A/N: You're all wrong about the Engel! Wrong wrong wrong! Haha! -Calms- It was in fact a name I plucked from the Thanks section in the OST booklet. It could of course be the same person, but I've never heard of the one you Loompas were talking about... Okay, in this one you have to spot the recurred characters.

This thing has more links than a chain fence...

Invention 5: Candy Catapult
'Wooooooooaah...'

The summer evening lingered over the streets, bathing the close, terraced houses in thick golden light, like caramel. The younger children had been caught and sent away to bed, but the older ones stayed on, playing large extended games of tag, skipping the rope, and so on.

Six year old Jethro Button had acquired rather a lot of new friends recently, thanks to his recent birthday present from his older brother at University. They were with him now at the corner with the ginger beer advert, and Lewis was pushing to the front with a small ping pong ball. 'Hit the window, Jeff!'

Jeff fitted the ball to the leather pouch of the catapult and drew back the elastic. The kids stood eagerly behind him, giggling. Jeff released the string; the ball shot across the street and pinged off the window of Mrs Skilmouth. They could see her put down her newspaper and come bustling to the front door, and they scattered, laughing. She shouted at them (nobody understood what she said), and went back inside, with the ping pong ball.

Lewis joined Jeff at the corner and peered around. 'She's got the ball...'

'Yeah. You'll have to knock for it, I'm not going.'

'You shot it!'

'You told me to!'

'But it's my ball!'

'I'm not knocking at her door,' repeated Jeff. 'You told me to do it, and it's your ball anyway, so you go.' Lewis glared at him, and Jeff grinned. 'I dare you.'

Lewis thought about it. 'If I get it back,' he said slowly, 'you'll let me play with the catapult all tomorrow?'

Now Jeff thought. The ping pong ball was their only good ammunition, and Lewis said all his others had been stolen by the cat. It would be weeks before his parents remembered to give him pocket money to buy a pack from the shop, so he nodded.

Lewis gave him a thumbs up sign and scampered off.

Jeff went back around the corner and carefully checked over his catapult. It still seemed to be elastic enough, and the handle was still smooth and shiny. A couple of kids he knew by sight ran past him, their boots clap-clapping loudly on the cobbles, followed by his classmates Noah, Jason, and fat Kenneth Mosely, whose big face was red with puffing. Jeff waved at him. Kenny stopped and panted, 'Come on Jethro, play Manhunt. We're losing so badly without you.'

Jeff shook his head. 'I've got to wait for Lewy, 'cause Mrs Skilmouth took our ammo off us.'

Kenny would have said more, but Eliza Brown and her sister Roberta flew around the corner and tagged him. They dragged him off as their prisoner, crowing, 'We got Kenny! We got Kenny!' Kenny gave Jeff a helpless look as he was frog-marched around the corner.

The streetlight above Jeff flickered into life, and he jumped out of his skin at the strange shadow that appeared at his feet. Quickly he looked up, and his jaw dropped. What he had thought was an alien's square head was in fact a smart top hat, and its owner was smiling. 'Hiya! What a great cata-thingy.'

'Catapult,' corrected the boy.

'Yeah, that. But I've got something better...'

He took a Y-shaped package from his coat pocket and pulled at the wrapping. 'Oh fiddle...' A strange smile leapt onto his face, and he presented the package to Jeff. 'Here. You can open it.'

Jeff ripped apart the coloured paper and went, 'Wooooooooaah...'

'You like it?'

'Is this... candy?'

'Yep! The whole thing is totally eatable. Even the string, which is liquorice.'

Jeff looked up in awe. 'Are you Willy Wonka?' he asked in a very small voice.

The sweet maker crouched, one hand still on the candy cane. 'Shhh...'

'You are, aren't you?'

'Shhh! Why don't you try out the cataplut, hmm?'

'Catapult,' corrected Jeff again. 'But I don't have any ammo. My friend Lewis is coming back with the ping pong ball in a minute, though, and--'

'Oh never mind him, did you know he catches spiders with his bare hands? Disgusting, eew. Use a gobstopper.' He held one out, a bright blue one, and stood up as Jeff took it. 'Fire it at the wall,' he instructed, never blinking his strange eyes.

Jeff did as he was told and fitted the gobstopper into the pouch, drew back the string, and fired. To his utter amazement, the gobstopper hit the wall and bounced back into Mr Wonka's waiting hand. 'See? Bouncing gobstoppers, plus the candy catapult, equals fun fun fun! Basic mathematics.'

Jeff was gobsmacked. Mr Wonka polished the gobstopper on his sleeve and, quick as a cat, popped it into Jeff's open mouth. 'Enjoy.' And he was gone in a swirl of velvet.

Lewis came around the corner, and hurriedly smacked Jeff hard on the back to stop him choking with laughter over his gobstopper.

Total viewings of film to date: 5

I don't think this was as good as the others, but Invention 6 should be a bit more original.