The gray and white Flareon sat huffing feeling pain trying to speak. The Carbink surrounding him had taken him to a small room with a lone stone table they had set him sitting on.

"Focus on your breathing, calm down." a Carbink said suggestively, "You're having some anxiety right now. Try imagining your'e in a calm place, like the ocean."

The gray and white Flareon shook his head vigorously for a second.

"Mmm, I don't know what the ocean looks like." Angelo huffed, "And I'm fine, I just needed a second."

"You look like you could use a good few hours. Or weeks." a Carbink inputted, "Or years. I know your stressed and all, of course you would be. Would you like to talk about it?"

"That's a rather invasive question." Angelo frowned.

"Does that mean you've never answered it?" another Carbink asked.

"Yes." Angelo nodded.

"Here, lie down on this table face-down." a Carbink offered, "We know how to massage. You look like you really could use one."

Angelo breathed out a small sound before closing his mouth and nodding due to curiosity. He lied down with his head on his hands face-down.

"Alright, deep breaths." a Carbink instructed, "Are you alright with us touching your back?"

"Yes." Angelo said, "Why are you being so careful? Did I really look that bad?"

"Lady Jasmine would be ready and willing to give you a a luxurious life here for the life you have helped her discover." a Carbink replied, "We would be willing as well."

"I feel like I know a few others who would, too." Angelo sighed.

"Go on." a Carbink said.

"Everyone I know wants me to be just in one place, and they're all different." Angelo said, "But I just want to have a look around. I feel like I was just born. Woa-woaaaaaa..."

Angelo smiled with drooping eyes and a moving tail.

"You want to be an explorer?" a Carbink asked.

"I couldn't do that. Well, not forever I wouldn't want to. Maybe on and off." Angelo said.

"You would get to see the ocean. Camp in the forest." a Carbink pointed out, "Travel alone or with whoever you'd like. Have the chance to meet anyone, although exploring is hard sometimes. Survive based on how you're operating yourself. It's like the ultimate freedom."

"I know plenty of pokemon who used to be explorers." a Carbink agreed, "That's exactly what it is. It's like meeting the whole world. Most explorers randomly fall in love an settle down in places everywhere, magical places that-"

"Are you alright?" another Carbink interrupted, "You're crying a little bit."

"It sounds amazing..." Angelo sighed, "But I think I'm crying cause this massage feels amazing."

"You would make a great explorer!" a Carbink exclaimed, "Pokemon are quick to trust you because your kindness is distinguishable from the fake."

"I... Don't know what that means." Angelo said.

"I know what it meant for me."

Angelo looked up just enough to see a Diancie entering the room. Jasmine went in front of the table he lied on and bent down to look at him face to face.

"For me, it meant everything." Jasmine smiled, "And not just being freed from gangs trading me around like money. How I was feeling just became someone else's priority about me, and I never had that before. I think you'd be a wonderful explorer."

"Well, it'd have to wait..." Angelo huffed.

"Not long, and stop your shaking right there." Jasmine said, "After all, you're going to have the full force of the Unity Order on your side."

"Isn't it too dangerous for other normal pokemon?" Angelo asked.

"Luckily, that's not our main muscle." Jasmine replied, "I think we could make you a few tools that could help, but we'll just test you after you take a a good breather."

"I'm ready anytime." Angelo said.

"Do you really feel like moving right now?" Jasmine asked.

Angelo let out a sigh and blushed after he remembered Jasmine was still looking at his face.

"He must use his lower back a lot." a Carbink commented.

"Just a little lower on the right." Angelo muttered.

The Flareon yelped happily and stretched out relaxed.

"It'll take us a while to get ready for you, so you can take your time here." Jasmine said, "See you in a while."

"Got it..." Angelo smiled.

Angelo didn't keep track of it, but he eventually fell almost completely asleep on the table until he slowly felt like moving around a bit. The Carbink had left him a few minutes ago going back to their own business.

The Flareon slowly lifted himself off of the table to the ground and stretched out slowly before moving out of the room slowly.

He looked to his left and right carefully and found a Carbink waiting just outside of the room.

"Lady Jasmine is waiting for you in her quarters." the Carbink nodded, "She would like to show you something."

"Thanks." Angelo replied.

Angelo made his own way back to Jasmine's front door and knocked on it quietly. He heard a small rustling inside, and just a few moments after the door opened.

"You're up faster than I thought. I'm just barely ready to show you something." Jasmine said.

"I didn't want to keep you waiting." Angelo replied, "I have plenty of time to sleep at night."

"Night isn't too far off, just a few hours." Jasmine smiled, "Come inside. There's something I'd like to show you."

The Diancie led the Flareon to one of the walls of her room that seemed to have a small keypad on it.

Jasmine entered what Angelo assumed was a type of password, and the wall seemed to gain cracks like a door and moved downward into the ground.

He kept following the Diancie down the weaving underground path until a huge room came into view.

The only thing of interest in the room was the usual rocks and moss lighting up everything and an enormous black cauldron with stairs leading to the top of it and electronics below and all around the sides of it.

"This is a special armory in that only I can operate it to it's fullest potential. The armor I can make here is from a Diancie's special material." Jasmine explained, "I've never reached the limit of what I can make because of the pokemon using it, though."

"What do you mean?" Angelo asked.

"Whenever I make armor, normal pokemon can only handle basic objects against their body, but I can infuse my material with bio-energy to make it devastating. Unfortunately, any normal pokemon that touches it or tries to use it gets burned horribly by the bio-energy, making it as effective as using lava for a shield."

"I, uhm..." Angelo trailed off.

"Figure of speech, I wasn't thinking about fire types..." Jasmine replied, "I could test you and see how much exposure to bio-energy you can handle and give you as much as you can handle. One way or another, it'll be effective against anything you could possibly fight up there."

"What kind of material is it?" Angelo asked.

"It's a special metal only a Diancie could make. I had to do a lot of research to figure it out since it's so specific, and then train for six months after that to actually get strong enough to do it..." Jasmine huffed, "But I know that you're a pretty strong pokemon, from what I hear."

"What do you hear?" Angelo asked curiously.

"Well, I didn't line up the pieces enough to see it was you till I saw your necklace. I heard the white star was shy and quiet for the most part, but he's always sassy when he's irritated." Jasmine smirked, "But I know now that's he rather unaware of that."

"Sassy? Really?" Angelo asked.

"Uh-huh." Jasmine nodded, "So, when are we testing how much dangerous bio-energy can touch you at a time?"

"Well, I'd be up for it whenever you are." Angelo nodded.

"Good. Get in."

"Uhm, oh." Angelo blinked, "Oh. Is that how this is working?"

"Well, pretty much." Jasmine nodded, "I'm pretty much going to try boiling you with my power and see how much you can take, so uhm. Yeah. Get in."

"Alright..." Angelo nodded.

"I'll let you know right before." Jasmine said, "Give a shout if it becomes too much for you."

"I will." Angelo said.

The gray and white Flareon slowly went up the stairs and looked down into the cauldron. He hopped down after realizing it wasn't as deep as it looked like it would be from the outside.

"I'm going to make it a slow increase." Jasmine announced, "Starting now extremely lightly."

The inside of the cauldron lit up with bead looking objects scattered inside. They each had a white lightning start shooting out of them filling the cauldron. The sparks only made Angelo's fur rustle a bit.

The energy gradually started to increase making the inside of the cauldron brighter and brighter, but far from too intense to look at. He felt the white fur on his arm and noticed it had started to harden in response.

"I wonder if I could control that myself. I forget a lot of stuff."

The energy started to make the inside of the cauldron hot, but it still didn't bother the Flareon. Eventually, the light stopped getting brighter and stabilized with the bottom of the cauldron looking like fireworks with him inside.

The energy inside quickly died down before vanishing completely.

Angelo waited a minute or so before looking up to see a Diancie looking down inside.

"Are you alright?" Jasmine asked.

"Yah, I feel pretty normal." Angelo nodded, "Is there more to it?"

"Nope, that's it besides design and things. Looks like you can handle wearing anything I could make." Jasmine smiled.

Angelo hopped up next to Jasmine in a single bound.

"No one else has gotten past the halfway point." Jasmine said, "Impressive as ever."

"Well, thanks..." Angelo nodded, "What's next?"

"Your aunt happens to be Charlotte Evergreen, right?" Jasmine asked, "I'll get into contact with her to get everything else needed. A world-class engineer that knows you well is a good way past perfect. You should go get some sleep."

"I'm not too tired." Angelo shook his head.

"Then get a massage again to get sleepy." Jasmine laughed.

Angelo rolled his eyes while smiling before starting to follow Jasmine out.

"You're going to get one, aren't you?" Jasmine asked.

"M-maybe..." Angelo smiled slowly.

"You could use one, you look as overworked as broken metal." Jasmine said.

"Well..." Angelo sighed.

The gray and white Flareon's ears perked up when a loud banging could be heard above. The Diancie rushed ahead slightly, and the Flareon rushed up the stairs a moment later to see her opening her door.

"Urgent news!" a Carbink said, "A large weather anomaly is approaching Valor from the north!"