Gumball bounced his orange basketball on the hot asphalt. *Thump, thump, thump* — the steady rhythm echoed across the empty court. Suddenly, a small spiky ball rolled past the baseline and crashed right into his ball. Gumball jumped back so fast his sneakers screeched against the pavement.
The spiky ball slowly uncurled, revealing a tiny porcupine blinking up at him, quills still trembling. Gumball crouched down very slowly. The porcupine sniffed his blue paw, then sneezed — three sharp quills popped loose and stuck right into the orange basketball like tiny spikes.
Gumball tried to shake the quills off, but they just bounced back onto his ball. The porcupine giggled — a soft *tink-tink* sound like pebbles dropping. Gumball picked up the spiky basketball and started to dribble again. *Brrrt, brrrt, brrt* — the quills made a completely different sound.
He aimed for the hoop and shot. The ball flew toward the rim — but the porcupine, rolling along behind it, bumped right into its path and sent it careening off the court. Gumball groaned and kicked his own ball hard against the backboard. It bounced back and bonked him right on the head.
The porcupine yelped and curled into a perfect ball, then bounced once — *boing!* — across the court like a fuzzy beach ball. Gumball's eyes went wide as the porcupine rolled straight through his legs, bounced off his knee, and landed at his feet, still curled up.
Slowly, the porcupine uncurled and looked up at him with huge, worried eyes. Gumball's hands dropped to his sides. He thought about the spiky ball rolling in all by itself, the sneeze, the little giggle. He knelt down and met those eyes.
Gumball held out his blue paw, palm up. The porcupine sniffed it, then gently rested one tiny claw on his fingertip. Gumball grinned. He picked up the spiky basketball, bounced it once — *brrrt, thump* — and the porcupine hopped onto his shoulder.
Gumball dribbled — *brrrt, thump, brrrt, thump* — and took one more shot. The porcupine rode along on his shoulder the whole way. The ball arced high through the warm air and swished clean through the net. Gumball laughed, and the porcupine tinked back.