The children sat near the Wonkamobile, waiting for the candyman to return. Mike nervously sat between Charlie and Violet.
"Are they talking about me in there? I hope they won't tell my mom, she'll make me watch the news for a whole week!" Mike cried, tightly clutching his toy gun.
"I can't say for sure, but here's one thing I know. You're definitely not in trouble, that man certainly didn't give a squat when I tried that horrid potato infested gum. And watching the news for an entire week, I don't know how any sane person can survive that." Violet replied, loudly smacking her gum.
Mike shrugged.
"I dunno. Mom's always warned me but she never does it. I hope she'll never do that!" he told the avid gum chewer.
The white door swung open and Wonka walked towards the children with a fake smile.
"Since there has been a slight malfunction, the rest of you unfortunately cannot see Wonkavision but I want you to see something better. Moving along now..." he said as the children slowly followed him into a thin hallway, with still life portraits of different types of candy adorned on each side.
The hallway appeared to grow thinner as it proceeded.
"Oh great, another shrinking room!" Violet angrily shouted.
"No it's not! It's getting thinner!" Mike bellowed, looking at the portrait of a pastel multicolored lollipop completely thinning out.
The entire image disappeared and only the collapsed brown frame could be seen. The hallway grew so thin that all five children were crammed together.
"Let me out or I'll scream!" Veruca shrieked, trying to shove Augustus away from her.
Wonka glanced at the children with unease. Charlie could see him pacing back and forth.
"I can't breathe!" Mike cried, who was stuck between Augustus and Charlie.
"Is this a sick joke? Violet yelled, losing all trust in the candyman.
"Joking around? What's sick about it? Lo and behold the one and only Wonkavator!." Wonka proudly announced as he opened the severely thinned out door that was near the end of the pointed hallway. In front of the group was an unusually shaped glass elevator with golden rims on each of its bent sides.
"You mean an elevator?" Mike corrected.
"WRONG! The Wonkavator. An elevator can only go up and down, but... the Wonkavator can go sideways and slantways and longways and backways..." Wonka explained as the group walked into the crammed elevator.
It barely had any space for all six people inside.
"And frontways?" Charlie wondered out loud.
"And squareways and frontways and any other ways that you can think of..."
"Squareways? How is that possible?" Mike questioned.
"I'm sorry? Can you say that again please? This beauty can take you any room in the whole factory just by pressing one of these buttons. Any of these buttons. Just press a button and ZING! You're off. Now, who wants to press a button?" Wonka happily asked the children.
"ME!" Veruca declared.
"Go ahead my dear girl, pick any room your heart desires..." Wonka gently whispered to the spoilt girl.
Violet rolled her eyes.
Veruca closely analyzed the different options, which some read:
Dessert Island
Elastic Forest
Fizzy Lemonade Swimming Pools
Old Sneezes and Smells Dept.
Pastry Room
Scratch and Sniff Room
Marshmallow Marsh
Rock Candy Mine
Fudge Mountain
Chocolate Milk Farm
Coconut Ice-Skating Rinks
She struggled to make a decision, much to the others' surprise. Veruca suddenly let out her trademark smirk and selected Fudge Mountain.
"Very good my dear girl and on we go!" Wonka hollered as the Wonkavator dramatically shifted sideways.
Mike grabbed Charlie's right arm tightly, slightly shaking. The Wonkavator sped past the many rooms, which the children could see through the shiny glass. Augustus gulped and covered his eyes.
"Mr. Wonka? I do not like heights. It's making me nervous..."
Wonka stared off in space and completely ignored the terrified boy.
"Did you hear him? He's clearly afraid of heights!" Charlie snapped.
"Wait-what? I'm sorry, what did you say my dear boy?" Wonka asked, as if he were unaware of his surroundings.
Augustus still covered his eyes and his large body was shaking furiously.
"Oh dear, I'm sorry to hear that Augustus. You're missing out such a great adventure." Wonka flatly stated as they reached to Fudge Mountain.
The Wonkavator abruptly stopped, causing the children to lean sideways and crash into the wall.
Augustus's eyes were covered throughout the Wonkavator ride.
"It's okay Augustus, it's all done. You can open your eyes now." Charlie gently whispered to Augustus, who finally uncovered his eyes.
Augustus' fear immediately dissolved when he saw Fudge Mountain, a massive, unevenly shaped mountain that was roughly as tall as a five-story building. The fudge was a light tan with bright white "snow" at its summit. Dozens of oompa loompas harnessed by purple ropes were drilling and picking chunks out of the mountain.
"Ragazzi e le ragazze danno il benenuto alla Fudge Mountain, il mio orgolio e la gioia..." Wonka welcomed the children in Italian.
"Aw, more gibberish?" Mike whined, scratching his hair.
"Mr. Wonka! This looks like marvelous peanut butter but it's so high..." Augustus remarked, only looking at the colossal mountain's base.
"No, this is vanilla fudge. In fact, all of this is made of vanilla fudge, except for the snow of course, which is made of the extra marshmallow fluff from the Marshmallow Marsh." Wonka told as a chain of purple wagons with chunks of vanilla fudge inside passed by.
"See those wagons? The oompa loompas place the fudge pieces they've collected in each one. Once they're all loaded, they go right through that tunnel to your right, which is the pounding and cutting room. The machine pounds it against the floor until it's perfectly smooth. After that, many knives come down and chop it up and finito! Neat little squares are formed and off to the shops they go!"
Most of the children were amazed by the colossal mountain.
"Go ahead, eat some but do be very careful of the rogue chunks, they just happen to roll by, just like boulders rolling on one of nature's mountains. We don't want any squished children, do we?" Wonka warned as a massive chunk of fudge rolled down the left side of the mountain.
The children all sat on the base and chowed down the fudge. Charlie was amazed by the fudge's creaminess and excellent taste.
"Mr. Wonka! This is the best fudge I've ever had!" he cried.
"I'm so happy to hear that my dear boy. Eat some more!" Wonka yelled as Charlie grabbed another chunk.
Augustus forgot about his phobia and began to wolf down a large sample of the fudge. Violet grabbed a small piece and even she enjoyed it.
"Hey Mr. Wonka! Can we climb up to the top?" Mike asked, finishing the last of his fudge sample.
"Hmmm... I'm pretty sure you can... YES! Go ahead but please do be careful of those rogue chunks and purple wagons." Wonka replied with a smirk.
Mike smiled and began to climb towards the marshmallow covered summit. He looked down at the others.
"Hey Charlie! Do you wanna come with me?"
Charlie gulped, looking at the summit that was miles away from him.
"Um, sure! I'll go with you!"
As the two boys climbed, Wonka smiled at them from afar. Charlie felt nervous climbing on such a high mountain with gigantic chunks of fudge that could possibly crush him and Mike to death.
"Don't be scared. This is fun!" Mike exclaimed.
"Hey! I want to go to the top first!" Veruca's shrill voice sounded from above.
"No! We called it first!" Mike snapped, still climbing.
"Does it ever occur to you two imbeciles that I always go first?!" she shrieked.
"No it doesn't. Mike's right. The world doesn't always revolve around you. We decided to do it first. So, done deal." Charlie firmly stated, trying not to fight her.
Veruca's face reddened.
"You fools! I always go first, no matter what!"
"Do you know what. How about we race? Me and Charlie versus you." Mike curtly offered.
Veruca paused.
"Very well then, but I am gonna win and both of you know it." she growled as she and the boys began to climb as fast as they could.
Violet watched the three children climb.
"There's no way on Earth I'm going to do that, especially after nearly getting sliced to death by that fan and chewing that potato gum! I'm never forgiving that man!" she confided to Augustus, who was not listening to her.
He was too busy mowing down any fudge that was in his sight. Violet sighed with annoyance and looked to see Wonka with a wild look in his eyes, watching the others climb to to the summit. The look somewhat scared her. Violet looked away and grabbed another piece of fudge.
Charlie, Mike, and Veruca were now past the halfway point, with Mike and Charlie ahead of Veruca by several miles. Mike looked at the enraged girl and laughed hysterically.
"See? What did I tell you, miss I-want-it-now? Look how good we are and you aren't!" Mike jeered as he stuck his tongue at her.
Veruca let out a harsh scream and Charlie quietly laughed, hoping Veruca would not see or hear him.
Suddenly, a loud rumble sounded.
"What was that?" Mike frantically asked as a huge chunk of fudge charged towards him and Charlie.
"MIKE! MOVE!" Charlie screamed as he shifted away from the speeding rogue chunk.
Veruca managed to shift away from it as well. Mike, however was not so lucky after slipping downward. He managed to grab onto the nearest ledge and loudly panted. He was still in the path of the charging fudge boulder.
"MIKE!" Charlie cried, quickly crawling towards the scared cowboy.
The rolling chunk was now dangerously close to Mike, who tried to climb towards Charlie. Wonka looked excited and almost sadistic as he watch the rogue chunk tumble towards Charlie and Mike. The loud rumbling even grabbed Augustus' attention, who looked up in horror and gulped.
"The suspense is growing and growing!" Wonka yelled, not showing any emotion.
Violet gave the candyman a furious look.
Mike struggled to shift away from the fudge boulder. He slipped again and started to plummet down below as the boulder rolled slightly away from him, missing him only by two inches. The tiny cowboy managed to grab onto a sharp point of the rugged Fudge Mountain. The fudge boulder crashed down at the base, causing the room to shake.
Charlie, Mike, and Veruca all rushed down to the base. Wonka gave the two boys the same murderous look and then smiled once more.
"You two are so lucky! That rogue chunk only missed you by a-"
Before Wonka could finish, Violet screamed: "Wonka! I've had absolutely enough with your death trap of a chocolate factory!"
Wonka stared at the gum chewer, dumbfounded.
"I-I'm sorry, what?"
"Don't play dumb on me candyman! All of us nearly died at least once today and you clearly don't care if we live or die! You never attempted to stop any of us and in fact, you've smiled as it happened until we escaped our fates! My dad's gonna hear all about this and he'll call our lawyer and you will get sued!" Violet continued, loudly chewing her gum.
Wonka still looked shocked.
"You also knew that we would somehow get eliminated in each room, one by one. The boat only had room for four people and the Wonkamobile could only fit two people!" Charlie added, gripping Mike's shoulders.
"Yeah! And why did you not let our parents come with and gave them those weird taffies with alcohol in them? I want to go home and watch TV now!" Mike shouted.
Wonka now looked frantic and desperate.
"Please my dear children. Don't leave. I beg you. I mean no harm. There is a grand prize awaiting for one of you and you'll love it." he muttered, hoping the children would change their attitudes.
"No. We are leaving now to find our parents now. If I'm the so-called winner of your contest of horrors, I'm not accepting it." Violet firmly told the chocolatier.
Wonka's blue eyes squinted.
"Very well then Miss Beauregarde. You will therefore not be today's winner. You never were in the first place. However, I still would like you to see one last room before the winner is announced with everybody else..."
Veruca's eyes widened in excitement.
"Mr. Wonka! I want to see this room NOW!" she declared.
"Very good Veruca. Moving along now my dear children." Wonka ordered as he lead the children back into the Wonkavator.
