"Fries, being the only cannibal, you received a measly 17 votes"

Well, there's always next time...maybe they'd get another opportunity soon. The show looked really popular, and there'd almost certainly be another season. Maybe one day they'd both be accepted to join.

Fries sure hoped for that day, waiting patiently, for the announcement that would warm the little Puff's heart.

And finally...

That day came.

~~~

Despite being one of the selected 30, Fries didn't get in, and for such an asinine reason too. Apparently the "interview" was candid, and he had no idea when or where the clip would be taken, so of course they picked a clip of him completely out of context. Sure, eating your own type of object was considered taboo to certain others, but it wasn't illegal or wrong! Those fries he was munching on weren't sentient or anything- besides, he NEEDED the starch or his OWN fries wouldn't grow right!

Nonetheless, for whatever reason, the voters skipped over him for some...skinny stick-figure looking...thing. Fries really didn't understand what that was all about, and neither did the other objects, both current and debuting. But there was nothing he could do about that, and so he returned home to break the news. 

Luckily, Puffball seemed calmer now, only mildly disappointed in the result. Perhaps that was because she wasn't even in the running, but either way, Fries was grateful for her empathy.

Oh well, maybe another time...

~~~

Over time, the two of them had seemingly forgotten about the ordeal- life had to go on, and they couldn't dwell on some old missed game show opportunity for ever. It had been a full year ago by now, and there were more important manners at hand.

"Mail came!" Puffball called out from the front door, grabbing the handful of letters in her mouth, being careful to not damage them with her sharp teeth. "Ah thanks- can you bring those over here?" Fries was sat at the table, reading through his phone while enjoying his coffee. "Mpph-mm!" She placed them down on the table, allowing the potato box to sort through the paper, separating them between the two of them. Most of it was junk, just multiple ads for random products being sold by some...well- yellow face thing.

But there was one unexpected letter- right at the bottom of the pile, addressed to both of them. "Huh? This envelope looks the same as-" When Fries opened the letter, a pile of confetti fell out, covering his hands and prompting Puffball to close in, reading the paper intently. "Wait- is this..." Apparently their names were kept in a pool for a 2nd season and well- this time BOTH of them had been accepted.

"Competition begins end of June. Be present at competition grounds by June 25th, 2012 to be accepted into the contest. CONTESTANTS WHO ARE NOT PRESENT MAY NOT COMPETE."

"Wait- so we both-" The pink furball hovered excitedly, her fur sparkling with excitement. "Looks like it- I guess we better get prepared." Fries smiled as he looked up to her, ruffling her fur gently. 

"WE DID IT! WE GOT IN!" Her dream had finally come true. She would be able to compete.

It was time for her life to take a big turn.

~~~

As stated in the letter, both Fries and Puffball were there on June 25th, ready to join the competition. Unfortunately, Puffball was only selected as a backup contestant, and they would need to wait to see if she was accepted.

There were a bunch of other objects waiting around, yet oddly, most of the original 20 from last season weren't present, despite being mentioned in the letter earlier. Fries got chatting with some of the other newcomers, getting to know a few of them. There was a Bell and a Marker that seemed pretty nice, and even that weird yellow face from the ads. 

"I wonder when the contest is starting- we've been waiting nearly an hour..." Puffball groaned out in frustration, eager to start competing. "Be patient- I'm sure they're just waiting for-"

"Hey guys- look!" 

The voice caught the other objects off guard, as they turned to see the source. The previous contestants had returned, and it was the Pen who had spoken up, eagerly pointing to a TV displaying names and numbers. 

The voting results.

Both friends watched eagerly as the names tallied up- once again, only 20 would be selected, and it was a much bigger pool of contestants.

17th: Ice Cube, 18th: Flower, 19th: Donut...

There was one slot left. Only one of them would be able to join.

20th: Fries.

"No! Not again!" Neither of them had time to react as they were separated from each other, Puffball's eyes growing frantic as she was pulled away from her friend, and the opportunity she so desperately wanted.

She had failed again, while Fries had succeeded.

It wasn't meant to be after all...

The ball of fluff looked down as she thought to herself, hearing some of the other rejected contestants bicker amongst themselves.

"What? I didn't make it? That's impossible-" "Of course you didn't." "But I'm a wonderful Book!"

She didn't care about this little spat, but then something else caught her ear-

"Rule 1- eliminated contestants may not compete!"

Suddenly, the rankings on the board began to shift, with some of the accepted names suddenly disappearing- Leafy, Woody, and Flower's names fading, the next 3 most voted filling into their slots.

17th: Fries, 18th: Book, 19th: Yellow Face...

20th: Puffball.

She had finally made it after all.

~~~Author's Notes~~~

hehe free food reference. god i love them sm

also yes those are the actual votes i didnt change them for dramatic effect- these fuckers BARELY squeaked by

we have finally entered canon! our little puff has been accepted :)

uuuu im not sure how im gonna actually handle canon events here since just rewriting the entirety of bfdia seems kinda dumb so i might just do an intermission n skip over to idfb but idk 

also sorry for not updating this fic for 3 months i had nasty writers block hence why parts of this are clunky (im writing this in organic chem lab ok im probably accidentally huffing ether fumes tbh)

congratulations puff. we love u

-Fire