Chapter 21: The Prototype Candy Testing Room
Author's Note: Hello, dear readers! I'm sorry it took so long to get this chapter done, but alas, it's finally here! What do you think could happen in the Prototype Candy Testing Room? Were your guesses right? You'll find out, right after I respond to your reviews!
emeraldphan, I'm glad that you liked the new rooms I came up with! The Squishy Squids and Raspberry Sharks actually appear in a collaboration I'm doing with mattTheWriter072 (the Squishy Squids are based off a real candy called Willy Wonka's Squids, and the sharks were from a story called "Where All the Bad Nuts Go", but they were strawberry there), but the Shocker Eels were an entirely new creation by me. As for why the Sparkman's name was changed, you may or may not find the answer later on in the tour. I'm also glad you liked Grandpa Joe Way, and how I interpreted the book's various sweets that never got any sort of interpretation.
Gage the Hedgehog, glad you liked it!
Matt, I knew you'd catch the references! I'm glad you liked Grandpa Joe Way. I'm also glad you liked the interactions between Mr. Wonka and Daniel. The "Oompa" interaction was indeed from your story. Looking through the reviews, I saw that people liked it, so I decided to carry it over. As for whether or not Yuna will get eliminated in the Prototype Candy Testing Room...well, this chapter certainly is longer than the original Prototype Candy Testing Room, so you'll just have to read on!
Guest #1, Tyler and Kitsune are some of my favorite characters to write in this story, so I'm glad you like them! Will they get in trouble here...?
Guest #2, yes it was! Good eye!
PORKnSausAGES, hmmm, I'll consider those.
Random Guy wrote: "Hi Gs33022, I think you should write a one-shot that somehow involves Slugworth and a horde of zombies! Maybe you could publish it on Halloween if you choose to do so!"
That's a great idea! I'll definitely consider it.
MUSHroomBEAR wrote: "Snozberry ice cream neverlasting gobstoppers mangoes peaches rotten apple cores"
Hmm, Neverlasting Gobstoppers? Sounds like a pretty horrible Wonka product if they don't last. Now, on with the story!
(Credits: Credit for this room's design belongs to MysteriousMaker1185.)
"Ladies and gentlemen," Mr. Wonka announced, "welcome to the Prototype Candy Testing Room!"
The group entered a massive room that resembled a museum. Machines of various shapes and sizes were scattered throughout, and they were all surrounded by red barriers like the ones when celebrities are seen walking down red carpets. Noises such as squelches, bangs, phuts, and others were also heard, and the smells that wafted around the area smelled fresh and mouthwatering.
The room was also brightly lit, and pictures of Charlie's family, complete with golden name tags and jet-black letters on them, lined the walls with spotlights above them.
"This room is where the second stage of testing new candies takes place," Mr. Wonka explained. "First, our candies are tested in the Inventing Room's testing lab, and if they pass, we move them over here, to the Prototype Candy Testing Room, for further testing."
"As for what this has to do with my Grandpa Joe," Charlie lectured, looking at a portrait of his Grandpa Joe that was hanging on a wall, then turning back to the group, "every candy you see in here were ideas contributed by him just weeks before he passed away."
"Unfortunately, we can't show you the Inventing Room today because a top-secret invention is being made inside there," Mr. Wonka said, "plus Charlie's father is helping to repair a broken machine there as well, so this was our second choice for the tour. Go enjoy yourselves, everyone!"
Charlie and Mr. Wonka watched as the remaining children and their guardians separated to go explore the Prototype Candy Testing Room together. He, along with Mr. Wonka, walked over to the portraits of his family. There was one showing each of Charlie's grandparents, and an extra one showing Wilbur Wonka.
Mr. Wonka looked at his heir, then watched as he sighed sadly.
"It'll be alright, my boy," said Mr. Wonka encouragingly, patting his heir's shoulders. "Remember, you told me right before this tour began- they may be gone, but they're not forgotten, and they'd be proud of our candy making efforts with your p-parents."
Charlie sighed once again.
"I know," he said sadly, "but i-it doesn't…"
"I know it doesn't feel like that long ago," Mr. Wonka smiled encouragingly. "But I guess...things happen for a reason, don't they?"
"Yeah," Charlie smiled. "I guess you're right, Willy."
"Mr. Wonka, what are these things?" Jenna's voice asked, breaking the two chocolatiers out of their thoughts. She was with Chris as usual, and the two of them were in the center of the room by a machine that looked like a zebra. Candies colored both black and white were coming out of its mouth and landing into a bucket below.
"Well, let me explain!" Mr. Wonka smiled as he and Charlie walked towards the two children. "Ya see that plaque over there?" He pointed to a black plaque right in front of the barrier, and it had shining golden letters, just like a museum exhibit. Chris and Jenna read it out loud.
ZEBRA ZIPPERS
Zebra Zippers were inspired by an actual study that was done on zebras. Studies showed that cows painted with stripes like zebras were less likely to get bitten by horseflies than ones without. Surely you must hate getting swarmed by flies during picnics, right? That cheap bug spray not working? Use Zebra Zippers, and the flies will zip away! The effect lasts for two hours, so you can be a fly repellant and look classy at the same time!
"See, ain't that neat?" Mr. Wonka chuckled as Chris and Jenna gave each other strange looks, then nodded at each other before walking away towards another exhibit to find more candies to look at.
Tyler and Kitsune were back to their old games. They had found a machine towards the back of the room where no one was watching, and were giggling madly.
"This is gonna be great," Tyler chuckled, looking at his mother. "It reminds me of that one day when my engineering teacher Professor Foulbody was in the middle of class talking about an invention that he had just made, and some stupid gold machine that failed years ago. While he was talking, I snuck some water inside the machine, and it began to malfunction. Things were flying everywhere, and the chaos was wonderful! Professor Foulbody suspected it was me, but I got out of it."
"You never told me about that one," Kitsune said proudly, patting her son on the head. "That sounds like it was absolutely amazing!"
"It was," Tyler grinned. "All the other students were forced to clean up the mess that I made, and I got out of it by claiming that I had to go to the bathroom."
"Let's watch as history repeats itself," Kitsune chuckled, and Tyler looked at her with the same expression on his face. They looked at the machine and read the plaque. It said, "SPLENDIFEROUS SPRING-A-LINGS." This machine was grey, and the candies coming out of it resembled small springs, but pushed downwards. As they exited out of the machine with a boing, they landed in a grey bucket with a lid with a hole on it, where each of them bounced a couple times in the bucket before settling back in.
SPLENDIFEROUS SPRING-A-LINGS
Would you like to add a spring to your step? Well then, Splendiferous Spring-A-Lings are for you! Simply eat one, and you'll be able to jump a minimum of ten feet in the air with no problem! The more candies eaten, the higher you can jump, but be warned- don't eat too much, or you could go too high.
"Hehehe," Tyler smirked. "This oughta be fun."
The two of them bent closer to the machine and looked over to the red barriers surrounding it. On it, they saw a dial with three settings: "LOW", "MEDIUM", and "HIGH."
"Let's do it," Kitsune smiled, and Tyler turned the dial, which was then on "LOW", to "HIGH." The machine began to shake, and the table that it was on began to vibrate. Seconds later, Splendiferous Spring-A-Lings began coming out of the machine at a massive rate, even flying to the other side of the room, and bouncing all over the room.
Daniel and Mindy were the first ones to see this. They were by the Zebra Zippers machine, when suddenly, one of the candies was flying straight at his head.
"Daniel!" Mindy screamed, pushing him to the ground. "Duck!"
"What the heck was that for?!" Daniel snapped.
"Look!" Mindy pointed out while she was on the ground at Splendiferous Spring-A-Lings bouncing above their heads.
"TYLER!" Daniel barked. "I KNOW YOU DID THIS!"
Chris and Jenna heard Daniel's shouts next, and they turned to where his voice had come from.
"Yikes!" Chris and Jenna shouted, jumping onto the floor of the Prototype Candy Testing Room.
"What's going on?!" Jenna gasped.
"I don't know," Chris remarked, "but I have a feeling that Tyler has something to do with it."
Others weren't as lucky as these other four children. Mrs. Sayuki saw the candies and immediately began running around the room. Unfortunately for her, this didn't help one bit, because, as she was running, a barrage of Splendiferous Spring-A-Lings bounced towards her and slapped her in the bum and forehead, tossing her to the ground in a heap of pain. Yuna was faring much better. Fortunately, she had noticed Tyler and Kitsune messing with the machine and had taken the appropriate cover beforehand.
Mr. Sparkman, Mrs. Bell, Mr. Adams, and Mr. Davidson began crawling on the floor of the Prototype Candy Testing Room in order to check up on them. In the midst of the chaos, Charlie and Mr. Wonka turned around and noticed everything that was unfolding in front of them.
"Looks like the Splendiferous Spring-A-Lings machine malfunctioned," Charlie remarked, ducking and getting on all fours in order to crawl to the machine.
"Tyler," Mr. Wonka murmured, getting on the ground like his heir as more and more candies bounced all around them.
As the two of them were crawling to the machine, Tyler and Kitsune were laughing at the chaos that they had caused.
"Hahahaha!" Tyler laughed. "Isn't this great!"
"It sure is!" Kitsune grinned as the two of them high-fived.
"Just look at those whiny babies!" Tyler smiled. "Crying, screaming-!"
In the middle of speaking, one Splendiferous Spring-A-Ling bounced towards Tyler and hit him straight in the groin, causing him to grip it in pain.
"Ow!" Tyler screamed. "What...gives…?!"
As he was looking up at the chaos during his pain, he noticed Chris staring at him with a hint of a smile.
"You!" Tyler barked, pointing to Chris in anger. "You did this!"
"Did what?" Chris responded firmly, stomping up to Tyler while at the same time trying to avoid the Splendiferous Spring-A-Lings. "This was all your doing!"
"Now that I think about it," Tyler retorted, "you're that boy who stopped me from stealing your stupid girlfriend's Golden Ticket back then! You will pay for what you've done to me!"
"I haven't done anything!" Chris screamed, readying his body as everyone watched him and Tyler getting prepared to fight. "And don't make fun of Jenna, you hear!"
"NO!" cried two voices at the same time. It was Jenna and Mr. Davidson, and they jumped forward, each of them grabbing one of Chris' arms before he could jump at the boy. Everyone heard the machine begin to power down, and the Splendiferous Spring-A-Lings started to lessen their bounce as two people behind Tyler and Kitsune cleared their throats. It was Charlie and Mr. Wonka. The prankster duo slowly turned around, and the two of them chuckled nervously.
"He started it!" Chris shouted, pointing at Tyler in anger.
"You caused me to get hurt by that stupid candy!" Tyler retorted back.
Chris was about to go after Tyler once again, but Jenna stood in front of him, blocking his path. A few minutes later, he managed to calm himself down, and Charlie cleared his throat and looked down upon the two pranksters.
"I've had about enough with you two interrupting our tour," Charlie said firmly to Tyler and Kitsune and crossing his arms. "It's either get out, or clean up all the candies that you two made a mess of on the ground, including the ones under the machinery. Me and Mr. Wonka will watch you so you don't get into any trouble, you understand?"
Sulking, Tyler and Kitsune walked away from the group in order to collect all the Splendiferous Spring-A-Lings and place them in a basket that Mr. Wonka had grabbed nearby. Charlie then turned to the rest of the group and said, "As for the rest of you, you are free to keep exploring this room until Tyler and Kitsune are done with their job."
With that, the group separated once again and began exploring the Prototype Candy Testing Room. Mr. Wonka looked at Chris specifically as he and Jenna walked by another machine.
"Chris is such a nice kid, just like you were," Mr. Wonka whispered to his heir. "But we could say he also has some 'oomph' to him, if you know what I mean. He's willing to openly participate in arguments, and he seems to have a bit of aggression within himself that you never seemed to have during the first tour."
"I agree with you," Charlie replied, "but I think his good side outshines whatever hint of darkness might be contained within him. Besides, we all bear a touch of darkness, just as much as we bear light. But enough of that now. Let's just let these children have their fun- except for, of course, those two."
Charlie and Mr. Wonka looked over at Tyler and Kitsune, who were still picking up candies, and they snarled back.
Meanwhile, Yuna had once again lost her mother while the group became separated, and she was by a machine that was in the shape of an orange, and there was a picture of a chipmunk above the hole where the candies were coming out of it. Despite its shape, it was churning out several bright-orange cubes at an astonishing rate, where they could fall down and land on a conveyor belt. The belt would then transport the candies into boxes to get packed up. Looking around her surroundings to make sure her mother wasn't watching her, she noticed that there was a basket next to this candy's respective plaque that said, "TRY ME." Without taking time to read about the candy's information, she took one and began chewing.
"Mmm!" she smiled. "It's orange flavored!"
A few seconds later, she had a shocked look on her face as she asked, "What happened?"
Her voice had become extremely high-pitched, and she grabbed onto her cheeks in surprise.
"My beautiful voice!" Yuna gasped. "How will I act in my movies now?"
"I knew it!" a voice yelled from the other end of the room. It was Mrs. Sayuki, and she was stomping towards her daughter in anger. "Yuna, this is what you get for eating that man's evil candy! Hopefully this will teach you to listen to me more, you understand?"
"Calm down, my dear lady," Charlie Bucket laughed as he and Mr. Wonka walked towards the two of them, getting everyone else's attention in the process. "If you would've read the plaque, you would've known those are our Chipmunk Chews!"
Taking one from the basket, Mr. Willy Wonka held one up in the air between his fingers for everyone to see. With a happy grin on his face, he announced, "These little boogers, as Charlie previously said, are called Chipmunk Chews! Just chew one'a these things down, and your voice becomes nice 'n squeaky, just like a chipmunk! They function as a safer alternative to sucking the helium out of balloons, and they're also a darn good party treat! Don't worry, the effect only lasts for a couple minutes, so your voice will be back to normal soon."
Yuna turned around and blew a raspberry at her mother, then walked away.
"You know, mam," Charlie frowned, turning to Mrs. Sayuki, "I'd change your ways if I were you. In your interview, you showed more concern towards your daughter's modelling career, instead of her movies like she's interested in, and this has obviously led to tons of friction between the two of you. If I were you, I'd support your daughter...before it's too late."
"What do you know about family?" Mrs. Sayuki snapped.
"What do I know?" Charlie frowned, raising his voice slightly. "I grew up in poverty, eating nothing but cabbage, cabbage soup, potatoes, and margarine. I lived with my grandparents," he turned his glance over to the pictures on the nearby wall, "and my parents, wondering when our next check would come. My father lost his job, and that only strengthened our bond even more. You don't know a thing about making bonds. All you care about is what you want, and I'd best change that attitude before your daughter grows up to hate you."
All Mrs. Sayuki did in response was snort in disgust and walk away, leaving Charlie to do the same.
"That stuck-up woman better change soon," Charlie whispered to his mentor, "or she'll regret it."
"Yeah," Mr. Wonka whispered back in response. "We certainly wouldn't want another relationship like me with my dad on our hands."
"Mr. Wonka…" two voices gasped. "Charlie...we're done…"
It was Tyler and Kitsune, and they collapsed dramatically in front of the duo, panting over and over and they dropped a few Splendiferous Spring-A-Lings in Mr. Wonka's basket as he counted the candies.
"Ninety-nine...one hundred!" Mr. Wonka counted, fiddling with the candies and smiling at the two of them. "Yup, you got them all, all right!"
"Now," Charlie said firmly, staring straight into the duo's eyes, "if you do anything like this again, the consequences will not be satisfying whatsoever, understand?"
"Yeah!" Tyler and Kitsune said innocently, nodding up and down at a fast pace. "Yeah, we understand!"
"Good," Charlie said, authority in his voice. "Now, you may go on, but we'll be keeping our eyes on you two."
"Yes, sir!" Kitsune saluted, and the two of them walked away. As they did so, they began whispering to each other.
"The nerve of those two," Kitsune snarled, "trying to ruin our fun."
"Those two, that Chris kid, Daniel…" Tyler snarled, "we'll get them all!"
"Mr. Wonka?" another voice called out once Tyler and Kitsune were far away from the two chocolatiers. "Mr. Bucket?"
The two of them looked down and heard Mindy Bell. She and Daniel were by a neighboring machine, glancing towards another one of the chocolatiers' workers that was seen unscrewing an access panel.
"May I ask once again who these workers of yours are?" Mindy Bell said.
"Are they real people?" Yuna squeaked, her voice still abnormally high-pitched.
"Of course they're real people," Mr. Wonka answered. "They're Oompa-Loompas."
Hearing this, the entire group began talking among themselves.
"Oompa-Loompas," Chris said to himself. "That's what they're called, Oompa-Loompas?"
"Imported directly from Loompaland," Charlie proudly added.
"Loompaland?" Daniel Sparkman questioned. "There's no such place. I know every country in the world, and that does not include that made-up place that you mentioned."
"Son," Mr. Sparkman sighed, looking down on his son, "can you please give him a chance?"
"Give who a chance?" Daniel snapped. "I told you, I know every country, and this 'Loompaland' is not on that list whatsoever."
"Well then, Daniel," Mr. Wonka interrupted, smiling at him, "if you know all the countries, you'll know all about this one, and oh, how disgusting it was!" Mr. Wonka and Charlie then spent the next few minutes explaining to the group how he had acquired his employees.
"Hornswogglers?" Daniel said once the two were done. "Snozzwangers? Whangdoodles? There aren't any such creatures, either, and you can't change my mind!"
Mr. Wonka simply smiled at him.
"Yeah yeah," Daniel snarked. "I'm somehow mumbling, and you're using that as an excuse to dance around my question. I know your little game."
Willy Wonka smiled once again, then turned around and walked towards a door towards the back of the Prototype Candy Testing Room. It said, "MAGLEV STATION #2."
Author's Note: Wow, what a crazy chapter! Tyler and Kitsune getting into mischief...Tyler and Chris fighting...that certainly was crazy, wasn't it? You see, I decided to add the Chris and Tyler fight not only to reference Chapter 10 of this story, but in the original, there wasn't a big variety of character interactions in my opinion, so I decided to change that. Also, it may be noted the maglev does appear in "Next in Line", but much later on in the story than it does here. As for what purpose it will serve in "Kind At Heart", feel free to guess, as it'll appear in the next chapter!
Newer readers, what did you think of the Prototype Candy Testing Room? Older readers, which version do you prefer- my version, or the original? Feel free to leave your thoughts in the review section, and stay tuned for the next chapter, everyone!
Until then,
Gabe S. :)
