Ian opened the door to the Invention Room and the girls' eyes widened in awe at the many devices and machinery that was there.
"This is the Invention Room. The most important room in the whole place. Without this room, Adamsburg Industries wouldn't even exist. This is actually one of three different Invention Rooms within the castle-factory. This one is for non-chocolate candies, there is another for chocolate only candies and the last is for the roses. The prince thought this room would be the most entertaining so go and explore. Have fun, but don't touch anything."
"If we can't touch anything then how can we have fun?" Veruca asked as she rolled her eyes to Ian.
Ian just stared at her and she finally looked away. The other girls quickly started to look around and Ian sighed, leaning against the wall. He looked over and saw that the door was cracked just a little with an eye peering through. Ian made a face and walked over, snatching the door open and then closing it quickly.
"What the hell are you doing?" he hissed.
"I wanted to see…"
"Go back to the West Wing before someone sees you."
"That's insulting."
"You know what I mean. We've already had questions about you surfacing, so we don't need to add anything else to the list. Besides, why do you want to see what's going on in person all of a sudden?"
"Because I happen to own the castle-factory and I should be able to look in on some mischief whenever I damn well please. I can feel something is going to get screwed up in here."
"Why can't you watch from the monitors?"
"Because I'm bored!" William admitted. "It gets lonely and boring when you're surveilling beautiful women tromping through the castle."
"There are a lot of things I could say to that, but I'm not going to."
"Ian? Mr. Ian we have a question about something."
"The girls need me." He pointed his finger at his prince like a he was berating a bad dog. "Go back to the West Wing."
Will growled and walked away as Ian went back into the room.
"Yes, what did you need me for?" he asked, coming back in.
"What's this?" Veruca asked, pointing to long spindly things being pulled and twisted by two robot arms on either side of the window.
"That would be hair taffy."
"Hair taffy?" Michelle said, looking over at Ian to see if he was kidding.
"Yep, you eat one of these little guys and in about half an hour hair will grow on top of your little noggin with a mustache and a beard."
"Why does it attack every hair follicle?" Violet asked, surprising Ian with her relevant question.
"We haven't worked out all the kinks yet."
"Who'd want a beard anyway?" Michelle asked.
"Well, beatniks, for one. Folk sings and motorbike riders. You know, all those cool, hip, jazzy, neat, keen and groovy cats? It's in the fridge, daddy-o. Are you hip with the jive? Can you dig what I'm laying down? I know you could. Slide me some skin, soul sister!" he said, holding out his hand to Michelle for a high five.
Michelle just stared at him and he cleared his throat from getting too into it. "Sorry, got a little carried away… Anyway, there are a lot of people who want more hair, but we're still working out the kinks. So far, the first one is to minimize the direction. We might even have hair taffies that are specific, like beards, mustaches, and hair. We're really far from that though cuz an Oompa Loompa tried some the other day and well… oh, there you are."
Something that looked like a column of hair shuffled in and everyone stared at it in confusion.
"How's it happening?" The Oompa Loompa (which apparently it was) gave two thumbs up from under its flowing tresses. "You look great!" Ian lied. The Oompa Loompa walked away and Ian watched him. "Can't wait for him to be normal. He's a funny dude."
Everyone just kind of looked at each other and then listened to what Ian was telling them.
"As you can see, we have a lot of trial and error on that one. A lot of trial and error goes into all of these wonderful candies so that it is safe for everyone. Nothing should be eaten in here except by the Oompa Loompas."
"Isn't experimenting on a particular race considered a crime?" Michelle asked.
"Oh, look, here's an interesting one." Ian said, ignoring her.
Ian walked over to a large container that looked like a pool that had stuff shooting into it. An Oompa Loompa was swimming in there and upon seeing him, it came to the surface and handed something to him.
"These are everlasting gobstoppers. You can suck on them all day and they'll never get any smaller."
"That's scientifically impossible." Michelle said.
"Gosh, you mumble an unreasonable amount."
"Who would want that?" Veruca asked.
"Those who are poor or children who get a little pocket money from grandpa. We're thinking of selling them at the small price of 25¢ and contractually obligating any sellers that they can't sell it over 87¢."
"Why that particular amount?" Charley asked.
"Because it keeps the sales tax down and under a dollar." Michelle said.
Ian blinked. "That's… actually correct. We want this to be enjoyable for all and cheap as well. For the price, you can't say it isn't going to be a best seller."
"But if you claim it lasts forever, then wouldn't it be a meaningless bauble to eat?" Veruca asked.
"Exactly! Because it's impossible to call it an everlasting gobstopper when it's mad entirely of sugar. Sugar melts on any liquid contact." Michelle said quickly, breathing heavy from trying to throw her point out before Ian interrupted or ignored her.
"It might be called 'everlasting' but I do believe I said it would last practically forever. We are making it so that it takes and extremely long time to lose its flavor. We're trying to perfect it to last about a year."
"So it's like gum?"
"No. Gum is for chewing. If you tried to bite down on one of these, all your little teeth would fall out."
"I meant the flavor." Violet said.
"…No… This will eventually last as close to a year as we can get it. Gum shouldn't last that long. Did you know that excessive gum chewing actually causes issues with the lower jaw?"
Violet smacked her gum obnoxiously. "Not for me."
Ian made a face. "Of course not…"
"Why is there food being thrown in that chute?" Charley asked, pointing to another machine.
Ian turned and saw what she was talking about and smiled.
"Oh yeah! This one is a doozy."
They all walked over to the contraption and Ian put his hand on a lever.
"Watch this…"
He pulled the lever down and the contraption went off, making all sorts of sounds and then finally stopped. An arm extended out of it and then another and another until a small tongue flipped out and a thin sliver was pushed out. Michelle looked at the contraption and what was produced."
"Is that it?" she asked, unimpressed.
"Do you even know what "it" is?"
"It's gum." Violet answered.
"Exactly, and it's a stick of the most amazing and sensational gum in the whole universe because…" He paused for dramatic effect. "Because it's a three course dinner all by itself!"
"Why would anyone want that?" Veruca asked.
"Um… let me get my notes…" Ian said, patting himself to look for some index cards he had brought with him. He finally found them and looked at them. "It says that it will be the end of all kitchens and cooking. Just a eat a slip of Adamsburg's magic chewing gum and you can have breakfast, lunch, or dinner whenever you like. It's cost efficient and will eventually be customizable. This one just so happens to be tomato soup, roast beef and blueberry pie."
"That's an interesting idea." Charley said, thinking about what she would have in it.
"It sounds weird. I mean, where's the joy in it?" Veruca said.
"That sounds like my kind of gum!" Violet said, snatching the gum from the machine."
"You really shouldn't eat that. There's a lot of stuff wrong with it-"
"Listen here, I'm the world-record holder for chewing gum but to have a piece of gum that I can compete with and it will feed me too? I could break records! I'm not afraid to try anything."
"Seriously, don't eat it." Ian said, trying but not trying to keep her from eating it.
It was clear to everyone that Violet Beauregarde was a stubborn and strong spirited woman. If she wanted to do something, she would do it. Ian's protests and an unstable experimental candy wasn't going to stop her. Violet spit out her other gum and began to chew on it. Ian sighed, throwing his index cards behind him in defeat.
"So… how does it taste?" Michelle asked.
"Really interesting! I can practically feel the tomato soup running down my throat."
"Great! Spit it out."
"Um, maybe you should-" Charley started.
"It's changing… now it's roast beef… mmm, cooked to perfection. Ooh, wasn't expecting that. Bake potato with crispy skin and butter."
"Yeah, um, spit it out before you get to the-"
"Blueberry pie and ice cream!"
"That part."
Ian made a face but to his surprise, nothing happened. Everyone watched him and he laughed nervously.
"Huh, maybe all of the kinks are out of it."
"What was supposed to happen?" Veruca asked.
"Well, different things… but maybe since you're not an Oompa Loopa it's different? Perhaps your height and gender have something to do with it…"
"Again, are the Oompa Loompas even real people?" Michelle asked.
"Of course they are… Interesting… well, while you still have a chance you need to spit that out. There could be delay."
"Nah." She said, smacking her gum harder.
Ian wanted to strangle her but breathed in and nodded.
"Very well then. There's a few more interesting inventions that I would like to show all of you if you'll follow me."
William was pouting in his chair when Ian came into the room.
"Milord we have a situation."
"Why should I care?"
"Don't be a spoiled brat, Will; you're sometimes worse than those girls." William stuck his tongue out. "Anyway, you saw what happened right? That… horrid gum chewer still has the magic chewing gum."
"As of now, she's on her own."
"But nothing happened to her."
"Yet. The same issue is still there. I tried it on a couple of Oompa Loompas just before the girls got here and we fixed it temporarily but now instead there is a delay. The only thing we can really do is try to get Ms. Beauregarde to spit out the gum. If she does so before the process starts then we might have a chance… but I don't think we have that kind of time." He said, pointing to the camera where all the girls were gathered in the room.
Ian looked at it and squinted.
"I don't see anything. And I thought you said you didn't have a camera in there?"
"They are talking about her breasts." William said, ignoring his friend.
"And how do you know that?"
"Lip reading."
"I honestly didn't take you for the perverted type."
"I don't watch them, it's just a camera that I switch to every once in a while. I literally have nothing else to do with my time so, yeah, you get a little good at reading lips. I don't listen to their conversations, as I told them, but I know the word 'boobs' when I see it. All we can do is see what happens."
"What does boobs have to do with anything though?"
"I think they said something about them being bigger."
"Where's Genevieve? Why isn't she watching you?" Ian growled.
"She's gone to get ice cream. I haven't had it in a while…"
"You okay?" Ian asked, worried for his friend.
"Why?"
"Ice cream isn't really your thing. You say that it's just frozen milk… You usually only want it when you're horribly depressed… You know you can always talk to me…"
"It's just the same thing as usual, Ian. There's not much else I can worry about… I just fear that I'm not going to find a bride in time. I don't know these girls and even with this contest, I won't find out about them thoroughly unless I marry them… if they even want to marry me. I think I'm just going to accept my fate."
"You really need to pull yourself together."
"What for? Everything is going to shit. Nothing helps. I'm just going to let it take its course and you can put me in the barn or something." He said with a wave of his hand.
"Who you? Never. It disturbs me to see you looking so down in the dumps."
"I'm in the worst position to be in. No one would want to be in my shoes. People used to say 'I wish I was Prince William. He's so smart and handsome and rich.' Now no one would ever think that."
"Every guy still wants to be you, Will, even when things aren't going well for you. I mean, you're the most admired man in the world! Every day everyone is awed and inspired by you and it's not really hard to see why."
"Pray tell, why?" he asked, looking at Ian with a bored expression.
Ian began to pace in front of him. "Well… no one's as rich as you, more successful than you, and before all this happened, no one was as sexy as you." Will lifted his eyebrows at that. "You could ask any woman in the world and they would tell you whose wife they'd want to be more than anyone else."
"Not looking like this. Look at what I'm having to do just to find someone, maybe. I'm completely intimidating and horrific. I was actually thinking about giving the castle-factory to you and then you can act like you've been me all the time or some bullshit."
"Only you could be you, Will. Anyone else would suck. And think of it this way: after being in this form, there's got to be some sort of payoff."
"You mean every last inch of me covered in hair?" he said with a rise of his top lip.
"Well, considering you used to be kind of scraggly and scrawny, the way you walk around in this form could help you bulk out a little. You'd have biceps to spare."
William smiled a little and looked at his arms.
"That's true…"
"So, who's a super success? A man among men? Who has everything under control?"
"Me…" Will mumbled.
"Who? I can't hear you." Ian said, holing his hand to his ear.
"Me?"
"W-I-L-L-"
"ME! William Adamsburg! I am the best!" Will yelled, standing up from the chair and taking a proud stance.
"There ya go!" Ian said with a smile. "Now stop moping and get back into helping yourself get a girl to break this curse. One of them will be the one, I just know it. If nothing else, the castle-factory is helping with the eliminations. Let's just try to focus on who the winner will be."
"Fine… but I still want my ice cream."
Ian smiled. Without that sweet tooth of Will's none of this would be even possible."
Charley was reading a book in the room waiting for dinner to be announced when Violet made a noise. She looked over and saw her looking at her breasts.
"What are you doing?" Michelle asked, giving her a weird look.
"My boobs are bigger."
"Oh, please…" Veruca said, rolling her blue eyes. "I'm sure Prince William doesn't have candy that helps with that."
Charley thought for a moment and giggled to herself over the possibility. If he could make taffy for hair growth, he could make a candy for that type of growth too. She didn't put it past him.
"No, seriously. I have like A-cups, so the fact that my bra is tight and slightly spilling is a little unnerving."
"Maybe you've finally hit puberty." Veruca said with a wry smile.
Violet flicked her off as Charley watched her for a second. She turned her head a little.
"Violet?"
"What?"
"Your skin is kind of… blue?"
"Blue?"
"Yeah, you do have a bluish tint to you." Michelle chimed in.
"Nuh uh!" she said, running to the bathroom.
When she got there, she yelled out and came running back in.
"My ass!"
"No, you really have-"
"No! My ass! As in look at it!"
She turned and it was clear that her bottom was filling her sweatpants much more than it had before. They had talked a few days before about how if their looks mattered to the prince that even Violet wouldn't win against Charley because she had a lack of any curve whatsoever. She was flat on both occasions, but it was clear now that her tight fitting sweats were having a hard time staying on the apparent bubble butt she had developed in the last few moments.
And for Charley, it looked as if it was getting bigger.
"What's happening to her nose?" Veruca said.
Violet touched her nose and looked at everyone, her body slowly but noticeably expending.
"Your whole nose has gone purple." Michelle said.
"Ian did say there as an issue with the gum. Spit it out, Violet. You might be able to stop it if you just spit it out." Charley said.
"Ah! My skin!" she said, ignoring Charley as she looked at her skin turning a deep bluish purple color.
"Violet, you're turning violet, Violet!" Michelle screamed.
"And swelling, by the looks of it." Veruca said, starting to walk backwards towards the door.
The girls all watched as Violet's breasts seemed to swell bigger and bigger as well as her butt when it seemed to seep into her hips and thighs and then around into her stomach. As soon as it hit her stomach, the expansion seemed to accelerate at a high velocity, like someone pouring champagne on a glass tower and it fills up one glass and overflows to the next. Charley ran across the room to get to the phone and call for help, dialing a number on the phone to contact Ian or Genevieve. Ian didn't pick up so she called Genevieve.
"This is Genevieve?"
"Hi, this is Charley Bucket, um, we have a situation in the room we're all staying in."
"What's the issue, Ms. Bucket?"
"Um, well, Violet ate some experimental gum and now she's swelling… fast."
"I will contact Ian right away."
"You left them in the same room as that ticking time bomb after all the trials we have done on the Oompa Loompas?!" William snarled.
"Nothing happened so I thought they fixed it, like I just told you!" Ian shouted back.
They had been in the West Wing on the other side of the castle and so they had to run to try and get to the girls' room. They both jumped down multiple stairs at the same time, but Ian was not as graceful as his master and landed wrong on his ankle, falling onto the floor. William skid to a stop and trotted back to his friend.
"Hey, what's the hold up? If you couldn't make the jump why did you do it?"
"I'm not a six foot beast, William! I'm not that graceful!" he hissed, pain and frustration causing him to lash out as he tried to stand up.
Will gave him a look as Ian limped to the post on the landing of the stairs.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean that, but I'm only human. You have the dexterity and speed to get there faster. Go, before they get smothered."
"I can't go like this. Here; don't think this is an everyday occurrence." He said as he laid down for Ian to get on.
Ian's eyes widened. "Will-"
"Don't analyze it, just do it. We're wasting time."
Ian nodded and hobbled to him as he got on his back.
"Hold onto something, but if you pull my fur out, I will kill you until you die." William warned.
"That doesn't make any sense."
"I'm the prince, who cares?"
With Will's speed they were able to get to the room just in time for the door to open and Michelle ran out. She turned and upon seeing Ian riding on Will, she screamed and fell down.
"It's the monster!"
"What?" Veruca yelled, tripping as she came out of the room.
Michelle pointed and Veruca looked over and yelled too.
"Oh my gosh!"
"Where's Charley?" Ian asked.
"Behind that big mount of flesh in there that used to be Violet. She went to call for help but the phone was on the other side of the room. She's trapped in between the wall and Violet's fat or whatever."
"The secret passage to the kitchen should be on that wall." Will said out of the side of his mouth to Ian.
"How am I supposed to let her know? And if it was over there, the door swings into the room. Violet's body might be too heavy to pull it."
"I'll handle it. Don't try to explain me, but get the girls safe."
Ian slid off of Will and he ran away to get to the secret passage in the kitchen.
oh no, will revealed himself! but the girls don't necessarily know that its him yet. how will ian explain everything? \(〇_o)/
