Tails and the Chocolate Factory
By Hoverbike Girl
Disclaimer: I do not own the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise or Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. SEGA (obviously) owns the former, and Roald Dahl wrote the latter; Warner Brothers also made the movie of the same name, as well as its 1971 counterpart, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.
Hello, everyone! Hoverbike Girl here, checking in after a long hiatus! (Much too long...) Before I begin the fanfic, I want to run a few things by you. It won't take but a minute!
This is actually the second version of "TCF", being published to celebrate its fourth anniversary. (But it's three days late; my sincere apologies.) Four years is quite a long time ago, and since then, my writing style has changed majorly. So, for this occasion, I have updated the structure and style of a large portion of the story. At its core, the plot is still the same, but there have been some significant changes, especially to the first chapters. Also, I have added in some scenes that I actually missed in the first version. (These new chapters aren't 16, 17, and 18, though. I'll name them as we come to them.) For the sake of preventing confusion, I ask that you read the story from start to finish without skipping any chapters.
Actually, this upcoming scene is a "new chapter". Remember the beginning of the new movie, where they showed how Wonka makes his chocolate bars? That's what this one is.
Please enjoy this new spin on my fanfic, and don't hesitate to send feedback!
~Hoverbike Girl
xxx
Greetings to you, the lucky reader of this special Sonic the Hedgehog fanfic, from Hoverbike Girl! I shake your hand and thank you a hundred times over for choosing to view this rather interesting tale! A story of courage and character awaits you! Many surprises are hidden in the (virtual) pages of this story, just waiting for you to read them! For a while, I invite you to join me as I tell you about one lucky, humble boy, his four not-so-humble comrades, a mysterious chocolatier, and an enormous chocolate factory!
Prologue: Wheels in Motion
Something new was brewing in the great chocolate factory.
You could feel the suspense mounting behind its tall, imposing, gray brick walls, like an electric charge building just before lightning hits the spot. You could glimpse the hushed, but hurried activity beyond its tightly shut, barred gates. If you had good ears, you could hear the faint whirring and clanking of its colossal main building's inner workings. And most of all, you could smell it: the rich, heavy, tantalizing scent of melting chocolate wafting out of its spires.
The mysterious chocolate factory could be seen for miles all around; its huge buildings and towering smokestacks cast a deep, intimidating shadow over the much smaller stores and streets. White smoke wafted from the tops of its lofty spires—evidence that whatever machinery was inside the factory was at work. In fact, it was hard at work, much harder than it had been in the past few months. And people were noticing. Those who walked down the streets beside the walls, past the gates, and underneath the main building's ominous shadow could sense something unknown, something unusual, stirring within.
It all began in the heart of the factory's main building, beneath its tallest, central tower. In separate silos, churned and kept piping hot, were various blends of chocolate. When the recipe was mixed and heated just right, the chocolate was diverted through warm pipes, gurgling and bubbling, into smaller vats suspended over several rows of conveyor belts. Wide, empty pans were carried along these belts, and stopped underneath the vats. The chocolate poured out from the vats through wide spigots at the bottom, in timed intervals, and settled into the pans. The supply was cut off before the steaming chocolate could overflow, and the belts moved the filled pans underneath sets of fans, to cool off the chocolate so it could begin to harden. Then the chocolate was moved along to the next stage of the process.
Further along the conveyor belts, large presses awaited the pans of cooled chocolate. They came down and stamped a design into the chocolate, so it more resembled a candy bar. Some slabs of chocolate were divided even further into eight pieces, to allow it to be broken apart like perforated paper.
Beyond the presses, the conveyor belts came to an abrupt end. But a second automated machine awaited the pans of chocolate. For each pan, a pair of handles, with three narrow fingers, caught it as it came sliding off the conveyor belt. When the pan came between them, they clasped together and rose up on a vertical conveyor made of chain, holding the chocolate tightly. Halfway up, the handles flipped it upside-down, and the top one removed the pan and tossed it off to the side. The bar of chocolate was carried the remainder of the way by one handle, and then was suddenly dropped from the very top of the conveyor.
But the chocolate bars only had a foot or two to fall, before they landed, flat side up, on metal trays. These trays were borne by small balloons that floated close by the vertical conveyor, to take the chocolate bars to their next destination. Guided gently by threadlike wires at their tops, the balloons drifted in a downward spiral, one after the other, like orderly soldiers in a march. Beneath them, the floodlights of the floor below them continued to grow larger and brighter.
The next room housed even more conveyor belts; but these came from another section of the factory, and brought something else: the paper for the chocolate bars. As the balloons passed over the belts, the bottoms of their trays suddenly opened like a trapdoor, and the chocolate bars fell and landed with soft thuds onto their papers. One layer of the paper was silver tinfoil; the other layer, regular paper, displayed the logo of the chocolate factory and the flavor of the chocolate bar—in this case, Milk Chocolate. After receiving the chocolate bars, the conveyor belts carried them further along for the next step.
But today…
Something new was brewing in the great chocolate factory.
And this was where it occurred.
In the wrapping room, a sound not often heard there echoed on the walls, and rose up above the humming of the conveyor belts and the whirring of the automated machines—the sound of footsteps on the cement floor. A short figure drifted between the conveyor belts, slowly, carefully. It avoided walking underneath the bright lights that illuminated the belts, and remained in the shadows. But sometimes, it moved close to a belt, reached up, and touched a random chocolate bar. Only then was part of it (or him?) revealed: an arm covered in a purple, velvet sleeve, with a white-gloved hand.
Five times the mysterious figure chose a random conveyor belt and chocolate bar. And each time, he placed something on the bare side of the bar: a piece of shiny, golden paper, a little smaller than the bar itself. Then his hand retreated back into the shadows. After the final time, he did not venture under the light again, and he silently watched as the chocolate bars bearing his strange gifts continued on their journey.
Further down, several automated "robots" were poised above the conveyor belts. Their bodies were metal globes, and they had eight long, narrow legs like spiders. Each leg had pincers at the end. As the line of chocolate bars approached, they came down, whirring and buzzing, and wrapped every other bar that came under them in their packaging—first the crinkly foil, and then the flashy outer paper. They also flipped the bar so the front would face up.
After that, the chocolate bars reached the end of their belts, and slid into open cardboard boxes. When each box was filled, more robot arms closed the top, taped it shut, and swiped a sticker with an address across one side. Then the boxes moved along their own conveyor belt, into another room for final inspection.
And at the end of this room, the boxes passed through open doorways protected by heavy flaps of rubber…and into the outside world.
Just beyond the exits, a row of purple delivery trucks idled at the openings, awaiting the packages. Their rear ends faced the doorways, and their rear doors were open to allow the boxes in. To accommodate the trucks, the conveyor belts actually extended out of the factory a few feet into the backs of the trucks. The boxes then slid off the belts and into the trucks, where the drivers would sort and stack them. When the trucks were filled, the conveyor belts stopped supplying the boxes of chocolate bars, and retracted back into the factory. Then metal garage doors closed over the doorways, sealing off the inside.
After a brief pause, the iron gates to the entrance of the factory creaked open. One by one, in an orderly fashion, the purple delivery trucks rumbled to life and rolled away from the receiving area, across the gravel courtyard, and through the gates, returning to the main city streets. When the last one had passed through, the gates closed back up with a sharp, firm clang.
This was the way in which Station Square's biggest chocolate factory had operated for several months now. The recipes and methods for making the factory's famous chocolate and candies were protected from public eyes by walls of security and veils of secrecy. By now, the drivers and regular passersby had become accustomed to the precise schedule.
But on this day, there were many more trucks moving in and out of the factory. More boxes of sweets were being churned out, shipped, and delivered than ever before. And no one, not even the drivers, knew why.
Something new was brewing in the great chocolate factory.
And one particular person could feel it far more than anyone else.
On that chilly, dreary afternoon, small clusters of humans walked along the street beside the chocolate factory. Some of them watched the passing delivery trucks with interest, and wondered among themselves why there were more of them on this particular day. But nobody completely stopped and stood still to admire the factory itself.
…Except for one: a yellow-orange Mobian fox.
He stood off by himself, next to a lamppost on a street corner. He was dressed in a thin jacket with a red scarf, but both were worn out too much to really be warm; he was wearing them because his thicker winter coat hadn't come in just yet. He also wore red-and-white sneakers that looked just as dirty and worn as his clothes. He frequently fidgeted and rubbed his arms to try and warm up, but his sky-blue eyes never once turned away from the massive chocolate factory. Every once in a while, he lifted his nose and took a deep sniff of the air, heavy with the scent of melting chocolate. Then he smiled, closed his eyes, and licked his lips.
Because of his short stature and his ragged clothes, no one gave him a second glance; they all thought he was just some homeless street kid. But had they looked harder, they might have noticed that the fox had not one, but two tails. Still, everyone was in too much of a hurry to pay attention, and no one realized that a young hero was in their midst.
The boy himself hardly cared. He was too absorbed in the sight of the factory, and the wonderful scent of chocolate wafting down to him from its vents. And like many others, he saw the change of pace at the factory, and felt a growing restlessness in the air. But only he watched and waited for whatever was to come.
Something new was brewing in the great chocolate factory.
And it would thrust Miles "Tails" Prower into an adventure unlike anything he ever had before…
Author's Notes
1) Okay, so you probably noticed how I repeated a certain sentence throughout the chapter. That wasn't an accident; repetition is sometimes used as a writing technique for emphasis. If you think it got overused, let me know. (...But it might not be possible for me to fix it, because of the way I wrote the chapter...)
2) I'm a little concerned that this chapter started lagging during the chocolate-making process. Did it move too slow? Was it boring? Reviews and critiques are welcome. (No flames, please.)
3) I'll bet some of you are thinking, "Hey! What happened to the dream sequence at the beginning? I liked that!" Don't worry; that's part of the real Chapter #1, which is up next!
