Storm

Storm was the chocobo given to Imber when she first signed up with the Order of the Twin Adder, named such for his strong resemblance to her beloved parakeet back on Earth. Storm is one of the rare percentage of chocobos with the temperament to be battle-trained; while normally skittish and flighty creatures, a few chocobos have the mettle to stand their ground in battle. It’s a temperament that can even be bred for, something Ishgardians have been taking advantage of for centuries. Storm in fact comes from one such line, where his breeder has specifically bred his warbirds to be white. After all, white chocobos are often pictured as the noble steeds of heroes in the tales, so its no surprise that someone came along and decided 'you know what, white chocos are a good idea, I can make a good profit off of this'.

In fact, Archbishop Thordan's steed comes from this very breeder's stock - a bird of the highest quality, of course, unlike Storm. Who, while still a high quality, well-bred bird, was not one of the ones who made the cut for breeding, and as such was acceptable to geld and ship to the Grand Companies of Eorzea. To say he was shocked to get a letter from Cingur excitedly informing him just WHO his bird had gone to would be an understatement, but one that filled him with pride. Of course his friend had ensured his noble stock went to a hero, as they were always meant to be.

Storm has always dreamed of flying, but as a (technically) yellow chocobo, his body simply wasn’t built for it. The black chocobo subspecies had specifically evolved to have a lighter bone density, leaner body shape, and black heat-absorbing feathers to adapt to their home in the heights of Coerthas and the Sea of Clouds, but Storm had no such thing. Still, it was his dream, and there were many hours spent fruitlessly flapping his wings and taking running starts, wishing desperately to fly. An impossible dream…until it wasn’t.

It was after the defeat of Ultima Weapon and rescue of Thancred when Storm took flight for the first time, a loud KWEEEEEH screamed joyfully to the heavens. By all rights, Storm shouldn’t be able to fly. Nobody knows how he does it - he’s no black, nor does Storm have their genetics in his family tree. As a yellow, his musculature and bone density should make it impossible for his wings to bear him aloft, no matter how strong his flight muscles have become from all the desperate attempts at flight and imitation of a pissed off swan in battle. But like the bumblebee, Storm doesn’t care what people think is impossible and flies anyway.

(To say Storm's breeder was floored when his friend in Gridania sent him a letter demanding to know what he'd crossed his birds with because the Warrior of Light's bird FLEW would be the understatement of a century. And given that Storm's pedigree went back just as long, and were all accounted for as purebred yellows, well. There went the reasonable explanation.)

Storm likes throwing around choco regens, even if people don't necessarily need them. He's very attached to Imber and takes threats to her safety very poorly, as more than one unlucky individual has found out the hard way, via a chocobo foot to the face. Most people aren't used to thinking of chocobos as killing machines, but Storm has never really been a normal chocobo, now has he? Heck, he has a body count MUCH higher than all of the calvary drakes COMBINED back at the Circle of Ash! Not that that's bothered him any...Storm, like most animals, has a rather simple worldview: there is his flock, and then there is Everything Else. And whatever threatens the flock goes down. No exceptions.

Fun fact: when Imber uses an area of effect attack without having first hit an individual, Storm will raise his wings and attempt to do the same. While it looks adorable, it does absolutely nothing for battle as he has no AOEs. Not that that stops him from trying any.