Finally- she was nearly out of the woods.

Her physical health was phenomenal, as her body had completed kicked away all her previous ailments.

Yet the one thing she hadn't forgotten from those early days was her true wild heritage.

Although she looked completely peaceful in her warm bundle,

There was still a wild predator inside her.

~~~

When Fries had first taken on the responsibility of caring for an orphaned puffling, he figured it'd be more like helping foster a dog- or maybe more like taking in a young object.

What he was not prepared for, however, was a completely wild creature.

Now that she wasn't a hapless ball of fur, she was really expressing her wild instincts, and unfortunately, Fries' poor apartment felt the brunt of these primal actions.

Within days, anything not made of metal or sufficiently secured would be destroyed.

She would try to suckle anything soft, yet quickly became frustrated at the lack of milk, and would end up tearing a massive hole in the fabric out of anger. Any food left out, especially meat, would be torn to shreds and splattered across the countertop. She would rub her back against chair legs and walls to relieve an itch, leaving bits of pink fur stuck in the wood.

And of course, there were...well...accidents. Especially on his poor couch.

"COME ON! I LEFT YOU IN HERE FOR 5 MINUTES!" Fries groaned out angrily as he mopped up a puddle of formula from the kitchen floor, not being helped at all by the broken glass that once housed the liquid. Puffball on the other hand simply sat on the counter, looking at his fries, and licking her lips. "First, you destroy my pillows, then you eat my plants, and now you're-"

He was cut off by something falling into his box, and subsequently munching on his fries. Of course he knew the perpetrator, and rolled his eyes in annoyance.

"Ok- come on- get out of- OW!"

The little puffling was having none of his attempts to remove her, growling out and snapping at his fingers as he fished around his box for her. After multiple bites and growls, Fries was finally able to pull Puffball out by her scruff, leading the mischievous creature to hiss at him angrily.

This was just about the last straw- he was honestly tired of having a wild animal in his apartment- tearing things up, knocking them down, and wreaking havoc on his carpet.

"You're going to get trained- whether you like it or not."

-

The process of making Puffball at least a little bit less feral would be difficult , yet Fries came prepared with the ultimate weapon:

The spray bottle.

Anytime she was getting rough with the pillows, scratching against his furniture, or trying to steal food, she'd be hit with a fine-tuned jet of water- not enough to hurt, of course, but enough to leave an unpleasant feeling in her fur. Of course Fries also provided her alternatives- whether that be her own stuffed animals to hopefully not destroy, or a dedicated scratching post- and simply feeding her when she went on the prowl for food.

Now, this wasn't completely effective, and Fries would still return to a mess every so often, but she at least started to understand that his apartment wasn't the woods she was meant to live in.

And that was at least progress, right?

All he had left was housebreaking and trying to mitigate her aggression- the latter of which was quite the challenge.

Being a natural predator, anything she perceived as a threat would immediately be countered with aggression- usually via loud growls and sharp snaps at fingers. But she was also starting to hone another defense- the rainbow substance puffballs are known for regurgitating upon distress.

The first time she spat at Fries was during an attempt to keep her from ripping apart a couch cushion- and the poor potato snack was completely unprepared for her new form of retaliation. It started with Puffball fluffing her fur up and hissing- a pretty normal anger response to her, and Fries expected a bite to follow her warning. What he didn't expect, however, was for her to make a horrid retching sound, before lurching forward and spitting a glob of foul-smelling rainbow liquid all over him. The stuff smelled like rotten fruit and rubbing alcohol, and burned his skin at the touch, as well as making his eyes water from the fumes.

"WHAT IN THE FUCK IS THIS SHIT??" Fries panicked, grabbing a towel and trying to wipe as much of the substance from his body as he could, gagging at the stinging odor it gave off. As it turns out, the stomach acid of a puffball is extremely strong and corrosive- and this nasty fluid was now splattered across Fries' chest. Of course the stuff couldn't really hurt him, but it was still an unpleasant experience for the potato object.

Little Puffball could care less about her caretaker's plight, simply grunting before returning her attention to destroying the couch cushions. Fries shook his head in dissatisfaction, before heading off for a much needed shower.

-

As painful as some of Puffball's actions could be, Fries really couldn't hold it against her. Had she remained in the wild with her mother, these things would keep her alive- so was it really right to punish instinct?

Well,

Fries thought to himself, looking down at the sleeping puff,

I've got quite the road ahead of me.

~~~Author's Notes~~~

Ok Puffball's kinda an asshole ngl.

It's not her fault tho? She's literally wild- my man should've thought about that before taking her in.

Rip fries's couch: died of being chewed up and pissed on. you will be missed.

Also no clue why I'm uploading on the 11th for 3 times in a row- I swear this wasn't on purpose lol

See you next time (maybe July 11th? Who knows)

-Fire