Disclaimer: Main characters belong to Roald Dahl and Warner Bros.

Author's Note: Thank you, retro mania, for suggesting this story. It was fun to write!


It had been nearly a year since the Wonka Candy Corporation had put on the Golden Ticket Contest. Everyone knew the story: five children and their parents went into the factory, and four…things and their parents came out. Following this, the world was set abuzz for weeks about the drastic changes that had come over the four ticket finders, along with dark rumors about the fifth, who could not be found for interviewing. There were talk shows and radio shows denouncing the safety of Wonka's factory, and lawsuit after lawsuit. In the end, of course, the lawsuits were shot down because of the contract that the children had all signed at the beginning of the tour, and once the real story got out about how the children had not followed the safety rules, the outcry against Wonka disappeared entirely. Now it seemed that everything was getting back to normal, or as normal as could be for the four unfortunate children who had suffered for their mistakes. But it wouldn't be that way for long…

Willy Wonka's Factory
Inventing Room

It was still early, the sun a long way from coming up outside. But Willy Wonka as wide awake, strolling through his favorite room in the factory. It was filled, as always, with mounds of hissing and steaming machinery that beeped and blinked as he passed them by. How he loved this room! He smiled fondly to himself as he stopped by the Everlasting Gobstopper machine, watching as the multicolored candies rolled down the conveyor belt and tumbled into the receiving bucket at the end. And Charlie loves the factory, too, Wonka thought, removing his hat to run a hand through his eccentrically curly hair. The young boy would still be asleep at this hour, and would not wake up until the sun was well into the sky. He would breakfast with his family in the Chocolate Room, and they would all get ready to work with Wonka in the factory. Willy Wonka's smile broadened as he thought about it, feeling a deep sense of happiness wash over him. He had been alone for so long, even with the Oompa-Loompa to keep him company, but now he had an heir, and a family as well. If there was such a thing as luck, no doubt he had his fair share of it. He let his eyes wander around the Inventing Room as he mused these things, at the same time also wondering if he should join the Buckets for breakfast…then he froze. Not literally, but he probably would have preferred it that way. He as looking at a table where there had once been a number of boxes, but they were gone. He forced himself to move, rushing over to the table and looking on the floor around it to make sure the boxes had not simply been moved. Nope. He checked the other stations around the table—the Hair Toffee workbench and the Fizzy Chocolate vats and the racks that held the Singing Lollies (next summer's big hit), but what he was looking for was nowhere to be found. Wringing his hands, he went over to an intercom set into the nearest wall and pressed a button. Within moments, a funny little orange-faced man with green hair appeared. He went up toe Wonka and looked up at him, since he stood no higher than Wonka's waist.

"It's awfully early, sir," he said with a high voice. "Is there something wrong?"

Wonka smiled patiently. "I apologize for waking you up, Jonju, but this could be an emergency. There were boxes of candies I was still working on, sitting on that table yesterday. Did someone move them?"

Jonju produced a clipboard from somewhere within his white overalls and flipped through the pages. "Looks like the only thing anyone did in here yesterday was pick up those candies you had ready for shipment…the Raspberry Toffee Crèmes? Says here the packagers picked them up off Table 10 and sent them to Delivery."

Willy Wonka turned pale, the color draining out of his face like ink from a soaked newspaper. "Please tell me they haven't been shipped yet," he rasped.

Jonju consulted the pages again, his expression grim. "Sorry, sir, but they went out at midnight, for security and all. What seems to be the problem? Those candies are safe, aren't they?"

"There's been a mix-up," Wonka said quietly, fiddling with his bowtie. "The Raspberry Toffee Crèmes were on Table 11…I moved them last minute to make room for my new project. The Packagers took the wrong candies." He wrung his hands. "Do you know where the candies were sent? I need to get them back as soon as possible."

Jonju didn't point out the fact that his employer was dodging the real question. He merely referred again to his notes. "Interesting."

"What is it?"

"Well," the Oompa-Loompa replied, "there were four boxes, so they were split into four separate shipments…and they're being sent to the other Ticket winners."

Wonka seemed to deflate, catching the edge of a nearby shelf to stop himself from dropping to the floor in disbelief. Not at the news that the four Ticket winners were getting candy—even though they'd forfeited their lifetime supply of candy after breaking the rules during the Tour, Wonka had a slight change of heart during the last of the lawsuits and conceded to send each Ticket winner a hefty supply of candy as a consolation…and so that they'd stop harassing him. In fact, the shipment that had apparently gone out a few hours ago was to be the first installment of several; ironic that it just so happened to contain Wonka's latest and greatest candy creation that wasn't even ready yet. Wonka drew in a slow breath to steady himself as he tried to remain calm.

"Are you okay, sir?" Jonju asked.

"Getting there," Wonka replied, reaching under Table 10 for a number of flasks and bottles filled with strange liquids and glowing powders. "In answer to your earlier question," he said, mixing various ingredients in a large beaker, "the candies are safe…at least I'm 90% certain they are. But safety is not the issue I am concerned with—it's the matter of disappearing that I'm worried about."

Jonju stared at him in shock. "The candies you were working on make you disappear?"

"It's a bit more complicated than that," Wonka said, setting up a Bunsen burner. "The disappearance is an unforeseen side effect of one of the primary ingredients: time crystals."

"Time crystals."

"Yes, mined from the deepest, darkest crevices of Earth, where the pressure is so great that it compresses the very essence of time into solid crystals. I discovered some on one of my very first visits to Minusland. I noticed some of the Minuses eating the crystals to become Plusses again. I wondered, of course, how the crystals tasted. Turns out, they add a whole new dimension to flavor that I cannot duplicate using anything else!

"If you tasted it, how come you didn't disappear?" Jonju asked. "Or did you , and then you found a way to reappear?"

Wonka took a minute to stir the contents of his beaker before replying. "A taste won't make you disappear, but more than a morsel could. I found that out when three of the test Oompa-Loompa tried some of the first candies. They just plum vanished—I thought they'd turned invisible, but it seems like they were whisked away somewhere without a trace."

"Like the Minuses?" Jonju said dryly.

"No need to be prim," Wonka retorted, setting the beaker on a tile plate to cool. "I got all the test-Loompas back from Minusland, didn't I? And it's a good thing I know how to get the ones who disappeared back, too."

"Care to explain?" Jonju said, knowing how much his employer liked to spout out the scientific nature of things.

"It's simple," Wonka said, producing two trays from beneath the table. The liquid in the beaker had cooled enough to become a thick treacle, and it separated into two layers that seemed to glow through the clear glass. Wonka carefully decanted the greenish top layer into one tray, and poured the bluish bottom layer into the other tray.

"If one candy can make someone disappear, then another candy should be able to make them reappear!"

"Like the Wonkavite and Vita-Wonk?" Jonju asked.

"Exactly," Wonka replied. He stet a timer, then went over to a cupboard along the nearest wall. Jonju followed him, still carrying the clipboard. Wonka pulled open one of the cabinets and took out a shiny purple jumpsuit, complete with matching goggles, gloves, and shoes. He pulled the suit over his clothes, though he took off his plum velvet jacket first. He continued to talk as he slipped the gloves on. "The candies in the boxes that were accidentally shipped were all of the green variety. I was studying them extensively because they made the testers disappear, but the blue variety didn't. What if it's because the green candies teleport you away, and the blue ones bring you back?"

Sounds reasonable," Jonju murmured, "but don't you dare try it on yourself."

Wonka stopped pulling on one of the gloves and flashed him a rebellious look.

"And why not?"

"What if it doesn't work?" Jonju said patiently. "What if you are stranded in limbo or something and get stuck along with the testers?"

Wonka furrowed his brow. "Don't you think it's a risk worth taking? So I can get the other Oompa-Loompas back? Your friends and coworkers?"

"As much as I love my people," Jonju said slowly, "I am more concerned with your wellbeing, sir. Ever since you entrusted me with your secrets and the security of your factory, I've come to realize that without you, my people and I would be nothing."

"I don't follow," Wonka said, though by the twitch in his neck, Jonju knew he did. "Think about it," he said, "You rescued my people from Loompaland. You gave us food, shelter, jobs. If you disappear, what will become of all that? What about Charlie? His family? They would all be lost without you."

Wonka sighed gustily. "Maybe you have a point, my friend, but you're forgetting something."

"Like what?"

"That I'm Willy Wonka," Wonka said, pulling his top hat firmly down on his head. Just then, the timer went off, and Wonka rushed over to the table where the two trays were sitting. Wonka touched the surface of the candy with a gloved finger, satisfied that it had hardened enough. He pulled a small spatula from somewhere and cut the candy, now the consistency of saltwater taffy, into little squares. He put the candies in two separate baggies, and put the baggies in a little satchel that he slung over his shoulder.

"I'll be back before you know it," he said to Jonju, who only shook his head.

"I hope so, sir."

Wonka took out one of the green candies and ate it, and after a couple uneventful seconds, he disappeared.