The continuation of the Story, in which Darkraven's idea gets put to good use.

Liqui-mould 3: Spring Break
I was sweating in the poorly ventilated basement I did most of my work in. A small freezer sat next to the treadmill, with ice ready to keep it from overheating during workouts. The machine had a dozen box fans keeping it cool during transformations. The garage bay doors were open, but it didn't help at all. Darkraven pulled up in my old gravel driveway. Pebbles crunched and his car lurched as he drove over the irregular strip of gravel. He got out of the car, a '58 Plymouth Fury, and walked up to me. I was busy finishing up the new system we were testing today, and as such was covered in grease and oil.
Darkraven whistled. "You sure you aren't gonna be a mechanic? You certainly have the skill and look," he said, laughing at my greasy jeans.
I wiped some sweat from my face, feeling bristles of unshaven hair as my hand ran across them. "I'm sure," I replied, glancing up at the old clock on my toolbox. "You're an hour early Darkraven!"
He shrugged. "I guess I'm just a little excited, plus there is nothing to do in this town, not even a bowling alley by the interstate!" he said.
"So what's put you in such a good mood today?" I asked. I grabbed an ice cold Dr. Pepper from my new mini-fridge and tossed it to him.
"Well, today is the day!" he answered, catching the Dr. Pepper perfectly in his right hand.
"Don't remind me," I groaned. Darkraven sat down on the couch, letting out a crisp "ahh" of contentment as the soda poured down his throat. "Lemme get cleaned up, I'll be back down in a few minutes," I called as I walked up the stairs.
"Sure thing," he called back, still lying on the couch.
After a brief shower and a quick change of clothes, I inspected myself in the mirror. I could see the round belly and thick limbs, but I knew there was a good amount of muscle buried under them from running twenty miles a week. My brown hair was buzzed down into a military cut, but already growing back. I looked at the bald patch above my right temple where a dog ripped my scalp open eight years ago, studying it crescent shape. The shirt was a regular tan shirt, and I had put on yet another pair of jeans. Darkraven once told me was the largest importer of Denim besides Levi Johnson. Truthfully, I wouldn't be surprised.
I walked back down the stairs, a root beer in one hand and a pair of chocolate ice cream bars in the other. I tossed one of these bars to Darkraven, who quickly dug in to keep it from melting in the eighty-six degree heat.
Once the food and drink was down our gullets, I got back to work. I booted up my old Presario laptop and began setting up a new set of parameters in the machine's control system. Even though I did this at least once a week, it still took forty-five minutes of typing and swearing to get the parameters set. Once done, I lay back in the foldable chair and let loose a sigh of exhaustion. Darkraven looked up from the little TV and asked, "You done?"
"Yep. Let's get this ball rolling," I answered back. I sat down on the conveyor and waited for Darkraven to pull the switch. "By the way, I set the parameters to a dolphin. Hope you don't mind."
"Not at all. Here goes nothing!" Darkraven said as he flipped the switch.
Although I had gone through the machine 42 times to date, I decided to really inspect it this time though. I had recently re-polished the conveyor rollers, and I was impressed enough to see my reflection in them. The conveyor itself was black rubber I had picked up at a local scrap yard and cleaned up. Minus a few tears here and there, it looked brand new.
I entered the mixing chamber, immediately closing my eyes to avoid getting nailed in the eyes by the chemical sprayers. I felt myself begin to melt, and just then remembered if I had my eyes closed when I melted, I wouldn't regain my vision until I was molded. Mentally swearing, I felt myself enter the blending chamber.
It felt like I was an egg getting hit by a whisk. -Curious how one's senses magnify when one is lost,- I thought. The latex plopped into my liquid mass and began bonding with it.
I felt the blending chamber rise, then tilt to pour me into the mould. This was the moment of truth for the new system. I had no clue if it would work.
The mould was a pair of blocks with a symmetrical hollow in the middle and two holes, one on the top and one on the bottom. I entered through the top, and a valve connected to an air hose was in the bottom. Once all of my latex self entered the mould, the top was sealed shut. A needle-like nozzle poked into me and began pumping air into what could be called my "gut". As the air pushed against me, I began taking the contours of the mould. The air finally pushed me into every nook and cranny, and kept me like that until I solidified. Once that business was done, the nozzle was removed and the mould automatically cracked open. Luckily the valve stayed in my "belly", trapped between layers of latex.
"Wow Tyler, you really make a great pooltoy!" Darkraven said, whistling in amazement. He grabbed a mirror and set it down so I could see myself.
-Well, I hope the novelty of these changes never wears off,- I thought, smiling internally to match my painted snout. I was bright blue on all my body but my grey belly. I saw the stubs that could technically be caller flippers, and the two-pronged tail just long enough to fit the broadest definition of proper proportions. A pair of painted eyes were patterned just right to look full of joy, and there was a finely painted fake blowhole on the crest of my back.
Darkraven began closing up my house, which I had naturally forgotten about. -I never was the most responsible guy,- I laughed mentally. Once I heard the last lock click, Darkraven began walking back down the stairs.
"Alright Tyler, we're off to the pool!" he exclaimed, grabbing me and walking towards his car. He shut my garage door and locked it. From my perspective under his arm, I felt a good 2 feet shorter than I was. It was a very strange feeling, which I knew would get even stranger once I actually got in the pool. Darkraven squeezed me slightly, watching my tail puff out with an interested look on his face. -Errrrr, man, I feel like I gotta fart in the worst way,- I moaned.
Darkraven tossed me in the back seat. I barely felt the impact, and actually almost bounced on to the floor. He started the car and backed out my driveway. I couldn't see out the window though, because Darkraven had tossed me in nose first. So for the entire twenty minute trip, I enjoyed a nice view of the Fury's dirty carpeting.
"Alright, we're here!" he said, adding a dramatic flourish to his voice as he opened the back seat and picked me up. He trotted up to the pool and literally just threw me in! "There, that'll keep ya occupied until the party gets started."
-Party? What party? Oh shit...- I thought. -He never said anything about a pool party.-
I floated on the pool. It was quite strange to have so much of my body above the waterline, but then again, I was full of air. The water was cool, but there wasn't the temperature shock that is always expected and oft dreaded. The sun also began to heat up my back, which was uncomfortable, but not painful. Where the two temperatures met was a whole 'nother story.
-Ugh, I feel like I ate lo mien from a questionable Chinese Buffet,- I groaned. -This is gonna be a long week...-
While I was having the mental equivalent of gastrointestinal distress, the party goers began to arrive. They were already in bathing suits and were fast to jump into the pool. I rolled along their wake, a tad surprised. One of the kids that showed up was quick to jump right on top of me! I felt the weight as he came down on top of me, and for a few seconds, marveled at the massive array of bubbles his splash had produced.
"Hey! Be careful with that pooltoy Kyle! I just got it today!" Darkraven shouted from his porch, which had a great view of the pool.
"Sorry man!" Kyle called back up. He gingerly swam away from me, leaving me to my peace.
-Well, at least getting submerged stopped that pain in my gut,- I consoled myself. A group of little kids, obviously dragged there by their parents, soon took a liking to me. I got tossed about, submerged, and even had a kid curl up on top of me and fall asleep! Darkraven quickly cleared up that incredibly awkward situation.
By the time the party was over, I was mentally exhausted. I relaxed as I best I could as Darkraven fished me from the pool.
"Well, hope you had fun. Time to ruin it slightly. After all, your tag says 'Store deflated when not in use'!" Darkraven said mischievously. He opened the valve on my belly and watched me deflate.
-Ahhhhhhhh...- I sighed. That pressure was releasing, and I was just comfortable enough to go into some sort of trance.
Before I knew it, it was morning. I hadn't really slept, it was more like I set a camera to take pictures at specific time intervals in terms of memories. Darkraven came out at what I could only guess was noontime.
"Well, as it turns out, vacation's getting cut short. You forgot to tell somebody about all this and you've been declared missing. Better get you back to normal," Darkraven explained as he re-inflated me.
-Aww, I was having fun!- I complained. Shame he couldn't hear me though... -Hmm, now I have another thing to figure out on this machine.-
A short car ride later (I could only assume Darkraven was speeding), I was back at my place. He opened up my garage with the key I kept hidden outside the house, then he quickly got the machine booted up. He set me down on the conveyor, and I rolled into the liquefaction chamber. The entire transformation just felt faster, even though I knew for a fact it was still the same as always.
“Shit, missing? Who called it in?” I asked as soon as I could speak.
“It was some friend of yours who you talk to every day,” Darkraven said, knowing I would know exactly who he was talking about without even saying a name.
“Dammit, he knew about this one and decided to screw it up!” I said, voice lowering with anger. I picked up my phone and dialed a certain number. I heard it pick up.
“Hello? This is Mark F-“ Mark started.
“DAMMIT MARK! YOU SCREWED UP AN EXPERIMENT I WAS WORKING ON!!!” I literally shouted into the receiver.
“Ha, I forgot to nail you on April Fools!” Mark said, laughing at me.
“FUCK YOU!” I shouted at Mark. I could almost see him tilt sideways as the shout hit him right in the eardrum. I also knew the neighbors probably heard me, but I didn’t really care.
“So…” Darkraven said, obviously a little nervous to be near me when I was so angry. He fidgeted a little bit.
I sighed. “Don’t worry, I’m not gonna take it out on you. I guess that killed the week’s experiment, but hey, I had fun. Good call on the change man,” I said, trying to lighten the mood.
“Yeah. So, what do we do now?” he asked.
“Uh, how about some gaming? I just got a 360 with a whole crapload of games,” I said.
“Oh yeah!” Darkraven said, excited.
I turned on the 360, then swore.
“REEEEEEEDDDDD RIIIIIINNNNGGGG!” I screamed into the sky…
-Fin-