"Who is this?"

Anisa sat frozen in her spot, looking over at the two Pokemon that had barged in on her and her friend.

Both stood staring down the Lycanroc, only giving the white fox looks here and there while they waited for an answer. Their tails swayed from side to side, red eyes locked on while their golden fur glowed by the light of the fire. One was slightly bigger than the other, a slight small scar reasting on his sholder blade unlike the woman next to him. Her left eye was tinted blue unlike her right red eye, making her glance more intense yet calm at the same time with the fire and water of her eyes flowing within her.

"Mum, Dad. This is my friend I always talk about." Amara explained. In response, the two ninetailed foxes shuffled over to the frozen Lycanroc to inspect her more closely than before.
"Oh wow! I've never seen a Lycanroc like this before! In the village on top of that!"

"Mum! Please show some respect of personal space!" Anisa was leaning away from the mother, her face being right up next to each other that their noses were close to touching. "Sorry! The only time I see a Lycanroc up close is when I go visit-"

"Anabeth, I think that's enough...remember?" The young male chuckled. Pulling away and repeating "sorry" for the fifth time, Amara's mother brought her attention to her husband.
Anisa's fur started to lower, feeling her tense sholders relaxing after the wild encounter of the curious Anabeth and the soothing voice of her husband's voice and laugh.

Being with the bickering couple and their sweet daughter made this alien world feel more like...home.

Home...

"Sorry about my mum, she can be...a handful sometimes." Amara laughed.

"So you must be Anisa then correct?" Anabeth's husband questioned. "How did you know...sir?" Being the only Pokemon Amara talks about, it was obvious to the fire type who she was.

"I know because you're her...only friend after all." His answer made the room grow silent, Anisa tilting her head at her white fox friend with a shiver crawling up her spin.

Why is it...cold?

The two adults also started to shiver a bit due to the new cold air surrounding them.
"I'm sorry that no one else likes me okay..." Being close to Amara felt like entering the eye of the storm; more like the center of the drifting, cold air around them.
"Sorry honey-"

"That's enough Cecil, remember the convisation we had before we arrived?" Cecil, Amara's father, kept his eyes on his daughter and replied with a "yes" before reaching into his bag left on the floor to pull out a slightly ripped piece of paper.

"Anisa, since you're here, do you know what this is?" He held the paper up to the girl's face, showing an image of what seemed like a type of rock. The writing framing the picture was mostly smudged over by age and from overuse.
"No, I don't sir" both parents sighed, looking the piece over.

"It's alright. You see, we like to research these type of things since our whole species evolve using a certain stone, a fire stone to be exact." Anabeth rummaged in the same bag and pulled out a stone, glowing red and radiating heat like the fireplace, looking like a small fire flowed within it's walls.
"Since we Ninetales are fire types, we use fire stones to evolve, but once we had Amara...our research was thrown into a frenzy." Amara looked away.

"How come? She doesn't seem different other than her coat and-"

"Her temperature?" Anabeth answered. Claws dragged across the wooden floor, making the three turn in it direction to Amara. She yanked her claws out of the wood to glare at the three before tugging at Anisa's paw, silently asking her to follow. Looking for permission, the Lycanroc glanced at the two Ninetales, who gave her a quick nod before Anisa was dragged off by the tempered fox.

"Amara, what's going on?" Anisa started, stopping in the middle of the hallway which caused Amara to stop as well; no matter how much she tugged, the Lycanroc overpowered her easily.
"It's nothing. I just hate it when they act like I'm a...thing! Something they can use for research sometimes, I know I'm different but I just..."

"Just want them to treat you like the others." Anisa answered; more of a statement than a question to be answered by the white fox. Being glued to the spot now, she nodded "yeah, if only they would..."

Anisa stared at her friend, knowing now what she was going through with being different to everyone else.

It's a blessing or a curse. Depending on how you take the attention of others in.

Especially with family...

"Tell me Amara, what do you want to do with your life?"

"I can say the same to you Anisa." Amara giggled a bit. "Don't flip the convisation yet" the two just giggled a bit before settling down in silence before answering.
"I want to evolve like everyone else, I want to see the world and meet many other Pokemon but I dought that'll happen."

"And why is that? Why do you think it won't happen?" Anisa asked, careful not to budge the line too much; never mind jumping over it.
"Because I need to be strong but when my time came to evolve, the fire stone didn't work. Even if I did travel though, I'd probably get the same looks I get here. Along with the chatter behind my back about how I look different." Silence drifted in the air once again, along with the now returning cold breeze from earlier running down Anisa's spine.

Being close now to Amara felt like being lost in a blasting blizzard, yet Anisa brough her friend into the warmth of a fuzzy hug to make them both feel at home.

Home with one another...

Amara nuzzled into the neck fur of the Lycanroc, feeling the warmth of her and the acceptance she shared with the slightly confused fox; Anisa didn't care. She didn't care if she was cold, she didn't care what people think, she didn't care that she was different.

Both might be in the same situation but they still had some differences.

Differences they can sought out together.

Author Note

Again, sorry this took so long to write. I've been on and off a lot and being back in school didn't really help at all with the process.

For that, I'm sorry if it's poorly written.

I hope you liked Amara's parents.

I'm gonna shiny hunt now.

(Art at the top goes to it's rightful owner).

^-^