"How many children are left?" Wonka asked as he walked toward the glass elevator, hoping a vortex from another universe would appear to suck up the Teavee's and leave him in peace.

"Two, Mr. Wonka," Mr. Teavee said, "Mike and...Charlie? Yes, Charlie."

"Just two?"

The two heirs nodded.

"What happened to the others?"

"Don't you remember?!" Mike asked. He was certain Wonka was playing dumb, but the man was not the sanest person.

"Oh, my dear boy, you two have won!" Wonka energetically shook Charlie's hand, then turned his hand to Mike, forcing out a less enthusiastic "good job!"

Mike resented the chocolatiers' tone, but swallowed his pride and gave Wonka a half-hearted handshake. It suddenly occurred to Mike the reason Wonka was wearing those ridiculous purple gloves was in case he had to shake hands.

"I had a hunch, you know, right from the beginning," Wonka told Charlie, "well done. Now we mustn't dilly or dally. Because we have an enormous number of things to do before the day's out."

Wonka began running toward the great glass elevator. "But luckily for us we have the great glass elevator to speed things alo -" Wonka ran right into the doors of the flying glass elevator.

Mike gave a snicker. Wonka stared daggers at him. "Speed things along. Come on." Wonka added as he clicked the button to open the doors.

The quartet of guests entered the elevator and Wonka pressed a button that said Up And Out.

"Up and out? What kind of room is that?" Charlie asked.

Wonka gave a gleeful smile. "Hold on."

A look of excitement entered Charlie's face.

Charlie wasn't worried. He trusted Mr. Wonka completely. Granted, the man was a tad odd, but he was a genius. Wonka wouldn't put them through something that was life-threatening. If anybody could make an elevator perform amazing stunts, it was Willy Wonka.

"Oh, my goodness. We're gonna need to go much faster," Wonka said, "otherwise we'll never make it through."

"Break through what?" Charlie inquired.

"I've been longing to press that button for years." Wonka said.

Mike's face turned to horror as he realized what Wonka meant.

"You mean?..." Grandpa Joe asked in shock.

"Yeah, I do." Wonka said.

"But it's made of glass," Grandpa Joe protested in fear, "it'll shatter in a thousand pieces!"

Wonka gave a psychotic laugh as the elevator ran further and further upward.

Mike and Mr. Teavee closed their eyes. Grandpa Joe looked in unease, while Charlie felt euphoric. A loud smashing noise emerged. Wonka's elevator had smashed its way out of the factory.

The Teavee's opened their eyes and looked in astonishment. Wonka's glass elevator was flying over the city.

"How are you doing this?" Mike Teavee demanded.

The chocolatier giggled. "The miracles of candy."

"This has nothing to do with candy!" Mike snapped, "You somehow have learned how to avert science!"

"Interesting theory." Wonka said in a tone of boredom.

"So, what did we win?" Charlie asked.

"Well, that's quite simple. But we'll get to that later."

The elevator began to sink downward. Wonka pressed a button that caused sparks to emerge from a metal attachment to the elevator. The elevator stood still.

"Oh, look, our friends from the tour." Wonka observed.

Surely enough, Augustus Gloop emerged from the factory covered in chocolate. Literally every visible inch of the child was drowning in thick, hot chocolate. The contestants would have pitied him, if it didn't seem like he was enjoying it.

"Goodness gracious, that greedy boy is eating his fingers." Grandpa Joe said in disgust.

Wonka frowned as he watched Augustus lick himself. Even now that awful child made it his duty to profane his beautiful chocolate! Had the child truly learned nothing from near-death? Prehaps he shouldn't have saved any of these three.

Violet Beauregarde was still blue. Purple, actually. The experience clearly had made her much more flexible. Violet began doing a series of impressive flexes, her mother's disapproval visible.

"She's become a contortionist." Mike pointed out.

"Indeed," Wonka responded, "it's possible the mass volumes of blueberry juice made her bones dissolve." The contestants faces turned to horror at the thought, while Wonka gave his trademark awkward chuckle.

"That isn't funny." Mr. Teavee said, shivering slightly at the thought of what might have happened if Mike had entered that television device.

"Of course not," Wonka said, "oh, look, the Salt's turned out just fine!"

That was a unique interpretation. The Salt's were covered in garbage. Well, decorated at least, as they were not beyond recognition like Augustus. It seems that they had done a fairly good job of fleeing the garbage chute, though they looked quite angry. Unlike Augustus or Violet, no permanent damage seemed to have been done to either. Veruca spotted the elevator, her eyes meeting with the contestants, and she looked in envy and hunger. She then turned to her father.

"I think she's asking her father for a flying glass elevator." Charlie piped up. Mike nodded in agreement.

A stern look on Mr. Salt's face shocked the five.

"What did he say?" Grandpa Joe asked.

"I think... I think he told her 'no.'" Mr. Teavee answered in astonishment. The idea of Mr. Salt telling his daughter "no" was a strange and foreign concept.

"Really?" Wonka asked brightly, "well, all is well ends well. Anyway," he turned to Charlie, "where do you live?"

Charlie pointed to his house. "Right over there. That little house."

The Teavee's looked at the house in shock. It looked more like an abandoned cottage than a house. Mr. Teavee had read in the paper that the Bucket's had "little income" but that seemed an understatement when he looked at the place.

Wonka directed his elevator towards the house. The elevator soared right over the house, then began fell at a fast speed.

"Mr. Wonka," Grandpa Joe said, "I think your about to -"

The flying glass elevator smashed through the roof of the house, completely destroying it. Mr and Mrs. Bucket jumped back in fear while Grandpa George woke up with a startle.

"I think there's someone at the door." Grandma Georgina thought out loud.

"You should have parked outside." Mike Teavee admonished. Wonka gave him a glare.

"Hi, mom." Charlie called happily as the elevator, waving as the elevator doors opened. Mrs. Bucket waved back in hesitation. She vaguely thought Mike and Mr. Teavee looked familiar, but had no idea who the odd-looking man with the hat was.

"Mom, Dad, were back." Charlie cried as he and Grandpa Joe embraced his parents. The Teavee's stood there, not sure what to do until Charlie motioned toward them. "This is Mike Teavee and his father from the factory tour."

"Ah, I thought you looked familiar." Mrs. Bucket said as she politely shook Mike's hands. There was a great feeling of love and warmth in her handshake Mike couldn't explain.

Mr. Bucket reached out his hand to Mr. Teavee. "Mr. Bucket, Charlie' father."

"Mr. Teavee, Mike's father." Mr. Teavee received what was probably the warmest handshake he felt in his life.

"And this is Willy Wonka," Charlie announced proudly, "he gave us a ride home."

"I see that." Mrs. Bucket said, looking at the broken roof in distaste. Mike was thrilled at least one Bucket didn't worship Wonka.

"You must be the boy's -" Wonka began struggling.

"Parents?" Mr. Bucket finished, slightly amused at the chocolatiers antics.

"Yeah, that." Wonka said in disgust.

"He says these boys have won something." Grandpa Joe informed them.

"Not just anything something," Wonka said while scanning the house, which seemed to be to his disapproval, "the most 'something' something of any something that's ever been. I'm giving these little boys my entire factory."

Charlie's face lit in euphoria while Mike was more astonished then he had ever been. "Really?" Mike asked.

"Really." Wonka said.

"You must be joking." Grandpa Joe said.

"No, really, it's true," Mr. Wonka insisted, "because, you see, a few months ago, I was having my semiannual haircut, and I had the strangest revelation.."

Wonka told about he found a silver hair on his shoulder in the middle of his haircut. "In that one silver hair, I saw reflected my life's work. My factory, my Oompa-Loompa's. Who would watch over them when I was gone? I realized in that moment: I must find a heir. And, I did, Charlie and Mike. You."

Wonka frowned as he turned toward Grandma Georgina and Grandpa George.

"That's why you seen out the golden tickets!" Charlie exclaimed, piecing it all together.

"Your giving us the factory because you had a bad haircut?" Mike asked incredulously.

Wonka ignored Mike. "Yeah. I invited five children to the factory, and the least rotten would be the winner. That's you two. Anyway, I have a contract that I need you two to sign."

Wonka pulled a document and two pens out of his coat. "Sing at the bottom."

The document started off in massive print, then gradually shrunk the further it went on. The last few reads were unreadable to the naked eye, looking like nothing but smears.

"I can't read the bottom." Mike complained.

"Well, maybe if you didn't watch so much television, you would read better, huh?" Wonka challenged.

Charlie eagerly signed his contract without the slightest hesitation. This was beyond anything he ever dreamed! Owning Wonka's! His family could finally afford a proper home. Wonka was a genius Charlie enjoyed being around, though he couldn't help but feel Wonka probably needed some professional help. Mike Teavee hadn't bullied him on tour like Violet and Augustus, prehaps he wasn't so bad. Maybe the kids at school would finally like him if he did great things at Wonka's. They might even wind up friends. Prehaps Wonka could even cure his grandparents!

Mike flickered his pen nervously. He loathed chocolate, why should he sign? Yet, for all his distaste for Wonka's inventions, there was something about them that fascinated him. One could only imagine the money he would get. Also, Wonka clearly had unraveled some scientific mysteries, and Mike wanted to learn just how. Maybe he could be home-schooled so he wouldn't have to deal with those jerks at school who tried to make his life hell. Charlie Bucket seemed okay. Besides, he might be able to make a few key changes to how Wonka's operated...

Mike signed his name. Mr. Teavee smiled while Wonka frowned. Wonka had been hoping the boy would refuse the prize. Oh, well, at least he still had Charlie.

"Glad that's over!" Wonka said, "so, ready to come leave all this behind and come live with me in the factory!"

"Sure. Of course," Charlie said, "I mean, it's all right if my family come too?"

"Oh, my dear, boy," Wonka said, "of course they can't!"

The room fell into silence. Everybody had expected him to say "of course they can." Both Charlie and Mike had noted several anti-family vibes in Wonka before, but Charlie dismissed it as playfulness, Mike dismissed it as just another thing wrong with him.

"You can't run a chocolate factory with a family hanging over you like an old, dead goose," Wonka turned to Grandpa George, "no offense."

"None taken, jerk." Grandpa George snarled.

Wonka gave the old man a small glare the continued. " A chocolatier has to run free and solo. He has to follow his dreams, gosh darn the consequences!"

Wonka walked backed to the elevator. "Look at me. I have no family, and I'm a major success."

"And a nutcase." Grandpa George whispered loudly. Mike was starting to like the old man.

"So, if I go with you and Mike to the factory, I won't ever see my family again?" Charlie asked in outrage.

"Yeah," Wonka said happily, "consider that a bonus."

Neither heir could believe what they were hearing. Charlie loved his family, they were the only people that he had ever had. How dare Wonka try to take that away from him! Why did the man hate his family so much? Consider that a bonus! The thought irritated the usually content boy. They were a great family. Charlie heard the TV reports and newspaper stories of broken families, and he couldn't understand why those people destroyed the most important thing in their lives. Mr. Wonka might not be a nice man after all.

And, for all the arguments that Mike had with his parents, he still loved them. They were the only two in his life anymore, given that he had no friends. He could spend hours behind a machine, but when he had the occasional need for human interaction, it was his parents he wanted to see. His father had taught him how to rise a bike, how to read, bought him that Nintendo when he was five to calm his grief over his dog's death. Mike found it a bit disturbing that Wonka hated families so much. Was that why he didn't help the other children?

"Then I'm not going," Charlie insisted fiercely, "I wouldn't give up my family for anything. Not for all the chocolate in the world."

"Oh, I see," Wonka said in disgust, then turned toward Mike, hoping to stir envy in Charlie, "well, you'll do. Come on, little boy."

Mike shook his head no. "I may be a lot of things, but I'm not abandoning my family."

Mr. Teavee gave a sigh in relief. He had been worrying that Mike would just run off to spite him, but apparently there was still some of that kind little boy who loved books left.

"That's weird," Wonka said in confusion. His face lit up, "there's other candy to besides chocolate."

"I'm sorry, Mr. Wonka, I'm staying here." Charlie said.

"Oh. Well, that's just... unexpected. And weird." Wonka turned to Mike.

"I'm going back to Denver," Mike said, "I don't care if your contract -" he stopped in realization, "does that contract we signed have a section prohibiting relatives from living in your factory?"

Wonka looked like he would throw up, reluctantly admitting, "No, it doesn't."

"Well, then it doesn't matter what you say," Mike smirked, "we can all go whether you like it or not."

"Let's get packing." Grandpa Joe said in excitement. Charlie ran upstairs to get his things.

"Well, I guess I'll call your mother so we get a moving truck to Denver," Mr. Teavee said, "then again, do you have anything in your factory that can move our belongings, Mr. Wonka?"

"Possibly." Wonka said. Living the rest of his life with two... families? Wonka ran out of the Bucket household and vomited in the garden.