Chapter 12 - Mountains, Marshes, and Mints, Oh, My!

Author's note: Hi everyone, I'm back with the twelfth chapter in the story! This chapter that you're about to read is one that I had A LOT of fun writing. It features several rooms that were only mentioned in the book, and it never went into detail, so hopefully you'll enjoy my own descriptions of each room. First, it's time for me to respond to your reviews:

Sonny April, I agree with the first part of your comment. Who knew? And as for the Candyfloss Spiders, we can thank XXCandyLoverXX for the idea.

Turrislucidus, I don't really know much about the musical, so I guess that was quite a coincidence!

Linkwonka88, I'm glad you liked it! As for the key, will they find it? Maybe, or maybe not. You never know.

Charlie Bucket, I'm not completely sure whether that will happen.

XXCandyLoverXX, I'm glad you enjoyed my interpretations of the rooms that you suggested. The Cow Shaking room sounds like a great idea, and it will definitely be included later! Now, on with the story! :)

As soon as I set foot in the Fudge Mountain room, I gaped in awe at the sheer size of the mountain that I first saw from high above in the Great Glass Elevator. It was at least one-hundred feet tall, and the entire mountain was made out of solid fudge. There were no less than fifty Oompa Loompas on the mountain, and they were busy hacking away at it with drills, pick axes, and jackhammers. As the pieces of fudge came loose, they tumbled down the mountain like an avalanche, and waiting at the bottom were a team of Oompa Loompas who operated front-end loaders. The machines scooped up the fudge in their huge buckets before emptying their loads into waiting mine carts, which were then transported out of the room by magnets mounted on the tracks.

"I'm cold," Violet complained. "Where do they keep the jackets?"

"Over there," Mike said, pointing to a small door which led into a closet just to the left of where we stood. After dressing up in warm suits with goggles, pick axes, and avalanche beacons, we trudged through the snow towards the base of the mountain. The Oompa Loompas waved to us as we came closer.

"I think we should work our way upwards in a spiral," Mike said. "That way, the climb will not be as steep, and since we would be walking around the entire circumference of the mountain multiple times, we would be able to spot the key much quicker." And with that, we started to walk in a clockwise direction around the base of the enormous mountain. The Oompa Loompas were considerate enough to temporarily stop working each time we walked into the path of the miniature avalanches that they created.

"I like your idea, Mike," Augustus said. "My legs aren't getting very tired at all!" Mike merely nodded in response.

After nearly forty-five minutes and several revolutions around the mountain, we finally reached the summit, and the view was amazing. The tracks for the Great Glass Elevator were only twenty feet above my head, and each piece of heavy machinery at the base of the mountain looked as small as a toy.

"This is incredible," I said in awe.

"Yes, it is," Veruca responded. "The only problem is that we never saw any sign of the key in here."

"How do ve get back down?" Augustus asked.

"Simple," Mike said. "We'd just go back down the way we came. Sure, it might take a little longer than climbing straight down or sliding, but it will be a lot less painful, especially for my joints, and your butts. Let's go."

After about a half-hour of carefully descending and circling around the mountain, we were back on the ground.

"Okay, let's go," Violet said as she led us back to the closet.

Along the way, I barely heard one of the Oompa Loompas on the mountain calling out: "Good luck finding the key!"

I turned and waved goodbye before we removed our heavy gear and exited back into the Main Subterranean Corridor.

"No key again," Violet sighed. "We spent well over an hour in that room, and I highly doubt that time is on our side. Let's carry on."

The next door we arrived at displayed "EDIBLE MARSHMALLOW PILLOWS" in glowing letters. Violet pushed the door open and we walked inside.

This room consisted of a large wetland. Pink sugar flamingos were walking around the area, occasionally nibbling at the marshmallows which grew from enormous willow trees. The Oompa Loompas were trying to harvest the largest marshmallows, which were pillow-sized, from the willow trees while keeping the flamingos at bay.

"I don't see anything in here," I said. "We've already explored so many rooms that I've lost count. I wonder what will come next."

"One way to find out," Veruca replied before we continued our journey down the corridor.

We stopped outside the next room: "LEMONADE SWIMMING POOLS". We looked through the window, and the Oompa Loompas in this room wore swimsuits while they tested each pool, performing somersaults, diving, and various swimming strokes from end to end. There were in-ground and above-ground versions of each pool, and in the back of the room was a row of lemonade hot tubs.

Veruca sighed. "Nothing in here," she said as she shook her head in disappointment.

"Don't worry," I said encouragingly. "We'll find it sooner than later."

The next door was labeled: "MAGIC HAND-FUDGE".

"How is that supposed to work?" Mike Teavee asked skeptically.

"There's one way to find out," Violet said as she pushed the door open.

Inside this room, twenty Oompa Loompas were sitting in front of a table which was piled high with enormous slabs of fudge. They used a band saw to slice the thick slabs into smaller pieces, which they chopped into even smaller pieces with long, sharp knives. The workers held the pieces of fudge in their gloved hands for a few seconds before placing them on a conveyor belt destined for the packaging area if they were good, or throwing them into the garbage if they were bad.

One of the Oompa Loompas noticed us. He stood up from his chair and walked towards us with a friendly smile on his face.

"Would you like to try some fudge?" he asked us. "This is Magic Hand-Fudge. When you hold it in your hand, you taste it in your mouth! Also, it will never melt in the sun or get any smaller!"

"Vhat if you eat it?" Augustus asked.

"It would be just like regular fudge, and then of course it would get smaller with each bite," he answered. "It's when you simply hold it in your hand that you experience the magic of this wonderful variety of fudge. Who wants to try some?"

"Me!" we all responded. The Oompa Loompa walked back to the table and cut a smaller slab of vanilla fudge into five individual pieces.

"Enjoy!" he said as he gave each of us a piece. As soon as my fingertips touched it, the wonderful flavor of French vanilla exploded in my mouth. I had never tasted anything like it before, and it was amazing.

"This is great!" I exclaimed.

"Can I have some more?" Augustus asked.

"No!" Violet told him. "One piece is enough." Turning towards the Oompa Loompa, she asked, "Have you seen a key in this room at all? We need it to leave the factory. It's a challenge that Mr. Wonka set up for us."

"No, sorry," he replied. "Best of luck, kids. I'll take those back, if you don't mind. It's not like you put them in your mouth, so don't worry. Besides, you probably want your hands free for when you continue exploring the factory." We handed our fudge pieces back to him, and even Augustus reluctantly surrendered his piece.

"Thank you very much," I said to the Oompa Loompa with a warm smile. After leaving the room, we walked further onward until we reached the next one: "STICKJAW".

"That's exactly what you need, Violet," Mike teased. Violet whipped her head around and looked at Mike with a menacing glare. Mike held his arms up in surrender. "I was only teasing!"

"Suuure you were," Violet said sarcastically. Mike turned the handle and the door swung open.

We entered a relatively small room where a sphere-shaped machine constantly churned out green candies that were in the shape of dentures. The finished candies slid down a chute which spiraled around the machine towards a conveyor belt that transported them out of the room towards the packaging area. An Oompa Loompa suddenly entered the room through a small door at the back, and he took one candy from the conveyor belt to sample it. Sure enough, once he put it in his mouth and bit down on it, his teeth were stuck together and he couldn't speak. I watched in amusement as he inserted several tools into his mouth in an attempt to pry his jaws back open. He spent almost five minutes wiggling a spatula and a knife between his teeth before his upper and lower jaws came free. He then threw the leftovers into the garbage before sticking his thumb up in approval.

"Well, that one clearly passed the test," Violet said. "I still don't see any key in here, but I'm not giving up until we find it."

The next door was labeled: "MINT JUJUBES". Looking through the window, I noticed that the Oompa Loompas' teeth were stained a brilliant green color. At the far end of the room, an Oompa Loompa dumped a load of white Jujubes from a wheelbarrow into a hopper, which fed them into a large machine where a green liquid was coursing through glass pipes. The now-green Jujubes were emptied into plastic pouches at the other end of the machine, and after they were heat-sealed, the pouches were dropped onto a conveyor belt that transported them to the packaging area.

"They're probably made to turn people's teeth green," Mike said. "It would be great for Halloween or even just to give to others as a prank gift. No key in here, unfortunately."

"Darn," Veruca moaned as we continued walking. "I do agree with your statement, though. They would be quite useful for those occasions."

The final door in this section of the corridor was labeled: "STRAWBERRY-JUICE WATER PISTOLS".

"This sounds interesting," Violet said as we crowded around the door to look through the window. Inside this room, the Oompa Loompas were squirting each other with water pistols of all shapes and sizes. They looked like ordinary water pistols, except they had been specially designed to shoot the strawberry seeds out along with the juice.

"That looks cool," Mike said with a grin on his face. "I gotta try this out!"

"I don't think they would want you in there at this moment," Violet warned. "Besides, there's no key in there."

"Doesn't matter," Mike said, shrugging his shoulders. "I'm going in anyway." He threw the door open and the Oompa Loompas immediately stopped shooting.

"Uh, have you seen a key in here?" Mike asked.

"I already said there's nothing in there!" Violet yelled. "Don't disturb them!"

"Too late, I already did," Mike said, smirking. "I wanna try one of those!"

"You said you want to try one of these?" the Oompa Loompa closest to him asked. He was clutching a small, bright-red water gun in his hand, and he had a mischievous grin on his face.

"Yes, definitely!" Mike exclaimed. "May I?"

"Sure, you may," he responded, but instead of handing the gun to Mike, he pointed it right at him.

"Mike, look out!" Violet screamed, but it was too late. The Oompa Loompa pulled the trigger and laughed as a narrow, high-pressure jet of strawberry juice squirted from the gun and hit Mike in the back.

"No! You stained my shirt!" he cried. The Oompa Loompa smirked at Mike, who bolted through the doorway like a scared rabbit before skidding to a stop beside Violet. "He got me, he got me!"

"Mike," Violet said, "your shirt is black. No one will notice that it's been stained with strawberry juice."

"But I can feel it on my back," Mike panicked. "It's wet!"

"Don't be such a baby," Violet said, glaring at him. "It'll dry on its own. The air inside the factory is warm, so it should be all gone in five minutes, if that. We still have many more rooms to investigate, so there's no time to waste."

Mike said nothing, but the worried look on his face implied that he was dreading what might come next.

Author's note: I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter! Next, the kids will explore a room that has never been seen anywhere except in an unpublished draft of the novel, which originally featured more than five ticket winners. Can you guess which room it might be? :)