"Right this way", said Mr. Wombat as he lead the 5 children into a small, light blue room with large red curtains on a wall.
"Now, I would like you all to stand right here", he pointed with his cane to a spot in front of the curtains.
As the 5 toons stood in front of the curtains, Mr. Wombat went up & started pulling on a string, opening the curtains, which revealed a large piece of paper with writing on it.
"What's this?", Furrball asked.
"This, my feline friend, is a contract", Mr. Wombat replied.
The toons all looked at the contract, which started with big, bolded words. But as they continued reading, the words became smaller & more difficult to read, until at the bottom of the contract, they were nothing but faded horizontal lines that were barely visible.
"I can't read zhe stuff at zhe bottom", Fifi said.
"All right children, listen up." The 5 toons turned to Mr. Wombat as he continued.
"Now, I know you all are excited to be here & that you're eager to see the interior of my factory, but we have some things to go through first."
"What things?", Hamton asked.
"I have some rules that you all will need to follow in order to be in this tour."
Monty scoffed as he grumbled, "Rules, schmules, who cares about them?"
"Uh, I do, and if you don't like following the rules, I'd be glad to kick you out of this tour before it even begins. Would your parents appreciate that?"
Monty let out a sigh of exasperation as he replied, "No, they wouldn't."
"Okay then", Mr. Wombat continued, "now I want you all to raise your right hand", everyone, including Mr. Wombat, raised their hands, "and repeat after me. I, then state your name."
The toons all said "'I'", then their first & last names.
"Do solemnly swear..."
"'Do solemnly swear...'"
"To follow & obey..."
"'To follow & obey...'"
"All rules laid out by Mr. Wombat."
"'All rules laid out by Mr. Wombat.'"
"If at any time I break these rules..."
"'If at any time I break these rules...'"
Mr. Wombat spoke the next line quite fast.
"I will be eliminated from the tour & will not take home the grand prize of leaving the factory with all the yummy scrumpdiddlyumptiously chocolate that could keep my stomach full for the rest of my life."
Mr. Wombat spoke the last line so quickly, no one was able to catch all the things he said. So they all said what they heard & looked at each other in nervousness as they did their best in repeating Mr. Wombat's line.
As they finished, Mr. Wombat chuckled & said, "Close enough. Now, grab a pen, and sign right here", he pointed at the bottom of the contract, at a solid horizontal line that's below the tiny, faded words.
Each of the 5 toons grabbed a pen & signed their first & last names. Once they finished, Mr. Wombat said, "Alrighty, on with the tour!"
"Yay!", the toons shouted as they followed Mr. Wombat to a door with a dial in the center. He turned the dial to the combination of 09-13-16, and pressed the center of it, opening the door.
"After you", he said, allowing the toons to enter the room before him. The room was a small hallway with various patterns on the wall.
However, after no more than 10 steps from the entrance, the toons already hit a dead end, with no other door in sight.
"Wait a second", Hamton exclaimed, "there's no way out of here."
"Oh, by the way kids", Mr. Wombat started, "you might want to hold on to something."
"Hold on to what?", Monty asked.
But at that moment, as soon as Mr. Wombat closed the door, the whole entire room suddenly flipped upside-down, and everyone except Mr. Wombat fell from the floor to the ceiling, or in this case, from the ceiling to the floor.
Mr. Wombat held on to the door & simply let himself down a moment after the room rotated. The 5 toons were in a pile-up; Monty was on the floor face first with his legs arched into the back of his head, Hamton was on top of Fifi, and Furrball was lying on top of Elmyra.
"Get off moi!", Fifi shouted at Hamton, "Get off, vous fat lump of lard!"
Hamton, still sitting on top of Fifi, replied in a sarcastic tone, "Well, that's a nice thing to say to your ex-boyfriend."
Suddenly, Fifi kicked Hamton from underneath him with great force. He was sent flying, nearly touching the ceiling, and landed on top of Monty's head just as he stood up.
"MMMFF!", Monty screamed as the pig landed on him.
Meanwhile, Furrball & Elmyra both stood up. They turned to each other before Furrball quickly shoved Elmyra to the ground & approached Fifi.
"Are you okay, Fifi?", he asked.
"I'm fine, merci", Fifi replied.
"Are we all good here?", Mr. Wombat asked. Monty finally pulled his head free from under Hamton, and it was completely flat like a pancake. He stuck his thumb in his mouth & blew until his head popped back to normal.
"Mr. Wombat, what just happened?", Elmyra asked.
"What eez zhe point of zhis room?", Fifi wondered. "Zhere's no way out."
"Yes there is", Mr. Wombat replied, "right here, throught this door."
"But that's the same door where we came from", Furrball exclaimed.
"It is? Are you sure?"
"Positive."
"Well, let's see." The candyman then opened the door, which didn't show the room that had the contract, but a totally different room. It showed a really long, dark hallway with lots of doors along both sides.
The 5 toons couldn't believe what they're seeing as they all exclaimed in surprise & disbelief.
"Shall we?", Mr. Wombat said.
"What is this, some kind of a fun house?!", Hamton yelled.
"Why, having fun?"
"I've had enough!", Monty shouted, "I'm not going in there!"
"Come on, Fifi", Furrball spoke up, "let's get the heck out of here."
"Oh, you can't go that way", the candyman explained as he started down the hallway, "you'll have to go forward to go back. I know it sounds confusing, but you'll get the idea."
The toons all looked at each other, knowing that the only way out is through. So they all followed the candyman down the hall.
As they journeyed through the dark corridor, everyone noticed that the walls & ceiling were getting narrower & narrower.
"Uh, guys", Hamton spoke up, "Is it me, or is the room getting smaller?"
"Maybe we're getting bigger", Elmyra said as the group reached the end of the hallway, with everyone, including Mr. Wombat, crouching down.
Next to Mr. Wombat, there was a door that was so small, it looked as if it was big enough for only a mouse to fit in.
Elmyra giggled as she said, "Look how tiny that door is."
"Nobody's gonna fit in there", Monty exclaimed.
"What is this, Alice in Wonderland or something?", Hamton asked.
Furrball scoffed as he replied, "Yeah right, and I'm the Cheshire Cat."
Fifi then asked Hamton, "Does zhat make vous Tweedledee or Tweedledum?"
Furrball, Monty, and Elmyra all started laughing while Hamton glared at Fifi. Even Mr. Wombat cracked a little smile on his face.
A moment after everyone stopped laughing, Mr. Wombat said, "Y'know, I don't really like snappy comebacks, but that right there...that was funny."
"Oh, dry up", Hamton mumbled.
"What was that?", asked Mr. Wombat.
"Nothing."
"That's what I thought you said."
Hamton crossed his arms with an angry expression as Mr. Wombat spoke up again.
"Now, my dear friends, I want you all to listen carefully. You are about to enter the very heart of this factory. Inside this very room is where all of my dreams become realities, and some of my realities become dreams. It may sound confusing, but, again, you'll get the idea."
The toons all looked at each other in confusion about what the candyman just said.
"Alright now", he continued, "where's the key to open this door?" He reached into his pocket & pulled out a large ring with about a hundred different keys on it.
"That's a lot of keys", said Elmyra.
"Yeah, but only one will open this door", Mr. Wombat replied. After searching through the keys for a moment, he said, "Wait a minute, wrong pocket."
He put the keys away & reached into his other pocket. "Ah, here we are", he pulled out a much smaller ring with a very small key that was no bigger than a large toenail.
He put it into the door & turned it. Suddenly, a panel opened up from above the door, revealing a lever that was pointing to the right.
"Ladies & gentlemen...", Mr. Wombat started as he grabbed the lever, "boys & girls...", he pulled the lever outward, which triggered a loud CLUNK which made everyone else jump.
"I give you...", he turned the lever clockwise 90 degrees, which was accompanied by 5 loud clicks, all back-to-back.
"The Chocolate Room", Mr. Wombat concluded as he pressed the lever down against the wall, which triggered another loud CLUNK.
Suddenly, the wall in front of them started to sink into the floor, the door disappearing out of sight. At the same time, the walls & ceiling around everyone started moving away, giving everyone room to finally stand up straight again.
The wall in front continued its descent, with a bright light shining from the opening above it.
Once it was low enough, everyone all gasped & exclaimed in awe at the sight that greeted their eyes.
In front of them was a large room that consisted of a large grassy area that had a variety of trees & various plants that all seemed to be growing candy. There were trees that were growing lollipops, vines that were made of licorice, and large mushrooms with white spots that were made of whipped cream.
As the children stared in awe & excitement, Mr. Wombat said, "After you, mes amis", and extended an arm out toward the room.
Furrball grabbed Fifi's hand as they led the way, with Hamton, Monty, Elmyra, and Mr. Wombat following behind as the door closed behind them.
"It's beautiful", Furrball said.
"Huh?", asked Mr. Wombat, "Oh yeah, it's very beautiful."
Mr. Wombat then stepped ahead of the group as they all started down a stone path.
"Welcome to the Chocolate Room, folks", Mr. Wombat said. "How about we start this tour with a little history?" As the group continued down the path, Mr. Wombat continued.
"This very factory was first being built back in 1964, and construction finished in 1967. It houses many of my fantastic ideas that all came from the top of my head. When the popularity of my creations went up, so did the employment here. Many people wanted to work here in the factory, but I could only have so many employees. Most of them wanted to work here just for the delights of working with me, while others just wanted to know my secrets to success...and use them against me."
Upon hearing those words, Furrball & Fifi looked up at the candyman; they knew what he was referring to. Fifi asked, "Deed eet involve ozher factories sending een spies to steal your secrets recipies?"
"Yes", Mr. Wombat replied, sounding quite impressed. "How did you know that?"
"A friend of ours told us", Furrball explained.
"Ah, okay."
The group all continued walking down the stone path & up to a bridge. As they went over, Monty looked down at the river & noticed something strange about it; it wasn't a regular river of water, but instead it was full of something dark brown.
"Hey, Wombat", Monty said, "is your river polluted or something?"
"Oh, no, it's not polluted. It's chocolate."
"That's chocolate?", Elmyra asked.
"Yep, thousands & thousands of gallons flow through here every day & night."
"A river...made of CHOCOLATE?", Hamton said as he started drooling at the sight of the endless flow of chocolate, but Fifi elbowed him to snap him out of it. Mr. Wombat then spoke up again.
"But the most important thing about this river...is this", he turned around, as well as the rest of the group, to a huge chocolate waterfall.
"This waterfall", he continued, "is one of the most important things here in the entire factory. Can anyone guess why that is?"
The toons all looked at each other, hoping someone would come up with an answer.
"Anyone?"
After a moment, out of the blue, Fifi raised her hand.
"Ms. La Fume?"
Everyone turned their heads to the purple skunk, which left her feeling very nervous.
"Uh...because...umm..."
"Go on, Fifi", Mr. Wombat said, "don't be shy. Just take a guess."
Fifi looked back & forth at the heads that were staring at her, not knowing what to say. Finally, she spoke up, saying the first thing that came to her mind.
"Because...eet...mixes zhe chocolate?"
"Precisely."
Fifi gasped in excitement as the rest of the group all stared back at her in awe.
Furrball laughed as he said, "Good job, Fifi."
"Wow, lucky guess", Hamton exclaimed.
"Wha- how did you know that?", Monty asked in amazement.
"This waterfall", Mr. Wombat continued, "mixes up all the ingredients down at the bottom. And by the way, no other factory in the world mixes chocolate by waterfall. But it's the only way if you want it just right."
"I see", Furrball said as the group continued looking at the waterfall. After a moment, Mr. Wombat said, "Shall we carry on?"
As the group made their way over the bridge, Elmyra saw a large, UFO-like object moving over the river.
"Hey Mr. Wombat, what's that?", she asked, pointing at the device, which started lowering a large, plastic pipe into the river.
"Ah, this device", the candyman replied, "sucks up some of the chocolate out of the river & carries it away, to the room where I make strawberry-flavored chocolate-coated fudge."
"Mmm, sounds tres deleecious, no?", Fifi said.
"It is, it's very delicious."
The group looked on as the chocolate was being sucked up the pipe for a full minute, before it rose out of the river.