Chapter 16: The Tour Begins
Author's Note: The moment you've all been waiting for has finally arrived! That's right, the start of the tour! But, before we get to the main action, it's review response time! :)
Matt, yup! Chris is going to the factory after all! Stephanie winning the last Ticket was actually a nod to your early draft where Stephanie was a winner as well (except she was the sixth rather than seventh), and I had a feeling it would shock you! As for the other elements, I believe including the three naughty chocolate makers is one thing that makes my stories stand out compared to the others. I'm really glad you liked the improvements I've made so far, and I bet you'll be surprised in this one as well. The tour is finally here, and I hope you'll enjoy the first of many, many parts of it. :D
Trashy, welcome back! I'm glad you enjoyed the trash can gag. Thanks for the compliment!
Guest, that's a great idea! In an early version of the story, I intended Chris to win his Golden Ticket at a Wormhole Citadel concert. Before Jenna's interview, the parents would've came back and done the concert Jenna mentioned at the beginning of the story. To celebrate, Jenna would've bought Chris a Wonka Bar, and after Tyler found the sixth Ticket, he would've opened it up, finding the seventh one. Since it was in an early version, I'll definitely consider putting it in the final one.
Guest #2, I'm flattered by that review! Thank you so much!
emeraldphan, I'm glad you like my rewrite so far! As for Chris and Jenna, you'll find out what'll happen between them in upcoming chapters. As for Slugworth, I did reference the 1971 film's quotes with it, as well as a bit of an early CatCF draft. You see, right after the reporters would leave Charlie's house, Fickelgruber would enter, and tell them about a rumor about the three-course meal gum. He told Charlie that he would give him money if he got the recipe, and Grandpa Joe got mad and kicked him out. Some quotes from that scrapped moment were referenced, such as, "Perfectly astonishing!" "Such an amazing invention!" was also a reference to it, but Dahl's quote was, "Amazing stuff!" Just so you know, this incident has nothing to do with the Slugworth subplot in the Gene Wilder film.
(On another note, this chapter is once again the longest so far, being over 6,000 words, so be sure to read it all!)
Now, as Mr. Wonka would say, on with the tour, everyone!
The sun was just beginning to take its place high up in the sky on the start of the big day. It was now 9:30 a.m., half an hour before Willy and Charlie were to admit the new Ticket winners into their factory. Those two, along with Mr. and Mrs. Bucket, were together in the Chocolate Room, talking to each other.
"I can't believe it's this time already," Mrs. Bucket gasped.
"Me neither, love," Mr. Bucket agreed. "Time sure flew by!"
"I just remembered something," Charlie remarked as he looked around at the various sights surrounding him.
"What is it, my dear boy?" Mr. Wonka asked.
"Our cottage," Charlie answered. "If we're gonna take the children through a tour of the Chocolate Room, just like the original tour, what's stopping them from wrecking it?"
"I'm glad you asked!" Mr. Wonka giggled, taking out a remote with a small antenna and a red button from his plum-colored tailcoat. "Ya see this remote, Charlie?"
"Sure do, Mr. Wonka!" Charlie responded. "What's it for?"
"Well ya see," Mr. Wonka responded, "ever since we came up with the idea of the new tour, I thought about the cottage as well. It'd be a disaster if any of the children were to nose their ways into it, which is why I helped the Oompa-Loompas create a super secret project!"
"Oooh," Charlie smirked. "So that's why I've been hearing loud noises in the middle of the night!"
"Precisely!" Mr. Wonka chuckled in a high-pitched voice. "Watch this!"
Mr. Wonka pointed the remote at the cottage and pressed the button. Charlie watched as a rectangular patch began to separate itself from the room, as if the cottage was on a lift, then it lowered downwards until it was no longer visible. Then, another patch of grass slid outwards, covering the hole, and the cottage seemed like it completely vanished off the face of the earth.
"Wow!" Charlie gasped. "That's amazing, Mr. Wonka!"
"It's genius!" Mrs. Bucket gasped.
"Thank you!" Mr. Wonka smiled. "The cottage is actually lifted down into a hidden corridor, and not just a small square of space, and there are lights down there in case someone is inside the cottage while it descends. In fact, some of our newest candies and chocolates are being made there right this moment!"
"That's astonishing, Willy!" Mrs. Bucket gasped. "You really thought of everything!"
"You're too kind, my dear lady," Mr. Wonka chuckled. "Now, where will you two be during the tour?"
"I'll probably be in the cottage, working on chores," Mrs. Bucket responded. "Plus, you all will be really tired once the tour is finally over!"
"And I'll be in the Inventing Room," Mr. Bucket said. "Some Oompa-Loompas there want my help to repair one of the machines. I don't think that room will be a part of the tour this time, so we should be good."
"Great!" Mr. Wonka exclaimed, clapping his gloved hands together. "Now, Charlie? What time is it?"
Charlie took a glance at his watch on his arm and replied, "9:50 a.m."
"Looks like it's almost time!" Mr. Wonka said gleefully. "Everybody to your stations! We've got a tour to start!"
The three of them looked outside, and an enormous amount of people were gathered around the factory gates, all of them eager to watch the seven lucky winners enter the hallowed factory. The lucky winners themselves were standing in front of the gates, and police had made sure their relatives were standing in front of the crowd. As per the instructions on the Golden Tickets, each finder brought one guardian with them.
Antonio Ricci was wearing a light-blue t-shirt with a picture of a grey fighter jet, along with matching blue shorts and sneakers. He was accompanied by Mr. Ricci, who was wearing a black suit, a white shirt, and a grey tie.
"There better be opportunities for me to jump today," Antonio Ricci snarked.
"Son, don't count on it," Mr. Ricci responded. "Besides, you forgot your parachute in the hotel room, and we don't have time to go back."
"Who cares what you think?" Antonio snapped. "I'll find a moment to jump no matter what you say!"
"We've told you countless times," Mr. Ricci sighed. "It's for your own safety. Please don't be reckless."
Antonio only replied with a snarl.
Yuna Sayuki was with her mother, and they were wearing the same kimonos from when they were interviewed.
"Yuna," Mrs. Sayuki said firmly, fixing her daughter with a steely glare, "if I find you eating Mr. Wonka's candies during the tour, I'm going to personally cancel all of your upcoming movie roles."
"You can't do that," Yuna growled.
"Sorry Yuna," Mrs. Sayuki replied. "It's for your own good. As a model, you need to have a nice figure. Chocolate only makes things worse."
"Whatever you say, gold digger," Yuna whispered to herself, staring at her mother out of the corner of her eye. "It's not like you look any better."
Mindy Bell was with her mother, and both of their hair was tied into a bun. She was wearing a yellow nylon shirt and shorts, white socks, and white running shoes. Her mother was wearing an adult-sized variant of her daughter's outfit.
"As Violet's mother once said," Mrs. Bell told Mindy, "'Eyes on the prize. Eyes on the prize.'" Mindy only nodded slightly at her mother and stared straight ahead at the gates.
Daniel Sparkman had his short, brown hair into a barely-visible fohawk. He was wearing a black shirt which had a picture of a video game console on it. On the top of it, the shirt said, "VIDEO GAME", and on the bottom, it said, "TOURNAMENT CHAMPION." He was accompanied by his father, who was wearing a black shirt with red sleeves similar to his interview, except this shirt had a blue skull on it.
"Daniel," Mr. Sparkman told his son, "I've...heard from outside sources what happened during the original tour, and I don't want you ending up like those other four back in 2005. I'd like to see you on your best behavior."
"Whatever you say, Dad," Daniel Sparkman answered. "All I care about is the technology in this place. I want to study it so I can become the best video game expert in the world."
"Don't count on it, son," Mr. Sparkman responded, and Daniel only responded with a glare.
Tyler Smith was accompanied by his mother. He was wearing a green t-shirt that had a picture of an angry skunk on it, along with tan shorts and black sneakers, and he also had a large brown backpack on his back. Kitsune was wearing the same black kimono from when she was interviewed, and she kept her pendant around her neck as well.
"That Wonka thinks he's clever," Tyler whispered to his mother, "but we'll show him a thing or two with these babies, won't we?" He smirked and patted his backpack.
"Be sure to save your pranks for when we're inside the factory," Kitsune told her son. "That way, they'll leave more of an impact."
Tyler nodded assuringly in response, and Kitsune smiled at him.
Last but not least, Chris and Jenna were standing next to each other and holding hands. They had both brought their fathers with, and they were jumping about with excitement. Chris had his black hair gelled into spikes, as usual for him, and he wore a red shirt with Wonka's logo on it, as well as blue plaid shorts, white socks, and black running shoes with red laces. On the other hand, Jenna was wearing the outfit that Chris had helped her choose, complete with the guitar pick necklace. Chris' father had his hair gelled into spikes just like his son, and he wore a tank top with Wonka's logo on the front. Jenna's father wore the same outfit from the day before Chris' birthday, except instead of brown sandals, he wore brown dress shoes that had "WORMHOLE CITADEL" written on the sides of them, as well as their signature flaming skull on the top.
"I can't believe it," Chris whispered to Jenna. "We're actually going in!"
He turned to look behind himself, and Stephanie Perry was waving at the duo. Chris waved back in a shy manner, then turned around to face Jenna.
"I'm so excited!" Jenna exclaimed with a huge smile on her face. "I wonder if there's a music room in the factory. What do you think, Chris?"
"It could be likely," Chris responded. "If there is, you can show off your talents to Mr. Wonka and Charlie!"
Jenna answered with a smile and flashed the sign of the horn with her hands.
"Who's that kid over there?" Mindy asked suddenly, pointing to Chris. "I bet he's the one who claimed his Ticket yesterday."
"He must be Wonka's biggest fan!" Yuna exclaimed. "Look at his shirt!"
"I'll show him what's better than just being a fan of a chocolatier!" Tyler exclaimed as he began to unzip his backpack, but Kitsune stopped him.
"Remember son," Kitsune whispered to Tyler, "We're saving the pranks for the tour."
"It looks like Tyler is the same old brat from when we met him," Jenna whispered to Chris. "Let's try to stay as far away as possible from him during the tour."
Chris nodded in response, then continued to look around his environment in order to burn the image of the factory into his mind. Suddenly, he caught himself looking at Jenna out of the corner of his eye, and he felt like he had butterflies in his stomach. Jenna noticed this, then chuckled to herself, putting her hand slightly over her mouth as she did so.
About one minute later, a loud clicking sound was heard as everyone could hear a clock begin to strike ten. Chris and Jenna looked back at their families, and they smiled back. Chris' grandmother was there as well, and she was shaking with excitement as the gates began to open and a booming voice announced through the factory's loudspeaker, "Please enter!"
Following the voice's instructions, the guests walked through the factory's gates and stood still in the midst of a giant courtyard, unsure what to do next.
"Come forward," another voice announced, except this one was slightly higher pitched in nature compared to the previous one.
On cue, all fourteen guests continued to walk further into the courtyard of the factory.
"Close the gates," the first voice announced, and the gates began to close on their own, and a loud clanging noise was heard, drowning out the cheering and shouting of the crowd.
"Dear visitors," the first voice continued as the lucky winners and their parents walked closer to the factory's entrance, "it is my great pleasure to welcome you to my humble factory."
"And what are you to do now?" the voice asked dramatically as the group stood in front of a blue wall with three large doors positioned side by side each other.
"Well, I say…" the second voice said dramatically as the entire wall began to split in half to reveal bright-red curtains. The curtains began to rise, revealing an animatronic puppet show, and they began to sing an extremely high-pitched and catchy song.
Welcome, we say, to the second generation!
It's quite a whimsical sensation
To see such marvellous creations
As we take you through Charlie and Willy's imagination!
"Chris!" Mr. Davidson grinned excitedly at his son. "They had a song for the other winners as well, and now they've created an entirely new one just for us!"
From grey rock candy to candy cane trees,
In this factory, the two do as they please!
Don't forget the feathery sweets,
Or the color-changing caramels.
This factory is filled with munchy eats
And tons of wonderful smells!
Most of the group stood still, except for Jenna and her father, who were swaying to the beat. Chris was also tapping his foot in rhythm with Jenna.
And now, we'll finish this song with quite the fanfare,
Showing Wonka and Charlie's style of flair!
Where exactly are our shining stars?
Right here, right now- here they are!
As the song concluded with a short instrumental break, a spotlight shone down on the center of the stage, and two golden thrones cushioned with red velvet rose up from below, but there was a twist- nobody was sitting in them. Fireworks began to spray all over the stage, and all the puppets began to catch on fire and sing the song in an extremely distorted tone. In addition, a dozen fireworks were launched from the roof of the factory, and they all exploded in bright, multicolored bursts of light. As the puppets continued to burn, their eyes coming out of their sockets, many awkward looks were exchanged among members of the group, and suddenly, giggling and clapping was heard coming from next to Yuna and her mother. It was Mr. Wonka, and he was wearing a black top hat, wine-colored frock coat, black dress pants, and highly-polished black shoes. He had purple latex gloves on his hands, and his violet eyes were concealed by round, tinted goggles with purple rims. He was also holding a long cane with a white ball and purple and white stripes on it.
"Wasn't that just magnificent?" Mr. Wonka giggled. "I was worried that it was getting a little dodgy in the middle part, but then that finale- wow!"
"Who are you?" Mindy Bell asked in an awkward tone.
"He's Willy Wonka!" Chris' father exclaimed excitedly.
"Really?" Jenna asked.
"He's quite right!" another voice called out as Charlie Bucket walked across the stage and met up with Mr. Wonka. He still had his goatee on his face, but his hair was cleanly trimmed. He was wearing a red top hat, along with a bright purple tailcoat with a tan bowtie and tan pants. A darkly tinted pair of frameless glasses covered his olive-green eyes. Unlike Mr. Wonka, he wasn't wearing gloves, nor was he carrying a cane.
Mr. Wonka was about to respond, when Charlie whispered into his ear. He whispered back, "Please, just this once? For old times' sake, Charlie?"
"Fine," Charlie smirked back.
"Good morning, everyone!" Willy exclaimed suddenly, facing the lucky winners. "Wakey wakey, eggs and bakey!"
This remark only caused even more awkward glances among the Ticket holders and their guardians as Mr. Wonka took some cue cards out of his plum-colored coat and began reading off of them.
"Dear Guests:
Greetings! Welcome to the factory! I shake you warmly by the hand!"
Willy extended one of his hands, and seeing as no one accepted it, awkwardly retracted it back and continued reading.
"You're probably well aware of this fact by now, but my name is Willy Wonka. The man next to me is Charlie Bucket, and he was a Ticket winner himself forty years ago."
"If you're Willy Wonka, then shouldn't you be up there?" Yuna asked, pointing up to the throne.
"Well I very well couldn't watch the show from up there now, could I, little girl?" Mr. Wonka asked Yuna. "Now, let's begin the tour, everyone!"
Mr. Wonka was just about to turn around and guide the group into his factory, when Charlie once again whispered something into his ear, and he gasped dramatically.
"Charlie- er, we, would like it if you were to introduce yourselves," the chocolatier began. "Who is going first?"
Mindy Bell was the first winner to walk up to the two chocolatiers. She reached into her mouth and pulled out her Everlasting Gobstopper, twirling it between her thumb and index finger. Mr. Wonka cringed at the sight of it.
"Mr. Wonka and Mr. Bucket," she spoke, "I'm Mindy Bell!"
"Oh," Mr. Wonka responded, attempting to hide a disgusted face by biting his lip. "It's, uh, wonderful to meet you, I guess."
"You only guess that it's wonderful to meet the girl who broke the world record for sucking on an Everlasting Gobstopper?" Mindy replied in disgust. "You're really weird."
Yuna was the next person to acknowledge the duo.
"I'm Yuna Sayuki," she said, bowing in respect. "I'm pleased to meet you both."
"I'm pleased to meet you, too," Mr. Wonka responded. "What a lovely kimono you're wearing."
"Thank you," Yuna responded before bowing again and walking back to her mother.
"I'm Antonio Ricci," the next kid beamed. "With a place as big as this, you must have tons of skydiving opportunities, right?"
"Don't get too reckless," Charlie warned him. "I can see that you didn't bring a parachute today."
"Again about safety," Antonio murmured angrily to himself as he walked back to his father.
Chris and Jenna nodded at each other. Smiling, Jenna let go of Chris' hand temporarily and walked up to Mr. Wonka and Charlie.
"Greetings," she grinned. "I'm Jenna Adams, and I'm so pumped up to be here! Do you have any musical instruments here, preferably a bass guitar?"
"Just you wait and see!" Mr. Wonka said as he smiled at her. "You should expect to hear plenty of music today during the tour."
"That's what I like to hear!" she exclaimed, flashing the sign of the horn with both of her hands as she walked back to Chris and held his hand once more.
Tyler Smith was the next person to walk up to Charlie and Mr. Wonka. Kitsune walked up to them as well, and she was gripping her son's shoulders.
"I'm Tyler Smith," he told them, sporting a fake smile. "It's a pleasure to meet you both."
"Nice to meet you, too," Mr. Wonka replied with an equally fake smile.
"What kind of prank candies do you have inside the factory?" Kitsune asked eagerly, and Tyler looked up and smiled up at her.
"All in good time," Mr. Wonka answered. "Just make sure not to go too wild with your son, alright?"
Kitsune shrugged and walked back to her place in line, holding Tyler's hand as she did so. An awkward silence followed for several seconds until Mr. Wonka cleared his throat and slowly turned his gaze to Daniel Sparkman.
"You," Mr. Wonka smiled while the boy himself had a bored expression on his face, "you're Daniel Sparkman! You're the little devil who cracked the system!"
Charlie walked up to Chris Davidson and began shaking his hand.
"Last but certainly not least," Charlie smiled, "you must be Chris Davidson! We're so happy to have you here as our guest. And Mr. Davidson, welcome back! I hope you enjoyed the new song that we put together for you all!"
"That was such a wonderful surprise!" Mr. Davidson smiled. "Thank you. I'm so glad to meet you. I remember when you were just a little kid, and you were with your Grandpa Joe. Am I correct?"
"You certainly are," Charlie grinned, showing pearly white teeth. "We're glad to have you here."
"Now," Mr. Wonka said, "let's get a move on, kids!" He and Charlie led the group past the flaming puppets and into the factory, where they were met with a looming grey hallway with a red carpet stretching down the middle of it.
"Normally, we'd say 'Just drop your coats, anywhere!', but it sure is a nice and toasty Fall day today, isn't it?" Charlie said to the group as he and Mr. Wonka tossed off their goggles next to the rug, then continued walking down the hallway.
"Speaking of toasty," Mr. Sparkman spoke up, "I see it's still as toasty as ever in here!"
"Still?" Mr. Wonka responded. "Well I suppose so, since as Charlie said, it is pretty warm outside today. We have to keep it warm in here because our workers are used to an extremely hot climate!"
"Who are these workers?" Jenna asked.
"As I said to Tyler, you'll find everything out in good time," Mr. Wonka responded as the group continued their walk. While they were walking, some of the children were talking to each other and engaging in small conversations.
"I can't believe it!" Jenna squeaked, whispering to Chris. "We're actually inside the factory!"
"I'm just as excited as you are," Chris smiled. "I wonder what the kind of music Mr. Wonka was talking about could be."
"Whatever they are," Jenna smiled, "I know they'll be good."
"I'm just glad that I'm with you," Chris remarked. "I wouldn't have it any other way."
That remark caused Jenna to grip his hand tighter as they continued following Mr. Wonka and Charlie to their first destination.
"Say," Tyler Smith said, walking up to Daniel, "do you like practical jokes?"
"Not really," Daniel answered. "I don't have time for such mundane stuff like joking around. My video games are more important to me."
"You're boring," Tyler snarled. "You cheated the system too to find your Ticket! Seriously, you're just another stupid party pooper just like those grown-ups!"
"It's not like you did any better by stealing Wonka Bars to find yours!" Daniel retorted, staring straight into Tyler's eyes. The two children stared at each other for several seconds before finally walking back to their parents.
A couple seconds later, the group realized that the corridor that they were walking into was becoming smaller and smaller, and they had to bend down to see where they had stopped. The Ticket winners saw that they were now standing in front of a small door with an even smaller keyhole.
"This is one of the most important rooms in the entire factory," Charlie announced.
"We call it the Chocolate Room," Mr. Wonka continued as he took out an enormously large keyring and inserted it into the door.
The Chocolate Room? Chris thought. That sounds strangely familiar...
"Why is the door so small?" Daniel asked, not pleased.
"To keep all the great big chocolatey flavor inside!" Mr. Wonka giggled, pushing against the door. To the group's surprise, the entire wall opened up instead, revealing a vast land full of green grass, candy cane trees, rock candy paths, and red mushrooms stuffed with jelly and whipped cream. As Chris looked around in complete awe, he saw various candy trees, a field of candy pumpkins, and biggest of all, a nine-story waterfall completely made out of chocolate which cascaded down into a ginormous river below.
"It...it's just like my dream," Chris gasped, taking in the sights surrounding him as they entered the room.
"Your dream?" Jenna whispered back, confused.
"Yeah," Chris responded. "The night before my birthday, I had a dream that we visited this place, and it looked exactly like how it does here!"
"Well now you're here for real," Jenna smiled. "So let's have some fun."
That wasn't all. The Chocolate Room itself had changed slightly from the original tour forty years ago. Many bits of empty space in the room were replaced by an exhibit of rock candy fountains that were a tan color, and yellow fizzy lemonade was squirting out of them and gathering in a small pond which was surrounded by rock candy slabs so that it wouldn't overflow. The group could also see a couple weeping willows made out of fudge and thin green fondant throughout the room, and many brown birds made out of Mr. Wonka's signature chocolates were tweeting, flying around, and making nests in the trees. White rock candy bird baths were also seen in the room for the birds to clean themselves, and instead of water, chocolate was nestled inside of it.
As the group stood like awestruck statues inside the room taking in the sights surrounding them, Mindy was so surprised that her Everlasting Gobstopper fell out of her mouth, and she hurriedly picked it up and resumed sucking on it. After several seconds of silence, the group decided to follow Mr. Wonka and Charlie on a bridge which hung over the river, facing the waterfall.
"It's beautiful," Chris remarked as he walked across the meadow. Charlie turned around and smiled at him, knowing that he had made that exact same comment when he had first laid eyes on the Chocolate Room forty years ago.
"Oh yeah, it's very beautiful," Charlie replied as the two of them stopped and faced the riverbank halfway across the bridge. He smiled and pointed to the river, and the rest of the group followed his gaze. "You see this river that we're standing over? It's one-hundred percent hot melted chocolate of the finest quality, and there's enough of it in there to fill every bathtub in the entire country!"
"And all the swimming pools as well," Mr. Wonka added. "The waterfall is the most important part. It mixes the chocolate, churns it …"
As Mr. Wonka was talking, Charlie noticed that Mr. Sparkman was mouthing along to his words.
"Is something the matter, Mr. Sparkman?" Charlie asked with concern in his voice. "If so, is there anything that me or Mr. Wonka can do to help?"
"Oh, it's nothing," Mr. Sparkman answered, then he stopped mouthing once he realized that he was caught.
Charlie, Mr. Wonka, and the rest of the group continued their walk across the bridge. Instead of more green grass like it was forty years ago, the entrances and exits to each of these bridges were replaced by colorful stone steps made of rock candy, along with handrails made out of thick black licorice. Once everyone had walked down the steps and made it safely to the other side of the riverbank, Mr. Wonka looked at the river-bank and stopped his walk.
"People!" Mr. Wonka exclaimed, pointing with his cane, and everyone slowly turned around and looked at a group of pipes in the river. "Ya see those pipes? These little beauties suck up the chocolate from the river and carry it away all over the factory, yeah! Watch this! One of them is about to do so right now!"
Everyone, including Mr. Wonka and Charlie, watched as a saucer-like contraption moved into position over the river, and a long, glass pipe began to slowly descend from it and lower into the river. As soon as it went under, a giant whirlpool began to form, and chocolate could be seen being sucked up into the river. Then, the pipe would get retracted back into its base, and the process would repeat itself.
"And do you see this dock?" Charlie called out, where he was standing by a brown dock that jutted out into the river. "It's made of the most delicious kind of non-melting chocolate, and it functions as a drop-off station for our marvellous pink sugar candy boat!"
"Will we be able to ride it?" Jenna asked curiously.
"Maybe," Charlie answered, "but not at this moment in time. As you can see, the river here leads to a tunnel, which goes downhill. Special areas of the tunnel break off into segments, which deliver chocolate to the very deepest areas of the factory. The boat is also used for transportation purposes, which Mr. Wonka did back in 2005 for the original tour."
"And do you like my meadow?" Mr. Wonka asked. "The grass you are standing on, my dear children, is made of a soft minty sugar that I invented. I call it swudge! Please try a blade, please do. It's so delectable and so darn good-looking!"
"You can eat the grass?" Chris asked.
"Of course you can," Mr. Wonka smiled. "Everything in this room is eatable. Even I'm eatable, but that would be called cannibalism, my dear children, and is in fact frowned upon in most societies, yeah!"
"Now, go on!" Charlie beamed, his arms outstretched. "Enjoy yourselves, everyone!"
Everyone rushed off in various directions to explore the Chocolate Room right after he said this. Everyone, that is, except Mr. Sparkman. He stared into Charlie's eyes for several seconds before walking off by himself to explore the room.
It didn't take long for Tyler to discover the candy pumpkin field. After he did so, he found his mother, and the two of them stood by the round objects as Tyler whispered something in her ear. Once he was done, Kitsune grinned mischievously and picked up one of the pumpkins and began hitting it against a rock to create a hole. After that, Tyler opened up his backpack and took out a small bomb. Chuckling softly to themselves, the boy dropped it into the pumpkin, and the two of them ran away as fast as they could.
Seconds later, the bomb exploded with a muffled bang, and the pumpkin's gooey insides splattered everyone and everything within a fifty-foot radius. Unfortunately, the only person that got hit was none other than Daniel Sparkman. He stomped up to the duo and wiped off the goo from him in anger.
"Tyler!" Daniel barked. "I'll get you for this, you idiot!"
"It was just a prank!" Tyler Smith laughed, pointing at Daniel as the video game techie was wiping more of the goo off himself. "You should learn to loosen up, just like me! Don't forget, Charlie said to enjoy ourselves, so that's exactly what I'm doing!"
Daniel snarled angrily and walked away, shaking off the remaining amount of goo out of his hair. Tyler turned to his mother and whispered, "What a party pooper."
She nodded back at him, and the two of them began to walk around the area, licking the goo which had splattered on trees and shrubs nearby.
Yuna had finally managed to separate from her mother. She was now hiding in a secluded area of the Chocolate Room that was full of yellow flowers.
"Mother will never find me here," she told herself quietly as she sat down in the field. She went to pick one up, and to her surprise, the petals separated from the bottom section, forming a cup and a plate. Yuna looked inside, and she saw a liquid that looked like syrup. "It's now or never," she smiled, putting the cup up to her lips. Yuna smiled as the honey-like liquid ran down her throat, and as soon as she was done, she was about to place it down, but remembered Mr. Wonka's words.
"It's worth a shot," she shrugged her shoulders, then took a bite out of the cup. She smiled with satisfaction as she continued eating it. "This isn't bad," she said quietly. "Tastes like graham crackers, but slightly sweeter." Yuna smiled to herself, knowing what her mother would think, but didn't stop eating until both the cup and bowl were all gone, then worked her way onto another one before she could be spotted.
Meanwhile, Chris and Jenna had discovered a tree containing dozens of red toffee apples growing on them. Jenna had grabbed one, and she was about to do the same for Chris, but there was a problem. As soon as she was going to grab it, another hand suddenly ripped the fruit from the branch. They looked, and Mindy Bell was next to them. She held the apple in her right hand, and was using her left to remove her Everlasting Gobstopper from her mouth.
"Hey!" Jenna cried out. "That was supposed to be for Chris!"
"Well you're too slow," Mindy said firmly as she took a bite out of the apple and glared at the duo.
"Isn't that rather unhygienic, Mindy?" Chris asked, pointing to her Gobstopper. "You've been sucking on that Gobstopper for nine years. Don't you realize how many germs are-"
"Listen," she said firmly, glaring at Chris, "I do wash it every night before I go to bed. You see, I broke a Guinness World Record with this Gobstopper here. You're just a pathetic loser who thinks about Willy Wonka and nothing else." Glaring at Jenna, she continued talking before any comments could be made. "And you, you're just some weird rock star who doesn't even belong here. Why even go to a chocolate factory if you hate chocolate?"
"Be quiet!" Jenna yelled. "Chris is not a loser! Just so you know, I don't hate chocolate! It's just that I don't care for it. Why go after me, and not Daniel? He said he didn't care for chocolate either. Your point is?"
"My point is," Mindy remarked, "is that I work hard to be a winner, and your stupid friend is just a follower. That's that." She took an enormous bite out of her apple and walked away.
"Who cares about her?" Jenna told Chris as soon as Mindy was out of earshot distance. "Let's go have some fun of our own." A few minutes later, she finished the apple, which strangely enough had no core, and the two of them walked over to a nearby clearing.
"Shall we, Chris?" Jenna smiled.
"We shall," Chris smiled, then Jenna immediately started running around the Chocolate Room, holding her friend's hand as she did so. Finally, after about three minutes of running past many other sights and sounds, they reached another clearing, and Jenna playfully tackled him to the ground, just like in his dream, as the two rolled around in the swudge and played happily. At the same time, Charlie and Mr. Wonka were walking past the duo as they were playing.
"Those two sure are like two peas in a pod, eh Mr. Wonka?" Charlie Bucket smiled as he watched the two playing around.
"Gosh darn, you're right, my boy!" Mr. Wonka smiled. "Just like the two of us when I chose you as my heir!"
"Not quite," Charlie Bucket smiled, "but I see what you're getting at."
As Chris was rolling around and laughing with Jenna, right above him he saw more of Mr. Wonka's beautiful chocolate birds tweeting and flying around. It was as if he was in his dream, but it was now a reality.
This is beautiful, Chris thought. I don't want it to end…
They rolled so far and so fast that they eventually came across a field of gummy worms, where they took turns shoving them in each other's mouths, only laughing harder as they did so.
Daniel was by the base of the waterfall, and he was watching a strange-looking patch of grass which seemed to be changing color every few seconds.
"Hey, Mr. Wonka, what's this?" Daniel asked once he was within earshot.
"Oh!" Mr. Wonka giggled in a high-pitched voice. "Let me show you!" He then took out a wireless microphone and called out in a booming voice, "Can everyone meet me over here? There's something I want you all to see."
Once everyone was gathered where Daniel and Mr. Wonka were standing, he knelt down and plucked out a blade of the grass and held it up for everyone to see.
"This is Solar Swudge," he explained, "and as you might guess, it's a variant of the regular swudge recipe I created. On the contrary to that version, the Solar Swudge is actually a rather recent invention. It glows in the dark, and as you can see, also changes colors every few seconds. It even changes its flavor if you hold onto it long enough. For example, one of these blades might start out with a minty flavor, and thirty seconds later, it might taste like coconut or lime. It's completely random, so every single blade will taste different. Or they might taste the same! You'll never know, haha!"
"Does it do anything to you when you eat it?" Yuna enquired.
"Not necessarily," Charlie answered, "unless you're in a dark place. The Solar Swudge will cause you to glow in the dark, and just like the blades themselves, you will glow a different color every few seconds. They're perfect for glow-in-the-dark parties and nightclubs."
"That sounds amazing!" Chris exclaimed. "How exactly do they change color?"
"It's the result of a natural phenomenon called bioluminescence," Mr. Wonka answered, "as well as a very secret ingredient. Super amazing stuff, this Solar Swudge."
"Finally, something scientific here!" Daniel grinned. "May I have some, please?"
"Of course," Mr. Wonka answered. "We have tons in the factory, and we'll also make sure to include our packaged version of the candy in your lifetime supply. Now, shall we move on? I've got something else I want to show you."
Doing an eccentric dance, Mr. Wonka, along with Charlie (who simply walked), guided the group over by the lemonade fountains. The group watched as a seemingly endless amount of lemonade cascaded down them via a bunch of holes, then ended up in a giant pond surrounded by rock candy. The bottom of the pond also had small rock candy pebbles, and there were giant rocks protruding out from the top of it, and frogs coming in all the colors of the rainbow were hopping on them.
"What are those things?" Jenna asked, pointing at the frogs.
"Those are my Fruity Frogs!" Mr. Wonka smiled. "They're sentient candies, so even if they may seem alive, they're actually not. Each of them tastes like a specific kind of fruit. For instance, the orange ones taste like oranges, the blue ones taste like blueberries, and those ones over there taste like snozzberries…"
"What the heck's a snozzberry?" Daniel asked.
"I'm sorry, but I can't hear a word you're saying," Mr. Wonka smiled. "Now, the Frogs taste like these fruits, and they don't feel anything. They regenerate when bitten into, and if you eat the whole thing in one go, then one day later, they reappear by a mysterious process! Isn't that neat?"
"Mr. Wonka," Antonio Ricci asked, pointing up to the waterfall, "would it be possible for me to jump down from there?"
"Absolutely not," Charlie said. "The secret stairwell that leads to the top is heavily guarded, and is also well-hidden so that it's hard to find. Better luck next time, Antonio."
"Tch," Antonio said, looking at Charlie and Mr. Wonka in response. "Fine."
"Now, let's get this tour underway!" Mr. Wonka smiled. "We have so much left to see!"
Author's Note: Woah, what a twist! Nobody getting eliminated in the Chocolate Room?! That's right! As for the rest of the chapter, what'd you think about it? To my knowledge, this fanfic is the first one where the cottage being in the Chocolate Room is addressed, because in others I've read, in the tour, it's acted as if it's never there, and just vanished.
For other elements, the Solar Swudge was in "Next in Line", and I liked that idea, so I carried it over. On the contrary, the Fruity Frogs and lemonade pond were ideas created by me exclusively for this fanfiction, so I hope you enjoyed reading about them. Older readers may notice an element being scrapped from this rewrite. In "Next in Line", there was a door submerged in the river by the waterfall, which would open every couple minutes and send the chocolate up a large pipe, which would therefore transport the liquid to deeper areas of the factory. I was originally going to include it, but in the midst of writing that segment, Matt pointed out me that the downwards tunnel leading to the Inventing Room likely could serve the same purpose, making the door redundant, so I decided to scrap the door idea and reference that instead.
As for other scrapped moments, the original story used "Wonka's Welcome Song", but, seeing as both Mr. Wonka and Charlie are the guides this time around, I decided to make a completely new song that talks about both of them. I hope that this song gives you a sense of what's to come, and I also hope that you enjoyed the lyrics to it.
Overall, what'd you think about this chapter? Was it worth the wait? Be sure to stay tuned for the next one, and if you'd like, you can make guesses on who will get eliminated first (since Antonio jumping from the waterfall is no longer a possibility). If you want, you may review this chapter and show your thoughts, as reviews are greatly welcomed and appreciated.
Until then,
Gabe S. :)
