As they kept rowing through the cavernous factory, the four kids continued to spot doors leading to other rooms such as "SPA", "BASKETBALL COURT", and "MINIATURE GOLF COURSE".
"Oooh, a spa! Please! Let's take a quick stop there! I think we all need to wind down and relax, right?" Veruca pleaded.
"Ja, und miniature golf sounds fun!" Augustus said.
"No. We already had enough detours. We're concentrating on finding the Gobstopper Room," Violet said strictly, causing the two of them to sigh in disappointment. "Trust me, I'm tempted by that basketball court myself, but we've got a mission to do."
"Eh, we already saw what I wanted to see, and since there's no sign of a video game room, I'm good," Mike said.
"We don't really care, Mike," Violet responded.
They passed by more rooms, with not a single one being an Everlasting Gobstopper room, or any sort of candy-making room. "Guys, I don't think we're in the right spot. All of these are recreational rooms."
"Mike's right," Violet said. "Where did we go to get to the Inventing Room on the day of the tour?"
"Well," Veruca recollected, "we went into the pitch black cave, then the lights switched on, and we dropped down some chocolate rapids, and—"
"Yeah, that's right!" Violet interrupted. "So, now how do we get down there?"
"Like I said before," Mike explained, "there should be switch somewhere that switches the track to lead downwards instead of straight ahead. If we can find that, we should be good to go."
"Well, that switch could be located literally anywhere, so that doesn't help much," Violet said.
"Vait, I zhink I see a switch over zhere." Augustus pointed to a small control panel located at the very end of the tunnel.
"It's worth a shot," Violet said.
The boat pulled up to the platform next to the panel and Mike got out to flip the switch. There were several switches actually, and the first one Mike tried ended up turning off all the lights in that section of the factory. "Whoops, wrong one, heh heh!" After turning the lights back on, he tried another switch, which seemingly did nothing.
"Vhat did zhat do?" Augustus asked.
"It might've switched the track, but I'm not completely sure. Let's go back and check," Mike said, jumping back into the boat. They turned the boat around and started rowing back the way they came. "Ooow, my arms hurt from all this rowing!" Mike complained.
"That's because you're actually using your muscles for more than just pressing a few buttons for once. This is nothing," Violet said.
"Easy for you to say; you've been in, like, five hundred karate competitions!"
"Mike, don't exaggerate. I've only been in ninety-two karate competitions."
"Ow, actually, Mike's right. My arms are really sore, too," Veruca said.
"Ja, I'm quite out of breazh myself," Augustus said.
"Ugh, you guys are all so weak. Don't worry, I'm sure we'll come across the Gobstopper Room soon enough."
The boat entered the darkest part of the tunnel once again. "So, where's the drop?" Veruca asked.
"I don't know, really. I'm not even sure if that switch switched the traaaaaaaaaaa—" Mike was cut off by a sudden drop in the complete darkness, and it didn't take long for all of them to realize that they were traveling down the chocolate rapids backwards...and in the dark, no less! Everybody joined in a chorus of screams for the entire way down until they reached the bottom, which was lit up once again. Even after it was over, Mike still continued freaking out, repeatedly uttering, "Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God." Violet looked to see a traumatized expression on Mike's face, which caused her to burst out in laughter. "What? I hate roller coasters, alright? And anyways, I heard you scream in there, too, so don't act like I was the only one who was scared."
"I only screamed to make you feel better. Trust me, I can handle anything," Violet said.
"I'm wizh Mike, zhough. Let's never do zhat again!" Augustus pleaded.
"Oh great, I think I'm gonna be sick!" Mike said with palpable pallor.
"Oh, no, please not now, Mike," Violet said.
After about half a minute of resting from the rapids, Mike said, "Okay, I think I'll be fine."
"You sure?" Violet asked.
"Yeah."
"Alright, let's keep going." The boat rowed past the rooms that stored all the different creams and started towards another set of rapids—even crazier than the ones before.
"Now I really am gonna be sick!" Mike screamed as they rushed down the chocolate river.
"Well, at least we're going forward and can see this time," Violet said.
They finally reached the lowest part of the river, where the current was calm once again. "I'm starting to remember why I hate this factory," Mike uttered, out of breath.
"It wasn't that bad," Violet said.
But Mike was clearly getting impatient. "Let's just find that Gobstopper recipe and get out of here." They rowed past the Inventing Room and stopped the boat right in front of a door that was located behind the Inventing Room and across a bridge from it. This door was labeled "MAIN CORRIDOR".
"The Everlasting Gobstopper room should be somewhere in here," Violet said, pushing open the giant, round door.