Chapter 4 Dodge or Dare

"Sorry we have to go to our place Carrie," Gumball said. "It was pretty stupid of me to forget my skateboard."

"No problem." Carrie replied. "It will be worth going to get it when we try out your idea of someone being forced around town by a possessed skateboard." Carrie really had been enjoying her time with Gumball. The ideas that Gumball and Darwin had come up with in the last two weeks had been so ingenious that she was surprised that she hadn't thought of at least a few of them herself.

They had also done other things together in the last two weeks. She got them to listen to a few of her punk rock CD's and showed them a few of her favourite horror movies. It was nice to do that stuff with someone else. The girls that Carrie hung out with at school were never really interested in that sort of stuff. The three of them have been friends for a few years now but she had started to wish that they had hung out like this sooner.

The bus arrived at their stop in no time and they quickly got out and headed to Gumball and Darwin's house. The three of them quickly said hi to Mrs Waterson and ran into the basement to look for Gumball's skateboard.

They all looked in different directions. When Carrie was looking she was surprised by some of the stuff they kept down there. She then noticed something that stood out. She pulled out what looked like a board game. It had the words "Dodj or Daar" written on it in big colourful letters. She had never played this board game before. Despite it looking like a children's game, she wondered if it was any good.

"Found it," Gumball yelled. Carrie turned around to see him holding his skate board in one of his hands.

"Hey guys, what's this like?" she asked, showing them the box.

They both immediately paled and Gumball ran over to slap the box out of Carrie's hand.

"What the heck did you do that for?" Carrie asked annoyed.

"Sorry," Gumball said quickly. "But trust us, you don't want to play that game. It's an evil game."

Carrie looked at them confused and picked up the game. "How can a game with a cover like this," she pointed at the front, "be 'evil'?"

"Because once the game starts," Gumball took a deep breath in. "It must be finished." he said with a deep voice.

Carrie was starting to get curious now. Whatever this game was, they clearly thought it was dangerous. Carrie definitely wanted to play it now.

"Let's play it." she said as she placed the box on the ground.

"Are you crazy?!" Darwin said as he flapped his fins around hysterically. "We told you how dangerous this game is!"

Carrie, not willing to take no for an answer, knew exactly what to say to convince them. "Either you guys play with me now or I take the game and play it with other people and if it's as dangerous as you say, I think it would be better if you prevented that from happening."

Gumball and Darwin looked at each other for a while before they both sighed.

"Alright," Gumball said before his expression turned serious. "But just one game."

Carrie smiled and began setting up the board. Gumball explained the rules to her. They seemed easy enough to follow. You roll the dice, move that many spaces and take a "Dare card". If you don't want to do the dare, then you take a "Dodge card" and move half as many spaces. They apparently thought of the game when they were really young. She was surprised they were so scared. She found it hard to imagine that even Gumball and Darwin could think of dares that would be as scary as they're making out.

It was decided that Gumball would go first. He rolled the dice and picked up his first card.

"You must eat six cookies with one seasoning chosen by each of the other players."

A smirk appeared on Carries face, while a look of dreed appeared on Gumball's. 'This is going to be fun.' she thought as the three of them headed up stairs. Darwin decided that his seasoning was going to be some of his diet fish flakes. Gumball already looked grossed out even though Darwin insisted that they were good for him.

Carrie spent a lot more time looking, trying to find something good. She then found what she was looking for. She pulled a bottle of hot sauce out of the cupboard.

"Here you are," she said, showing him the bottle. He gave her a glare which caused her to smirk. After taking a deep breath, Gumball took the bottle from Carrie and poured it on the six cookies. He then put on the diet fish flakes and began eating them.

Carrie couldn't believe he actually went through with it. As he ate the cookies tears welled up in his eyes, most likely due to the hot sauce. He stuck with it all the way through though and was able to finish the cookies. He had a big drink of water and they all went back down stairs.

"You ok?" Carrie asked.

"I'll be fine. Seriously though, why did you pick hot sauce of all things?" he asked with an annoyed look on his face.

Carrie let out a small laugh. "You didn't have to take the dare. You could have taken a dodge card."

"I had to take the dare. Trust me, the sooner we finish this game, the better." Gumball sighed before looking over at Darwin. "Your turn."

Darwin took his roll and picked up a card. "Juggle flaming knives."

Darwin gulped nervously before going up stairs himself. He came back a few minutes later with three red hot looking knives engulfed in flames.

"Are you serious?" Carrie asked. These guys are really committed to this game.

Darwin said nothing as he began juggling. He caught them a couple of times before stopping when the hot metal end of one of the knives nearly hit his fin.

It was now Carrie's turn. She rolled the dice and picked up her card. She read out the content of the card. "Throw water balloons at Miss Simian,"

Carrie looked at both Gumball and Darwin and asked, "Do you have any water balloons?" Gumball digged through the boxes in the basement and found a pack of old water balloons. He handed Carrie the bag, who smiled and said, "I'll be back," she then teleported out of the basement and into the school bathroom.

She filled up four of the water balloons and then teleported into Miss Simian's room. She was still there grading papers. She threw one of the water balloons at her which hit right in the face. Miss Simian looked in Carrie's direction, not looking happy. Carrie threw the rest of the water balloons quickly before she disappeared back into Gumball and Darwin's basement.

"You actually did it?" Gumball asked. Carrie said nothing. She just smiled and moved her piece on the board.

Gumball gave her a smile, obviously impressed, before making his next move. He paled as soon as he saw the card.

He looked at Darwin and said, "I really don't want to do this one."

Darwin put his fin of Gumball's shoulder and said, "You have to." when Gumball shook his head, Darwin took the card off him and read it out loud. "Ask Jamie out on a date."

Carrie and Darwin immediately burst out laughing. This definitely wasn't going to work out well.

Darwin pulled himself together and said, "Come on dude. We have to finish this game. Just do it."

"Even if I was going to do that, I have no idea what her number or address is." Gumball said matter of factually.

"I know her number," Carrie said with a smile.

Gumball turned around with an angry look on his face. "You're killing me!" he yelled out before taking a deep breath to calm himself. "Alright, let's do this." he said as he went upstairs.

Carrie and Darwin both followed him, unable to control the smiles that appeared on their faces. Carrie told him the number and they waited for Jamie to pick up.

"Oh hi Jamie," Gumball suddenly said. "I was wondering if you… Wanted to go on a date."

Without the phone being on speaker, Carrie and Darwin were able to hear Jamie yell, "I am going to beat you up the next time I see you" before she hung up. Carrie and Darwin burst out laughing again as they headed down stairs. When they eventually were able to get control of themselves, Darwin made his next move. Darwin looked at his card for a second before picking up a dodge card.

"What the what!" Gumball yelled furiously at Darwin. "How come you get to dodge?"

"Because there is no way I am cleaning myself with my tongue in front of Carrie," Darwin explained. Before Gumball could yell at him again, Darwin read out his dodge card. "The floor is now red hot lava."

As soon as Darwin read the card, he immediately started jumping around on the floor hysterically. He eventually climbed on top of a box and started rubbing his feet. Carrie was impressed with how far these two were willing to go with this game.

It was now Carrie's turn. "Order a prank pizza," Carrie shrugged and went upstairs to use the phone. To make it funnier she ordered the pizzas to Jamie's house and said they were from Gumball. Jamie was really going to let Gumball have it when they next saw each other. As soon as Carrie got down stairs, Gumball took his next move.

"Ok, I am definitely not doing this one," he said. Darwin looked like he was about to say something but Gumball cut him off. "Before you say anything, you took a dodge card last time and even if you hadn't, we both know how mum freaked out the last time we did the bathtub sledge."

Gumball and Darwin both gave a shudder from just thinking about how angry their mother was the last time they did it. Carrie wasn't surprised. Gumball and Darwin's mother was not someone she wanted to be on the wrong side of either. She remembered after the Halloween party when Gumball, Darwin and there little sister all ended up in the wrong body. Carrie had no idea what to do so she just disappeared. However, Gumball's mother called her and she made sure Carrie found a way to undo what had happened.

Gumball read out loud, "CSD" Gumball let out a big sigh.

"What does that mean?" Carrie asked.

"It means compulsive singing disorder. That means at any time he will randomly start singing." Darwin explained.

"Seriously?" Carrie found that one a little silly, even for this game.

"Unfortunately, yesss it'ss truuuue." he said, singing out the last few words, which made Carrie let out a chuckle.

Darwin scooted the box he was on closer to the game board and made his next move.

"You must skip around your neighbourhood saying 'I am a little girl'," Darwin jumped off the box but immediately jumped back on, screaming in pain.

"What's wrong?" Carrie and Gumball asked concerned.

"I forgot the floor is now lava." he said as he started blowing on his feet again.

Gumball pinched his brow and let out a sigh. "I guess we've got no chose dude," Gumball turned around. "Jump on my baccccck,"

Darwin did as he was told and Gumball started walking upstairs. When they got out side Darwin took a deep breath and jumped off of Gumball. He started screaming "I am a little girl" and did something with his legs that looked more like running frantically, then skipping. As soon as he had made it back to where Gumball and Carrie were, he jumped on his brothers back and they headed back to the basement.

Carrie said out her next card. "Take a dodge," Carrie shrugged and picked up a dodge card. Carrie looked at the card confused. "It says 'Inverted Mermaid,' what does that mean? Do I have to wear a fish mask an-" before Carrie could finish her sentence, her whole body started to shake violently. Out of nowhere, her lower body started to form two legs and her arms started to get shorter, like Darwin's fins. She also started to feel her face change shape.

When the shaking finally stopped, Carrie put her now fin like arms on her face to feel if anything had happened to her, like she suspected. When she had a good idea of what had happened she let out a scream. Her face was now a fish's face. Not a fish's face like Darwin's. This felt more like a fish that you would see in the ocean.

"What the heck is this?" she yelled out.

"We told you that it was a dangeroussss gameeee." Gumball said.

"Wait a minute," Carrie said, trying to process all this. "So the floor really does feel like lava to you?"

"That's right." Darwin said.

Carrie then turned her attention towards Gumball. "And you really do have no control of your randomly singing?" Gumball nodded his head. "Why didn't you mention that part?" she asked.

"Because we thought that if we didn't play the game with you, you would disappppear withhh theee gaaaame and playyyyyyy it withhhh otherrr peoplllle."

Carrie let out a nervous laugh. She supposed she did give them that impression. "So how long do these effects last?" she asked.

"Until the game is fiinnnnished." Gumball explained.

Carrie sighed. She wasn't fond of having a fishes head for much longer but now she was actually nervous, like Gumball and Darwin, of the other dares the game had instore for them. "We better get started then," she said.

Gumball made his next move and read out his card. "Date a sheep." it took them some time but they eventually found a sheep that Gumball could date. It was very awkward for Carrie and Darwin to watch. The sheep couldn't speak a word of English and every time Gumball talked he would randomly sing. Needless to say, they were all happy to get out of there.

"Watch an episode of Daisy the Donkey," Darwin let out a big groan. Gumball carried him up the stairs and place him on the couch. Anais was more than willing to give them one of her Daisy the Donkey DVD's for Darwin to watch. She even sat down and watched it with him.

When one episode was done, Darwin immediately called Gumball to come get him, not wanting to watch another episode.

When Gumball and Darwin made it back into the basement, Carrie took her next move. "Do whatever the last person drew," Carrie let out a big sigh and went upstairs. When she asked Anais if she could join her in watching Daisy the Donkey, she instantly ran away screaming because of Carrie's new fish head. She just picked up the remote and watched the next episode.

The game went on for a while until they nearly made it to the end. Carrie was looking forward to finishing off this evil game. Some of the dares that Carrie had to do were ridiculous, such as steal an apple from Gumball and Darwin's grumpy neighbours, hang out with the egg heads for half an hour, play a prank on a police officer and go to a library and do stand-up comedy.

It was now Carrie's turn. She had to get a five to win. She rolled the dice and got a four. She moved her piece forward and landed on a "Dodge bomb" she was not happy about that. The last time that one of them landed on dodge bomb, she had to break dance and Gumball got a card that said "Dramatic music will play until the game was over," needless to say, the music got really annoying quick.

All three of them drew a dodge card. Gumball read out his first. "Giant hands." Gumball's hands started to grow like crazy.

Darwin then looked at his card. Darwin's face immediately paled as he read out "freeze frame" Darwin grabbed Gumball's arm. "Dude you have to wi-" before Darwin could finish what he was saying however, he suddenly froze on the spot.

"How long will he stay like this?" Carrie asked concerned.

"Until the game is ovvvver." Gumball said with a panicked look on his face despite him singing out the last word. "What does your card say?"

Carrie looked at her card and read it out. "You are now heavier than stone." suddenly Carrie started to feel her body slowly going down. Even worse, her new legs were sinking through the concert ground of the basement. She tried to float herself up but it only slowed down the process.

"Carrie!" Gumball cried out.

"Gumball, you have to win on your next throw." Carrie said before she could struggle no more and she completely sunk through the concert.

Gumball quickly picked up the dice with not a moment to lose. 'Be a four,' he thought before he threw the dice. His prayers were answered when the dice landed on the correct number. Gumball hands shrunk down to normal size and Darwin became unfrozen.

Gumball looked over with panic at the spot Carrie sunk into, he really hoped that she was alright. He was relieved when he saw Carrie shot up from the ground looking back to normal.

"Is it over?" she asked. Gumball and Darwin gave a nod. Carrie put her hands on her face just to feel for herself that the game was over. Her face and body had returned back to normal.

Gumball and Darwin collapsed on the ground and took in some deep breaths. They stopped when they heard some strange noises. Gumball looked up to see Carrie shaking. Because she had her back to Gumball so he couldn't tell what she was doing.

'There is no way she is crying, is she?' Gumball thought to himself. Before Gumball could ask if she was ok though, Carrie turned around to face them as she began laughing hysterically.

Gumball's mouth almost dropped open. "What's wrong with you Carrie? Why are you laughing?" he asked. He couldn't see how she could possibly be laughing.

"Y….you" she said as she tried to control herself. "You guys…. Call m…me twisted. Wh….what does that mak…make you for in…in…inventing this game?" Carrie eventually was able to get control of her laughter. She took a deep breath before continuing. "Seriously though, that was so thrilling. I don't think I have ever been more freaked out in my life. That was way better then scaring some teenagers."

Gumball was shocked. Most people would have probably been scared to death and probably wouldn't want to hang out with either of them again, after playing that game. Carrie was probably the only person that would look at the lighter side of the situation.

'She really is different from everybody else.' he thought as a smile appeared on his face.