The following is an excerpt from a messy gameshow themed story I'm working on called "Friendship Feud." I couldn't resist writing what is essentially the ending first, though. You'll see why. It's the classic gameshow scenario where the loser gets thrown into a vat of gunge!

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"Alright!" Cat Chaos announced, the spotlights all focused on him. "It's time for our final round! Team captain Charm must take on this one alone as she chose to cut her friends loose in the hope of chasing more riches!"

The spotlights suddenly lit up Charm, who was fidgeting awkwardly, perched precariously on a little cart on four wheels at the top of a slope. As the studio floor below her was in darkness, she couldn't see what was at the bottom - but the studio audience and her team mates on the sidelines could.

"Charm you must answer general knowledge questions Get four right, and you're home free! Get one wrong and we'll release one of the brakes on your little cart."

Charm looked down at the wheels of the cart - each one was locked in place with a hefty steel brake.

"Release all four and you're going for a downhill ride into..."

The studio lights suddenly illuminated the area underneath where Charm was sitting - revealing what awaited at the bottom of the slope. Her eyes popped in horror at what she saw.

Before her was an enormous pool, made of solid plastic and reinforced steel - easily big enough to hold in excess of 500 litres. But it wasn't filled with water, which she'd thrown her teammates into it was filled to the brim with thick, rippling, oozing dark green gunge.

"Oh my God!" Charm shrieked, squirming nervously in her seat - staring down in horror at the looming mass of green goop beneath her feet.

"It's easy to avoid Charm!" Cat Chaos smiled, his white fangs glinting. "Just answer the questions correctly!"

Charm gulped hard as Cat Chaos began reading the first question.

"Question one! Marcus Fenix is the main character from what video game series?"

"Duh, Gears of War!" Charm sighed, twirling the end of one of her bunches.

"Correct. Question two! "Focus" was a 2015 single by which female artist?"

"Arianna Grande!" Charm announced proudly, relaxing significantly now she'd answered two questions in a row. This was going to be easy, she thought. She was going to go home clean and dry with a wodge of cash in her pocket.

Cat Chaos looked slightly irritated, shuffling his question cards briskly. "Correct. Question three In the Lord of the Ring trilogy, who is the leader of the Fellowship of the Ring?"

Charm swallowed hard, feeling a bead of sweat forming on her forehead. She made eye contact with Glenn, who was sitting on the sidelines. He was shaking his head at her sadly. Charm knew he was a massive fan of Lord of the Rings - though she'd always fallen asleep after 10 minutes every time he'd put on one of the movies.

"Uh..." Charm mumbled, feeling her cheeks flushing. "Hagrid?" Several audience members giggled. Glenn groaned audibly.

Charm jumped as she heard a loud clang - one of the brakes on the cart had been unlocked.

Cat Chaos began to smile, shuffling his questions again. "Nope. That was Gandalf. Question four 'pomadoro' is Italian for which fruit?"

Charm looked desperately at Ashleigh. Her parents and grandparents were both from Italy - and she knew that Ashleigh was fluent in it. She shook her head, knowing she wasn't allowed to confer.

"Is it is it pineapple?" Charm mumbled, fidgeting awkwardly.

"No, the correct answer is tomato!" Cat Chaos smiled as another loud clunk signalled another brake being removed.

Charm began to breathe heavily. She was sweating profusely, the cart now feeling alarmingly wobbly.

"Question five! What D is used to describe the event during a tennis match where both scores are 40?"

Charm groaned, not daring to look down at Laura. She had been captain of tennis and badminton at school - and even coached under 16s at the local sports centre. But Charm was useless at sports - she'd always tried her hardest to cut gym class where she could.

"...is it a draw?" she asked, weakly.

Charm yelped, another loud clunk signalling another wheel being freed from its brake.

"No Charm - that would be a deuce. Question six! Reece Witherspoon plays the title character in which 2001 film?"

Charm let out a little cry of surprise. "It's like, Legally Blonde!" she called, a sudden wave of relief washing over her. Just one more question just one more question

"It's the decider Charm!" Cat Chaos called, "Get it right and you get to go home clean! Get it wrong and you're going to take a little ride downhill"

Charm inhaled deeply, wiping her brow with the back of her hand. She felt her stomach churning, her knees knocking together. Just one more... just one more...

"Question seven is it your lucky number Charm? 'Screaming for Vengeance' is an album by which British heavy metal band?"

Charm screwed up her face in despair. She caught a glimpse of Dixie, who was raising her eyebrows and smirking. She knew. Charm didn't know anything at all about heavy metal - other than she found it a bunch of incomprehensible noise and screaming.

Charm bit her lip, looking down at the gunge pool below her. She felt the cart wobbling dangerously - only one brake left, keeping her from hurtling downwards...

"...is it Iron Iron Maiden?"

Clunk.

---

Immediately, the cart began hurtling down the slope. Charm screamed, her hair flying out behind her in all directions.

She hit the gunge with an almighty splat; a great deal of it slopping over the sides of the pool, some of the studio audience and crew members getting splattered in the process.

Everyone watched with bated breath as the surface of the gunge began to bubble and move. Slowly, Charm appeared - squirming and wriggling her way out of the immensely thick and sticky mixture - the sheer density of it seeming to want to suck her back under.

She let out a loud squeal of despair, trying in vain to wipe away the slime from her face. She was totally covered - her usually blonde hair was now caked in gloopy green goo, rivulets of it oozing slowly from her scalp, down the sides of her head and dripping off the ends of her bunches.

"No..." Charm whispered, staring down in horror at herself. "No, no, no, no!"

She was completely immersed up to her waist - her clothes clinging tightly and stickily to her skin, her arms and hands both covered in an almost inch-thick layer of gunge.

"No!" she cried, beginning to throw a tantrum, flinging her arms and legs around furiously, splashing and slopping more mess all over the studio, and inadvertently, herself. "It's not fair, it's not fair, it's not fair!"

Cat Chaos laughed, clapping his paws. His tuxedo had been caught in several places by Charm's splashing tantrum, but he didn't seem to mind. "Congratulations Charm, you've failed spectacularly and thus have lost all of the accumulated prize money."

Charm groaned loudly, looking guiltily at her soggy teammates, who were sitting on the sidelines, looking exasperated. She hid her face with her slimy hands, not bearing to look at any of them.

"However" Cat Chaos went on, rubbing his paws together with glee. "As your teammates managed to complete their challenges, and quite admirably, might I add They will all receive the £1000 they each won."

Dixie, Laura, Ashleigh and Glenn all cheered and began jumping up and down, hugging each other - their wet outfits squelching against each other.

"But... but what about me?" Charm mumbled, looking up at Cat Chaos hopefully, gingerly wiping away more slop from her face and her hair.

"Oh of course Charmy..." Cat Chaos said ominously, "You've won a special prize too..." He pointed upwards, to the scaffolding above the gunge pool.

Charm looked up, dumb hope all over her face - and was rewarded with a second lot of gunge - a sudden downpour of thick, yellow goop splattering right into her face. She squealed again and tried to run away - but she slipped and tumbled headlong back under the thick, swirling torrent that held her in place.

She resurfaced, spluttering and shrieking as the laughter of the audience, crew and her teammates rang off the walls and echoed all around her. "Urgh!" she exclaimed, furious and humiliated, "I hate you, Cat Chaos!"