is with me, she will be the one to pick me up.

I'll pick you up too, Lynda. I just want to know for sure if you really are all right with this whole Plate business...

1 / 12 / xx01

We made a stop at Mahogany Town for supplies. We got a lot of weird looks...are our clothes that dirty? Asking around, it seems the best place for clothes is far southwest in Goldenrod City. Luckily, there's set paths between the most densely populated areas, so we won't have to be wandering aimlessly anymore. But now instead of hiking up mountains to get to Blackthorne, we have to go through the Ice Path, a tunnel through the mountains. After so much cold, we have to endure even more...I'm starting to get a little too used to it.

1 / 19 / xx01

We've made it to Blackthorne, finally. There was no shortage of fights in the Ice Path, and tough ones too. Now we most certainly look weird, cuts and bruises aside. If we weren't humanlike, we'd probably be mistaken for wilds...

There most certainly was a blacksmith here, and he offers to mold our Plates into a more usable form, which requires an additional Gem of the type of our Plates. As luck would have it, we both own one of each of our respective Gems. Apparently Lynda found hers in a lava pool...I didn't even want to know how she managed to get it, or if she was stretching the truth.

He gave us some options of what to do with the Plates, and explained how the Gems could be used to reroute the power contained within them. Now, instead of the Plates being a detriment to our surrounding weather cycles, we can use them as weapons to channel our specific powers. Lynda chose to have hers molded into a knuckle shield, and I wanted mine to be a wand.

To repay him for the work, we did some community service around town. While doing so, I was approached by a group of kids, and I couldn't help but show off some smaller versions of my attacking moves that I've been using in battle...and it felt good. It felt like something I should be doing. It wasn't harming them, and they were quite awestruck by the moves I knew. Perhaps I should learn more varied moves...

Lynda stayed back to help the blacksmith with his job, even though she admitted she knew nothing of blacksmithing. Something in me just knows that it's because she wants to make sure he doesn't do anything funny with the Plates. Either way, I hope everything goes smoothly.

...there's just something that bugs me about this, though. How does the blacksmith here know so much about these Plates? Could he have one himself, or has he worked on them before?

1 / 20 / xx01

After receiving our tempered Plates, we thanked the blacksmith and set off for Goldenrod. The best way forward would be to head down south, cutting across Cherrygrove and Violet City before jaunting over to Goldenrod, but there's a shortcut in the mountains nearby that'll let us skip the path down to Cherrygrove entirely. I hope that's the last of mountains we see for a while...

1 / 21 / xx01

Our new weapons have been put to the test. Our elemental attacks are more powerful than before. I've accidentally frozen some grass, and Lynda charred a patch beyond recognition. She also seems to have learned how to use further Fire moves. I worry that she'll get out of hand...she's starting to get reckless. Too confident in herself. One of these days she's going to pick a losing fight, and I don't know if I'll be powerful enough to save her then...

We've also found out we can 'hide' our weapons within ourselves. The back of my hand has recently received a curious marking on it, and I can summon my wand from it at will. Lynda, on the other hand, likes to hide her knuckler in her maw, or she just summons it with some kinda spontaneous combustion of flames...

1 / 22 / xx01

The shortcut, Dark Cave, is like a maze. Lynda has had to constantly use her fire moves to produce light so we can see, and with each fight I can hear her maw wearing down. So much fire isn't good for a Steel-type...please, Lynda. Don't hurt yourself like this. Control your powers...

Luckily, we've managed to find our way out on the first day. We've really been legging it. But...which way do we go from here, again? We probably should have gotten a map...

1 / 24 / xx01

Following the main trail, we've reached Cherrygrove. I'm not entirely sure what path we took in Dark Cave, but at least now we know where we are.

Around these marked paths, there seems to be a lot of people looking for a spar. We've fought a fair few, and we've won each and every fight we've been in. I've had to tell Lynda off several times not to get carried away with her fighting or her victories, but she's just itching to fight for some reason. Surely it's not because after winning, they always seem to praise us and give us money, as if it was a bet...I mean, at least it's giving us income. But there's something else driving Lynda to fight. There has to be. She may have come from a fighting dojo, but I'm seeing a ferocity in her that I'm pretty sure wasn't taught to her. Is this what Arceus meant by 'curse'...?

1 / 26 / xx01

Violet City was a fair trek away, but we've made it. We spotted an opening into what we think is Dark Cave from the path, but we didn't bother going inside to check it out. We are...quite in need of better clothes. Lynda's outfit is torn to rags, and mine's fared a bit better, but we still look like hooligans.

There is a tower in this city that is known to be a place where many fighters train, so much so that the support beams in the tower can be seen moving about as fighters train on the floors above. It sounds like a disaster waiting to happen. Luckily, Lynda seems adverse to the idea for...some reason. Didn't really have to convince her much to not go in and burn the place down. Has she become desensitized to danger this much...? It's been less than a month, and I can feel something's not right. Lynda...what's happening to you?

1 / 28 / xx01

I've made a breakthrough. During one of our battles, I used my psychic powers to talk to Lynda's mind. We...almost lost that fight, funnily enough. But! Lynda's not been herself because she has two consciousnesses...eh, that's not a real word is it? Two of them, inside her head! Oh, it felt like hours, but it was only just minutes that we talked with each other, using just our minds. The Lynda on the outside didn't seem to think it weird that I was staring at her, meaning that the second consciousness inside her must be changing how she reacts to the world around her, rather than acting on its own. She might raise a hand, but she'll raise it further up than she intended; she'll go to use one move, but her body chooses another.

My guess is the 'curse' Arceus mentioned has to do with this second consciousness inside Lynda. But knowing how it works is beyond me. All I know is that the Lynda inside is hurting, and unless there's other Psychics like me out there that're willing to pick her brain, they won't know there's a Lynda on the inside.

At the very least, being able to talk to her telepathically now is going to ease so many tensions between us. There's a lot to discuss, and that's not even going over what else I can access by going in her mind...

1 / 30 / xx01

Goldenrod is...quite beautiful. Lynda thinks so as well. She's given me the okay to freeze her in place if she acts out of hand. She seems to be conscious enough of her body's decisions to know what is right and wrong, but can't act on it. Even physically saying things is beyond her capabilities now, as the consciousness in her warps that as well. Still, that consciousness hasn't been...mean to me. I'm not sure if I can even talk with that consciousness or not, as whenever I've tried I get radio silence. Lynda thinks that if I can't talk to it, it must be not of this world. How would she know...? I get the feeling that with much of her body not listening to her, her senses being stripped from her, she's entering some sort of zen state where she's growing intellectually and letting the second consciousness grow her physically.

...anyways, uh, Goldenrod! The big store in the middle of town had a ton of stuff, and we found some clothes that fit! We even tried matching the colors to our elements. I couldn't really decide on a specific style, so I went with some basic stuff, but Lynda got a flame-patterned gi that looks quite imposing on her. It's also flame-retardant! Now she won't have to worry about burning it off.

With that out of the way, I'm wondering what we do next. We have clothes, some cash, reliable supplies. Lynda thinks we should train while we search for other Plates. The problem is deciding what kind of environment would house a Plate, and how should we train when there's so much ground to cover? Perhaps it would be advantageous of us to start looking in a new region altogether, and this region to the east of Johto seems like the perfect place to start. We'll have to retrace our steps for a bit, but I don't think neither of us mind the walk. Now that we can talk with each other, we're losing quite a bit of time just discussing things. She's got a lot to talk about for someone so bottled up...
