"War & Pieces of Chocolate"
"Are those... Oompa Loompas?" Bastian asked as he saw the large muscular orange men holding them at gunpoint. "They look way bigger in person."
"Should we fight them?" George asked.
"They're heavily armed, I think they'd shoot us the first move we made," Bastian told them. "We'd better surrender for now."
"Guns, how barbaric," George said as the group surrendered. "I could have taken them with magic."
"And you'd have been killed in the process," Mike said as the Oompa Loompas advanced. "I'd rather not see any of my friends die like that."
"Maybe these guys can take us to the people who caused this," Bastian said. "Then maybe we can figure out a solution."
"If we don't die in the process." Tiny Tim said as they were taken away
"So, what exactly is the plan?" Mike asked as the quartet sat in the back of the armored van. "Even if we find the Salts, how exactly do we fix things?"
"I haven't figured that part out yet," Bastian told them. "I know AURYN has powers, I'm just not sure if time travel is one of them. This story pretty much hinged on Charlie Bucket surviving the chocolate factory tour and the other four brats getting their comeuppance."
Mike just slumped back in his seat, not saying a word.
"Sorry, Mike," Bastian told him. "You were pretty... unlikable in every version of the story that's told. I mean, Veruca was the worst, but you were kind of an asshole."
"What happens to me at the end of the story?"
"Mike, I'm not sure-"
"I don't think it matters now," George told them. "The factory tour's pretty much over. It's not like ruining the ending will make things worse."
"Fine," Bastian said. "You were sh-"
The van came to a screeching stop, throwing the four boys flying into the wall as the van made a sudden turn.
"Everyone okay?" Bastian asked as he found himself at the bottom of a pile.
The door was thrown open as a woman in purple spandex looked at them. She had long blonde hair tied in a ponytail. The woman looked at the four boys while holding a large gun.
"Come on, boys, move it or lose it!" she shouted as she rushed the boys out. "The Oompa Loompas will regroup any second, we have to be out of here now!"
"Who are you?" Bastian asked as he climbed out.
"The name's Violet," the woman said. "Now come on, I can take you somewhere safe."
In a private compound in the heart of the city, an older Veruca Salt listened as the Oompa Loompa guards explained what had happened.
"You let four rebels get away?" Veruca asked angrily. "This is unacceptable! Everyone and everything must be under my complete rule! How have they managed to avoid the brainwashing? Everyone is hooked on the mind-altering chocolates, there's no way they could be free unless... Beauregard. This is finally my chance to take her out and the rest of her rebels, too, on top of capturing their ringleader. Gather the Elite Squad! We're finishing this tonight."
The group stopped in an alley after finally avoiding the Oompa Loompa guards.
"You're her," Bastian said as he looked at Violet. "The gum chewer from the tour. You got turned into a giant blueberry."
"I was a gum chewer, but I kicked that habit when the Salts rose to power," Violet told him. "I was never turned into a blueberry, though. The tour ended when that kid drowned in the chocolate river."
"How exactly did that happen?" Mike asked in a low tone.
"Everything happened so fast, I didn't see how," Violet told them. "But if you ask me, I think Veruca pushed that boy in, but no one could ever prove anything. The tour was canceled as soon as Charlie Bucket went under the surface and never came back up."
"Still doesn't really explain how Mike's absence threw everything off," Bastian said as he thought about it. "Unless Mike not being there put the idea into Veruca's head of dwindling the competition. If one kid was already down for the count-"
"Then why not take out two birds with one chocolate river?" Tiny Tim continued. "Then that would just leave Violet to remove from the competition."
"And when the tour was canceled, the Salts decided to just go for the whole thing through their lawyers," Bastian finished. "That's why Mike being gone messed up the tour. No one expected the kids to be picked off one by one with all of them there. Augustus Gloop was just a freak one-in-a-million accident. And by the time Veruca would have pieced together what was happening and get the idea to remove Charlie and Mike after Violet was eliminated, it was her turn to go."
"Leaving just me and Charlie," Mike said. "And then I got what was coming to me and Charlie won. Now he's dead, and it's all my fault! I got Charlie Bucket murdered! I screwed up someone's life without even being there! I'm a horrible monster!"
"Mike, it's not-," George said as Mike started running away. "MIKE!"
"Let him go for now," Bastian said. "I'll use AURYN to find him when we figure out how to fix this. The question is, what do we do now?"
"For now, I get the rest of you somewhere safe," Violet said. "We're going to the factory."
"You mean Willy Wonka's factory? I thought the Salts took that." Tiny Tim said
"They shut the factory down after they won it," Violet told them as they started walking. "They couldn't figure out its secrets, and Willy Wonka had disappeared the day Charlie Bucket died. So the Salts stripped the factory of whatever they could and opened a new factory several blocks away. The old factory is where the remaining rebels are currently."
"Then let's go meet them, we can probably use their help." Bastian said as they started walking.
It was late at night in the world of Tom Sawyer as Huck Finn nudged Nibs awake as he slept under a tree.
"Come on, wake up, it's time for that tour," Huck said as he helped Nibs up. "Everyone should be asleep by now, so we should be able to at least hold hands."
"Only hold hands?" Nibs asked with a smirk as the two quickly kissed.
"We'll find a nice quiet place for romancin' after," Huck said as he took his boyfriend's hand. "I just really want to show you my home. It's not Neverland, but-"
"Neverland's not Neverland anymore," Nibs sadly reminded him. "I think your town looks nice from what little I've seen so far. It's nice and peaceful. And there are no pirates constantly trying to kill you."
"That is kind of a plus now that I think about it," Huck told him. "Come on, let's cut through the cemetery, it'll be quicker."
"Aren't cemeteries supposed to be haunted?" Nibs asked as they started walking.
"Them's just rumors to keep people out," Huck said. "But don't worry, I'll keep you safe. I ain't afraid of no ghosts."
"Why does that sound a catchphrase that'll catch on?" Nibs asked as they started walking.
Violet snuck the boys through the back of the building, leading them into the fabled chocolate factory. It looked abandoned and dark as they carefully made their down the hall.
"Luminous," George said as he held up his wand to light the way.
"The book didn't describe it being this creepy," Bastian said.
"I think the book also didn't kill off the main character and plunge the world into hell on Earth." Tiny Tim reminded him.
"That's just for appearances," Violet said as she opened the door, leading the trio into a large wide open and colorful space. While all the candy had long since ceased to exist, it was still vividly colored with Oompa Loompas tending to small gardens while a pure water lake with waterfall sat in the background.
"This is the room where Augustus was eliminated," Bastian said as he looked around.
"It is the room where Charlie Bucket died," an accented voice said. A muscled man looking like Schwarzenegger stepped out, deadlifting two Oomp Loompas. "And the dreams of every child in the world with him."
"Boys, this is Augustus Gloop," Violet told them. "Co-leader of the resistance."
"Well, you certainly grew up into... something," Bastian said. "Who else is here?"
"Just one other," Violet told them. "The Salts have captured and executed everyone else who opposes them. We're fighting a losing battle."
"A battle is only lost if you stop fighting," an old voice said from the shadows. As everyone turned their attention to the tunnel, an elderly Willy Wonka stepped out. His hair had grown long and grey, and he was using a cane to walk.
"He's going to do a tumble and show us he doesn't need the cane," Bastian told Tiny Tim. As Wonka moved forward, he crumbled and fell to the floor as Bastian started laughing. At least until Wonka didn't get up. "He-He's joking, right?"
"You idiot, he's needed that cane for years," Violet told him as she and Augustus went to help Wonka up. "Life without candy making has aged him horribly. All the life and energy left him when the factory was cleaned out. All we were able to save were a few Oompa Loompas and some small machinery."
"I'm sorry," Bastian stammered. "I didn't-"
"This place is bloody awful," George said, interrupting Bastian. "And I've been in the middle of an actual warzone. This place seems somehow worse."
"This sucks, we have magic and powers on our side and we can't even bloody use them!" Tiny Tim shouted as he kicked the air.
"Magic, you say?" Wonka asked as he was helped to his feet.
"George is a wizard and I have AURYN, this magic amulet, but that can't really bring people back from the dead," Bastian said as he looked at George. "Or fix this level of damage."
"What about... time travel?" Wonka asked.
"Yeah, kind of out of our scope," Bastian admitted. "I mean, maybe if I was in the real world where I could rewrite the story-"
"Did you write the original story?" Wonka asked.
"No, but-"
"Then that wouldn't change things," Wonka told him. "Only the original creator could fix things back to how they were."
"Uh... he's sorta... dead," Bastian told him. "He died a very long time ago."
"Then time travel it is," Wonka said as he hobbled toward the door. "Follow me."
"But we just said-"
"My ears heard what you said, but my brain wasn't listening, now follow me."
Bastian, George and Tiny Tim followed him further into the factory where they found a small boat sitting next to a tunnel.
"Not exactly what I had pictured," George said. "How does it work?"
"Through the two of you," Wonka told them. "Through the use of both of your magic, you can turn this tunnel into a time machine if your imaginations want it enough."
"Then we go back and stop Veruca from killing Charlie," Bastian realized. "Wait, no, that'll never work. The story has to play out exactly as it did the first time. If we interfere, we might mess it up even worse. We might end up getting Charlie killed even worse."
"Then how do we fix this?" George asked.
"Mike," Bastian whispered. "We put Mike back into that tour where he supposed to be before he got taken to Neverland."
"Great, but where is Mike now?" Tiny Tim asked.
"Ma'am, we found something," one of the Oompa Loompa guards said as the other guards dragged Mike in and tossed him to the ground. "We believe he knows where the other rebels are."
"Then take him to my candy factory," Veruca said with an evil smirk. "I'll make him talk. Then I'll kill him, Veruca and Augustus. Then there will be no one left to oppose me."
To Be Continued...