Tucker was a professional chocobo trainer, hired by the owner of the chocobo ranch he lived on. The ranch made all its money from renting and selling chocobos to people, and Tucker received payment in the way of food, shelter, and everything he needed to do his job and more. He and about four others lived on the premises of the ranch, which was built about a mile away from a forest populated by chocobos. Each of the ranch hands had different jobs; one groomed, exercised, and trained the chocobos; another worried solely about breeding them and taking care of the younger ones; the third was in charge of feeding and buying food and water for the chocobos; and the fourth took care of general ranch maintenance.
Then there was Tucker. Tucker was the one who caught new chocobos and examined the ones at the ranch. He enjoyed his job, since unlike all of the others, he was only on duty two days a week. He and the others each had their own houses near the back of the ranch where general customers weren't allowed, and the houses were far enough apart so that the five had plenty of privacy.
There was still one more empty pen in the new arrivals barn, so Tucker decided to fill it up. He made sure he had plenty of greens, filled up his canteen again, and set off. Before he left to the forest, though, he stopped back at his house to check up on his latest project he had been working on all week. He had bought a gallon tub of liquid latex from a mail-order catalog quite a long time ago to coat the handles of his tools. After he got some on his hands, though, he realized that it would also be good material for making gloves with. He tried making a pair or two by dipping his hands into the latex, but when he tried peeling them off they just ended up too weak and flimsy. He found by adding a few extra coats, though, they ended up nice and strong. Ever since then, he toyed around with making all sorts of interesting things out of the latex.
Tucker went back to the new arrivals barn, heading around
back to a pen where Toby, a yellow chocobo, sat resting in the shade of his pen.
Toby was Tucker's transportation to (and sometimes from) the forest. He would ride
Toby there, and Toby would return to the ranch. When he caught a chocobo, he would
ride it back to the ranch, but if he wasn't back by sunset, Toby would wait by the
forest's edge to pick Tucker up. When Toby saw Tucker walking up, he quickly got
to his feet.
"We going out again?" Toby asked.
"Yeah."
"Wow, what is this? Your eleventh today?" Tucker
nodded. Toby walked out of his pen, and Tucker hopped up onto his back. As soon
as Tucker was settled, Toby immediately took off towards the forest.
"You don't have to wait around for me, Toby. It's still
early in the afternoon, and I'm sure I'll find one to come back with before sunset."
Toby nodded.
"All right. You still want me to pick you up at sunset
if you're not back, just in case?" Toby asked, timing his words to be in rhythm
with his running.
"Yeah." It only took a minute and a half to reach
the forest, and Tucker hopped down, taking some greens out of his pack and holding
them up for Toby.
"What's this for?"
"I know I don't usually make you work so hard. So here's
a little bonus for today." Toby chuckled, and took the greens in his beak,
nodding in gratitude to Tucker and running back off towards the ranch.
Tucker walked into the forest, looking around for any
signs of chocobos. He found nothing for hours, though, and had to walk quite deep
into the forest before he finally found some half-eaten greens and some tracks.
He took some greens out, and quietly began following the tracks. After a few minutes
he found a nest with a yellow chocobo lying inside. The chocobo's back was to Tucker,
so he began to silently approach, but this particular chocobo had excellent ears.
He turned around, and looked straight at Tucker. Tucker immediately stood still,
but was caught completely by surprise as the chocobo simply turned back around,
laying back in his nest. Usually, chocobos were extremely cautious, alert creatures;
he had never seen one seem to ignore him before. He slowly walked towards the chocobo,
wondering if it was hurt or sick. He was now standing just inches away from the
chocobo; most would have run off in fear by now. The chocobo finally turned to face
Tucker again, and sighed.
"I don't care what you're going to do to me, just hurry
up and do it already."
"Are you all right?" Tucker asked out of true
concern. The chocobo just stared at him, and Tucker began to look him over. He seemed
to be in fine physical condition, and as far as Tucker could tell, appeared to be
quite strong.
"Is anything wrong?" Tucker repeated.
"No. Nothing's wrong. You didn't come here to make
small talk with me, so just hurry up and catch me or kill me or whatever you're
going to do." Tucker felt bad for the chocobo; he hated to see sick or sad
chocobos and always did everything in his power to help them. He kneeled down on
the ground next to the chocobo, looking him over more closely. The chocobo just
watched him.
"It seems you're perfectly in perfectly fine physical
condition. What's wrong, are you depressed?" The chocobo didn't answer him.
"Come on, talk to me. I'm not leaving until you do," Tucker said. The
chocobo sighed.
"Fine. Yes. Yes I'm depressed, but there's nothing
you or anybody else can do about it, so just leave me alone."
"Try me. What's the problem?" The chocobo said
nothing, but just looked away slightly, seemingly embarrassed. He stayed silent
for a minute or two, but saw Tucker wasn't leaving, so he sighed. If he was able
to, he would have been blushing.
"It's just a silly dream of mine." Tucker sat
silently waiting for a further explanation. The chocobo finally looked down at the
ground. "I... I want to be a black chocobo. I hate being a plain old ordinary
yellow chocobo." Tucker smiled, and stroked the chocobo's neck. He pulled some
greens out of his pack, holding them out for the chocobo. He looked at them, but
just turned his head away. Tucker put the greens away again.
"Everybody has silly dreams," Tucker said consolingly.
"But I don't think that's very silly at all," he added. "Everybody
gets bored being what they are and they always want to be better, humans and chocobos
alike. But you know what? I think I can help you," Tucker said. The chocobo
looked at him angrily.
"You can't help me. You can't be made into a black
chocobo, you have to be born one. And it's a little late for that," he sighed.
"Maybe, but I think I could help you become just as
good as a black chocobo. What's the only differences between you and a black chocobo?
They're bred to run faster than yellow chocobos, and their feathers are a different
color." The chocobo looked at Tucker, now interested in what he had to say.
"What's your name, anyway?" Tucker asked.
"Zeke."
"Come on, Zeke." Tucker said as he stood up. "Come
with me, and I promise you I'll make you better than a black chocobo!" Zeke
hesitantly stood up as well, and for some reason found himself trusting Tucker,
believing his words. With that, Tucker hopped on and the two rode off back to the
ranch.
It was about fifteen minutes before sunset when they got
back. Upon arriving, they rode up to the new arrivals barn. Instead of putting Zeke
in the last empty pen, however, Tucker went to the clipboard on the wall. He circled
the eleven marks, and wrote FC (final count) next to it. With that, he went back
outside, and got on Zeke, directing him to Tucker's house. Tucker didn't have a
stable or anything, so he instead brought Zeke inside. It was a nice house; it was
only a living room, kitchen, a bedroom, a bathroom, a laundry room, and a room for
storage, but it was fully furnished and obviously well-kept by Tucker. He nodded.
"All right, Zeke. First thing tomorrow, I personally
am going to start training you. In the meantime, I guess you can stay here in my
house. Are you hungry?" Zeke was busy looking around, but he nodded.
"Yeah. I barely ate all day," Zeke said. Tucker
took off his pack, laying it on the kitchen counter, and pulled out some greens,
laying them on the floor for Zeke. As Zeke began to eat, Tucker went into the laundry
room, finding an extra sheet or two for the bed. He laid them down on the floor.
"Sorry I don't have anywhere better for you to stay,
but you can try making a nest out of those. Anyway, I'm going to get to bed, so
I'll see you tomorrow, and we'll start training first thing in the morning!"
Zeke nodded, and Tucker walked off to his bedroom.
The night went by quickly, and the next day Tucker and
Zeke stood in a huge, empty field behind Tucker's house. There were white lines
painted on the ground in a large circle. Tucker nodded, and stood at the "starting
line" of the track, holding a clipboard and a pen and wearing a stopwatch around
his neck.
"All right, Zeke. I've measured and made this track
for you so we can figure out how fast you run. The owner won't let me use her special
equipment for 'personal pets' that aren't going to the ranch, so this will have
to do. Just run three laps as fast as you can." Zeke nodded, and Tucker got
the stopwatch ready. "Go!" Tucker shouted, and Zeke took off, running
three laps around the circular track. When he finished, Tucker jotted down his time
and began scratching out some calculations. Zeke walked over, looking on, and Tucker
frowned.
"Is something wrong?" Zeke asked.
"You're only running about 30 miles an hour,"
he said. "Most yellow chocobos are around 40 or so." Zeke sighed, hanging
his head. "Are you sure you're running as fast as you can? Pretend something's
after you, trying to eat you or something!" Zeke sighed.
"I don't know. I guess I'm just not cut out to be like
a black chocobo." Tucker thought for a moment, and grinned. He hopped on Zeke's
back.
"Come on, back to the house. I have an idea."
Zeke stood in Tucker's living room while Tucker was in
the storage room, digging through the stuff in there to try to find something. Finally,
he came back out with a device. Zeke looked at him.
"What's that thing?"
"An airbrush."
"And what's it do?"
"You'll see. See, your problem is you don't believe
in yourself, Zeke. So I think we're going to give your self-esteem a little boost.
Close your eyes, and keep them closed." Zeke was confused, but did as he was
told. Tucker turned the airbrush on, and began to spray black paint onto Zeke's
feathers, making sure to lift them up and ruffle them back a little to completely
cover them in the black paint. He continued all over Zeke's body, making sure to
get his head, his neck, his wings and his body under them, his tail, and even his
underside. He continued until all of Zeke's feathers had been turned from yellow
to black; only his orange beak and legs were left unpainted. By the time Tucker
was done, the hand not holding the airbrush was covered in black paint as well,
but he didn't mind. He nodded, flipping the airbrush off. "Keep
your eyes closed!" Tucker said as he put the airbrush away, going into the
bathroom to wash his hands. Once he washed most of the paint off, he went into his
bedroom, wheeling out the large mirror he kept in there to get dressed with, placing
it in front of Zeke. He smiled. "Okay, open your eyes now!" Zeke opened
his eyes, and they immediate grew as wide as saucers.
"Is that... is that me?" he asked, unable to stop
staring. Tucker nodded.
"Yes it is! I figured if you're going to learn to be
as fast as a black chocobo, you should at least look like one. Mind over matter
and all that." Zeke finally looked away from the mirror, instead looking at
himself. He turned his neck as far back as he could, trying to look at himself from
every angle possible. It was the first time Tucker had seen Zeke really, truly happy.
"I take it you like it, then?" Tucker asked. Zeke just grinned.
"Let's go back outside! I want to test my speed one
more time!"
Back outside, Zeke ran the laps one more time. Before
he finished, Tucker could already tell he was moving a whole lot faster than he
was before now that his heart was in it. He finished, and Tucker began scribbling
down calculations again. This time, his eyes widened as he finished.
"Wow! Zeke, that time you averaged 55 miles an hour!
The last time I've seen a chocobo pull that before training was when the owner's
gold chocobo was born!" He blinked.
"You're just saying that to make me feel better...
right?"
"No, I'm serious! That's amazing! With proper training,
I think you're going to turn out to be quite the chocobo, Zeke!" Zeke just
smiled.
Tucker let Zeke wander around outside for the rest of
the day. He couldn't believe Zeke was the same chocobo that he found just the other
day. He was much happier, and much friendlier now. Later that night, Zeke went back
into Tucker's house and looked around. He wondered where Tucker went, and walked
into his room, finding Tucker sitting with one of his hands over a can of liquid
latex, covered in latex. Zeke blinked.
"What's that stuff?" he asked. Tucker jumped slightly,
startled, but relaxed seeing it was just Zeke. Tucker looked over at him; now that
the paint was fully dry and had been on him all day, it was beginning to look a
little flaky.
"Zeke! You scared me! This stuff is called liquid latex,"
he said. "It's like rubber." Zeke looked.
"It smells bad. Is that like the stuff you put on my
feathers to make them black?" Tucker shook his head.
"No, that was just paint. It washes off, or it'll just
wear off by itself after a few days."
"Oh." Zeke looked a little disappointed, but looked
back up at Tucker. "Do you think when it does wear off, you could paint my
feathers black again?" Tucker smiled.
"Of course I will. There, this should be about dry.
He touched it with his other hand, finding it was dry, then peeled the glove off
his hand. "See? It's like paint, but it's reusable."
"So why don't you just paint my feathers with that
stuff?" Zeke asked. Tucker was about to say something, when he stopped, thinking.
It wasn't a half bad idea; it would certainly be interesting, if nothing else. Tucker
grinned.
"All right. Tomorrow, we'll try it."
The next morning at about 10:00, after Zeke was thoroughly
hosed down to wash all the paint off and completely dried, he and Tucker stood in
the living room. Tucker had about a can and a half of the liquid latex handy, and
had already ordered two more cans. Even if it didn't work, he could always use it
for himself. The hardwood floor and all the furniture was completely covered in
black tarps, and Tucker nodded.
"All right. I'm not too sure how this stuff will work
on feathers, so let's start with your beak and legs." Zeke nodded, and Tucker
took a small foam brush. He sat down next to Zeke, and dipped the brush in the open
can of liquid latex, beginning to paint it onto Zeke's legs, making sure to thoroughly
coat them from right under where the feathers from his body ended to his feet. He
made sure to cover every nook and cranny of the chocobo's legs, getting the latex
in the "crack" of his knees and between his toes. He decided to do the
bottoms of his feet later. When he finished, the process didn't turn out to be very
messy; he made sure to brush it on carefully, so it didn't drip too much. Only a
few drops actually fell onto the tarp. Tucker nodded, and stood up, brush and can
in hand. "So far so good," Tucker said. "Now for your beak. Oh, and
try not to move your legs for a few minutes." Zeke nodded again, and Tucker
began to paint the liquid latex onto Zeke's beak, making sure not to get any on
the feathers at the edges. He completely covered his beak as well, except for his
small nostrils. Once he finished, he set the brush and can back down. "Stay
here, and don't move or open your mouth," he said. "I'm going to go get
a blow dryer to make it dry faster." Tucker went off into the storage room,
finding a blow dryer, then came back out in the living room, plugging it in and
beginning to blow hot air along Zeke's legs to help cure the latex faster.
Once it was completely dry, he turned the dryer off. He
stood up and felt Zeke's beak; the latex on it felt dry as well. Zeke just whined.
"Well? How does it feel?"
"Fine," Zeke said, "but it smells horrible."
Tucker just laughed.
"Oh, don't worry about that. It only smells bad while
it's drying. You'll get used to it. All right, now let's try a little bit on your
feathers." Tucker took the can and brush again, and decided to try it out on
the relatively short feathers near where the feathers on his leg ended and the skin-covered
leg began. He brushed a little bit on, making sure to brush both with and against
the growth of the feathers to get them fully coated. He again sat down, taking the
blow dryer and blowing the newly-added latex. After a few minutes, he touched it.
It was dry, but because of the feathers, it still felt soft and squishy. He smiled.
"I think this might work better than we thought!" he said. He stood up
again, and this time took the brush, starting to work on his back. It was apparent
after a minute or two, though, that if continued with the brush it would take forever.
The feathers were much longer and therefore much more difficult to coat. To save
time, Tucker just set the brush aside, dipping his hand into the can and beginning
to apply the latex manually. It went much faster as Tucker worked on completely
covering Zeke's feathered body in the latex; his head, neck, chest, back, his wings,
underside, and tail feathers. It was a lot messier than before since he wasn't carefully
brushing it on, but most of the latex ended up on Zeke rather than the floor since
his feathers took in most of the latex poured onto them. He made sure not to cover
Zeke's tailhole so he could still go to the bathroom, and also made sure to leave
his cloaca unsealed, but made very sure to thoroughly get around the areas. (A male
bird's cloaca is a genital opening.) Tucker was finally finished; the only part
of Zeke he hadn't covered yet was around his eyes, but he decided to that later
since it required a bit of care to not get any in his eyes or over them to where
he couldn't open them. Tucker stood up to look over Zeke, making sure he hadn't
forgotten anything. Zeke hardly looked like a chocobo at the moment; his feathers
were mostly ruffled out of place, and the still-wet latex simply made him look "gloopy."
Drops of wet latex dripped from his wings, beak, tail, and underside, and he looked
like an absolute mess. Instead of smooth feathers or smooth rubber, he was lumpy.
Lumpy was the only word Tucker could think of to describe him at the moment. The
only parts of him that were smooth were his beak and legs. Tucker began to run his
hands along Zeke to smooth down his feathers now that the liquid latex had a chance
to seep between and under his feathers. Now the excess latex began to drip off of
him in large amounts onto the tarp below, and Tucker was glad he had laid it down.
By the time had finished smoothing down Zeke's feathers, the two were standing in
a puddle of latex. At least he didn't have to worry about the undersides of Zeke's
feet, Tucker thought to himself.
Tucker looked at Zeke again; his feathers still looked
slightly lumpy, but they were much smoother than before. He still looked like a
chocobo, but now he was black and shiny rather than yellow and feathery. He went
in front of Zeke to finish up by coating around his eyes.
"Keep your eyes closed and your head still, Zeke, but
don't close them tightly, okay?" Zeke nodded. Tucker's hands were covered in
wet liquid latex anyway, so it was just a matter of using his fingers to carefully
cover his eyelids and around his eyes. "All right, I'm done, but don't open
your eyes or move. First we have to wait for this coat to dry. You just stand there,
I'm going to clean up, then I'm going to blow dry you so it'll finish quicker."
With that, Tucker first went to the edge of the tarp, grabbing an old rag nearby
he was planning to throw out anyway, and wiped his feet off until they were clean.
He was then able to go to the bathroom, and washed off all the latex covering his
hands and arms. With that done, he went back out into the living room, rolling up
tarp as he went so he didn't get covered in the latex again. When he finished, the
living room was clean and latex-free, except for one small piece of tarp in the
center upon which Zeke was standing. Tucker took the blow dryer and began to blow
the latex dry.
It was a long and slow process -- it took almost the rest
of the day, and they didn't finish until it was dark outside. When Tucker was finished,
though, he was positively pleased with the results. Standing in front of him was
a shiny, rubbery, but slightly lumpy looking, black chocobo! He ran his hand along
the back of Zeke's neck. It was smooth like rubber should be, but instead of being
firm like the rubber on his beak and legs, it "gave" slightly due to the
soft feathers that it coated. Tucker hugged Zeke's neck softly, and it almost felt
like he was hugging a balloon -- a very warm, extra rubbery, soft balloon.
"Does this mean I can open my eyes and move now?"
Zeke asked. "I'm getting really stiff..."
"Yes!" Zeke opened his eyes, and stretched, walking
around the living room before doing anything else. He went over to the mirror Tucker
had moved into the corner, and upon looking at himself, he squeaked in surprise.
His entire body from beak to toe was covered in the rubber. Instead of having yellow
feathers with an orange beak and legs, his entire body was smooth black, with no
transitions, seams, or breaks.
"Kweh! Is... is that me?" he asked, turning to
look back at himself with even more passion than he did when he looked at himself
when he was just painted black. Tucker nodded. "I can't believe it!"
"Believe it," Tucker said, smiling. "Hey,
want to go for a before-bed ride?" Zeke grinned.
"You bet!" The two went outside. The full moon
was a few nights ago, and even though there was still a half moon, Zeke was almost
invisible. His shiny rubber-covered body reflected the moonlight, though, making
him a beautiful sight. Tucker walked over and hopped on his back. It was a weird
feeling, sitting on a rubber-covered chocobo, but it was much softer than simply
riding a chocobo bareback. With that, Zeke took off. Tucker was a good judge of
chocobos, and he could swear they were going faster than any gold chocobo he'd ever
ridden before...
They rode around for almost an hour, Zeke just happy to
finally be able to move after having to stand still all day long. They eventually
returned to Tucker's house. Once they were back inside in the light, Tucker noticed
the latex in several parts of Zeke's body was cracking. Zeke looked back to see
what Tucker was looking at, noticing it as well.
"Oh no! Did I... did I ruin it?" he asked sadly.
Tucker just laughed.
"Oh, don't worry! All the movement just cracked it.
It's okay, though. You'll need quite a few more coats before it won't crack like
that. It'll also help smooth you completely out, because your feathers still make
the latex kind of lumpy," he added with a chuckle. Zeke nodded, and yawned.
"Well... I'm tired. I'm going to go to bed. Are you
going to do another coat tomorrow?" Tucker nodded.
"Sure. And now it should go much faster since I don't
have to worry about working it into your feathers. Good night, Zeke!" Tucker
said as he walked off into his room. Zeke just curled up in his nest, smiling happily
as he drifted off.
When Tucker woke up the next morning, he went into the
living room to find Zeke already wide awake, eating. He noticed Tucker walk in,
and looked up, smiling.
"Good morning!" Zeke said happily. He ran over
to Tucker, who just chuckled, stroking the chocobo's neck. The latex had dulled
a little overnight as it had a chance to dry more thoroughly, but it was still shiny,
and had cracked quite a bit more than last night.
"Well, hello there," Tucker said. "Looks
like you're anxious to get started today?" Zeke nodded enthusiastically, and
Tucker laughed. "All right. It should go a lot faster today, so I think we
can get two coats in by this afternoon. After that we'll go outside and we'll start
on your training.
Tucker set the living room up again, and just as he expected, the process went a lot faster. Even using just the brush, Tucker had another coat on Zeke in about fifteen minutes. Zeke was so excited, and for the first time in several days, he really began to think. He had only met Tucker a few days ago, but as soon as he saw him he simply had a feeling inside, one that he knew he could trust Tucker. And he was glad he did. Tucker, in the meantime, continued to blow the newest coat dry. He still couldn't believe what a fast runner Zeke was, especially now that he was rubber-coated. But he was simply more happy that Zeke was pleased.
The adding of coats went much faster than either of them
anticipated, and after two hours, Zeke was covered in four more coats of the latex.
Zeke looked completely different now; instead of his body being lumpy from the feathers,
the latex had tightened slightly and flattened out completely. It looked as though
he had been plucked before being coated in the latex, and his body was completely
smooth from beak to toe. Tucker, however, had one more coat to add. He went in the
storage room, coming out with a small bottle and a cloth. Zeke looked at it.
"What is that?"
"It's a special polish. Normally latex would dissolve
if it came in contact with oil, but this protects it against it. It also protects
against scratching and scuffing. Oh, and dulling, too! It'll keep you nice and shiny.
Just..." Tucker trailed off, hesitating for a moment. Zeke looked concerned.
"Is anything wrong?"
"Well... Zeke, if you really wanted to stop now, we
could. But once I put this on, this will also make the rubber really hard to cut
or peel or... what I mean is, all that rubber will become more or less impossible
to remove from your body. It'll be a permanent part of you." Zeke blinked,
but to Tucker's surprise, he smiled, nuzzling him softly with his rubber beak.
"I figured it would be permanent from the first day
I was in it. I wasn't planning on it being anything else, Tucker. I've never been
happier before than I am like this. And I completely trust you to take care of me.
So go ahead." Tucker smiled, hugging Zeke's neck.
"I'm glad you feel that way. All right, this shouldn't
take long at all." With that, Tucker squeezed a bit of the thick creamy substance
from the bottle onto the cloth, and began to polish Zeke, almost like waxing a car.
After a few minutes of polishing and buffing, Zeke's body was practically sparkling.
Tucker had never seen anything as shiny as Zeke before, and he grinned. "Perfect.
Absolutely perfect. Look at yourself in the mirror, Zeke. I'm going to put this
stuff away." Tucker grabbed the cans, the brush, the bottle, and the cloth,
taking them off back to the storage room, putting them away. While he did, Zeke
walked over to the mirror, finding he was indeed absolutely perfect. That was the
only thing Zeke could think to himself. He was the most perfect black chocobo he'd
ever seen in his life.