Number 16! Officially halfway through it all, and only one hiccup!

If I am honest with this one, I was incredibly tempted to do a H-Zoroark for this. However, like with Pom-Pom earlier, I found there aren't any H-Zorua TF stories on this site. And I can't have that happen. So... here we are!
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

16) 'Temperature’

The blizzard howled as you continued onwards through the biting frost, snow crunching beneath your boots and icy winds cutting through your clothing like a knife. You wouldn't last much longer like this... How had this even happened? You were certain you had been on your way back to the campsite, and yet it felt like you had been wandering for miles with no signs you were any closer. Were you still even on the correct path? With the markers and rope now buried deep under the snow, you had no way of knowing for certain. All you could do now was keep moving to stave off the cold, and hopefully find shelter from the frost seeping deep into your skin

Just when you were giving up hope... aha! Movement, barely visible through the thick mist.

"Hello?!" You cried, your voice barely audible over the howls of the wind. "Hello?!!" You cried louder, your breath starting to freeze within your mouth as you tried to head towards the silhouette, its outline growing more clear as you drew closer. The figure stopped, and turned around. They had heard you! Relief warmed your aching body.

From the depths of the blizzard, they extended a guiding hand. You couldn't hear their voice, but you could tell they were offering you a way out of the cold.

You reached out to take their offer, a pair of scarlet claws meeting you in turn and grasping your hand tightly as the large fox stepped out from the depths of the blizzard, it's fur whiter than the snow around you, covered in strange red markings, almost like wounds, bleeding ominous red smoke. It's mane was wild and messy. And it's eyes... it's eyes were a piercing yellow, locked in a vengeful glare

You tried to let go, but their grip simply tightened in return, digging into your wrist as they raised their other paw. Without warning, the Zoroark's claws plunged into your chest, piercing deep into your being. You expected pain, blood, something. And yet it didn't hurt. It was like you hadn't been injured at all. And then they began to pull.

A cold chill worked its way through your body as they tugged, slowly drawing… something out from your body. It was hard to explain, your body felt heavy, your mind light, not fully there, until finally… ‘thunk’, your body didn't feel heavy anymore, and the cold had vanished entirely.

You stood there, your mind clouded, foggy, it was like you were trapped in a dream. You couldn't move, couldn't speak, even your breath felt frozen in your chest. Staring down at yourself, the reason… was obvious. Your body was cloudy, translucent, or rather… your soul, as through the frosted glass of your legs, you saw your body, your actual body, slumped over against the mountain. It should've scared you, but instead you felt… tranquil, as though a heavy burden had been lifted off your shoulders.

But the Zoroark was not done. Still grasping you, it began to… sculpt. Strange ominous energies flowed through its claws as it grasped your arms, and began to mould them like clay, squishing them down, fingers curled into your palms and scrunched into small black paws.

Working it's way across your body, it then began to remould your torso, shrinking it down to almost half its original length, coating every inch of it in faint grey fur, before tracing its claw around your neck, a large wisp of snowy white fur sprouting behind it, thick and scarf-like. Moving onto your hips and legs, they were shifted to the side of your new torso, while your spine was adjusted to make you now comfortably quadrupedal. Your legs and feet were remoulded to closely resemble your hands and arms, or were they your forelegs now? Afterwards, the Zoroark took some of your leftover soul, attaching it to your spine, before tugging it out and sculpting, slowly forming it into a new fluffy tail that swayed behind you.

Your ears were tugged to the top of your head, trimmed into a triangular shape, while your face was slowly sculpted out into a point, hair turning white as the snow surrounding you as it trailed off into spectral wisps. Fur coated every inch of your new face, painting it with red markings.

With your new form complete, the Zoroark took the last remains of your essence, grasping it tightly, before breathing into it like a balloon, filling it with the instincts to operate your new body, to survive amidst the cold, to live as a pack, as a fox, a Zorua.

The Zoroark placed a claw to your forehead, opening your mouth as it inserted the altered essence, and stepped back as everything suddenly flooded back in. You gasped as your breath returned, sensation returning to your limbs and body as you suddenly remembered what it was like to see, to hear, to smell, and to feel. And of course… the cold. But it was no longer a threat to you. It was a friend. It bound itself to you like a cloak.

When your eyes reopened, the human was gone, replaced by a smouldering orange glare, as you noticed other Hisuian Zorua now surrounding you. Your kin, curious to meet their newest sibling.

You gazed at your old body, your human body, lying in the ice and frost, now empty and lifeless. Why did you ever feel attached to such a thing? You turned your attention away from the sight, back up to the Zoroark, your caretaker.

You heard a howl off in the distance. Your pack was waiting for you. With nothing to keep you here, you vanished with your new siblings into the blizzard, leaving the remains of your humanity buried beneath the snow.