Hello readers! Thanks again for your feedback! Sonny April, I'm glad you agree with my opinion on the 1971 Veruca and you're absolutely right! The Neon Labyrinth is just like a funhouse! MattTheWriter, why, having fun? Your review totally cracked me up! :) I'm very glad you liked that Mike's signature barely changed since he was a kid and I thought that visiting the Chocolate Room again would make the story too redundant and predictable. John Hammond, you shall find out and I don't know for sure but it'll most likely be about 20 chapters total! LinkWonka88, I've never been to Adventure Island but I know exactly what you mean! Those neon lights in the slides make the ride a lot more fun and colorful! Individualist, I'm so glad you loved this chapter! :) Now off we go! :)
The tall door swung open and before the ticket finders' eyes was a massive island that was about the size of a baseball field. The sand appeared to be made out of graham cracker crumbs and decorated with many gigantic desserts all of kinds. A colossal dollop of whipped cream with a bright red cherry on top was in the island's center. Surrounding the huge island was a thick, bright blue liquid.
Violet and Mike both looked at the island in awe.
"This is way better than the chocolate room!" Mike whispered to Violet, who nodded in agreement.
Veruca scanned the island in disapproval.
"Hold your breath. Make a wish, count to three..." Charlie told the trio.
All three ticket finders mentally made their personal wishes.
"Kou' mau hoaaloha i kekahi o ka'u mau mea hou, a nui loa puke i haki ai, Dessert Island." Willy welcomed in Native Hawaiian.
"Do you have any idea what he just said?" Violet asked Mike.
The young artist simply shrugged in response.
"Dunno, sounds like Chinese or Japanese." he incorrectly guessed.
"Now, would you kindly walk towards the harbor where we shall find our transportation to our wonderful island." Willy kindly instructed the others as five oompa loompas rowed a large, purple dragon shaped boat towards the group.
"Wow, that's a pretty big improvement from that other one in the Chocolate Room." Mike remarked.
"Hm. Looks more like cheap rubbish to me," Veruca loudly scoffed, aggressively elbowing Mike in the shoulder.
"Wrong my dear Veruca, wrong! This scrumptious beauty is made of entirely of grape flavored rock candy, which is hand-picked from my one and only Rock Candy Mine, which is the only place in the whole world where rock candy is picked from a mine!" Willy proudly explained, slightly hurt from Veruca's snide comment.
Seconds later, the rock candy boat parked into the harbor.
"All aboard!" Willy yelled as he gestured the ticket finders onto the boat.
The runner-ups all sat next to each other in the back row while the chocolatiers sat in front of them.
"You're going to absolutely go bonkers over this and I know you will!" Willy told the trio.
The oompa loompas slowly rowed towards Dessert Island. Mike and Violet both looked at the blue liquid surrounding them.
"Hey, what's that blue stuff?" Mike questioned, pointing at the fluid.
"Why my dear b- I mean sir, that is blue chocolate!" the candyman proudly declared.
"Blue chocolate? There's no such thing!" Veruca snapped.
"No such thing? Just look around you Veruca, that's exactly what we're floating on. Yes, this is our specialty blue chocolate! It's churned within these walls and creates our chocolate sea! You see that square drain to your right? That's where it's eventually drained, along with our other crayon box chocolates, which are all separated into different vats. Of course, they're not made out of crayons!" Charlie explained to his fellow ticket finders as he pointed at a large, rectangular hole which some of the blue chocolate drained into.
"Charlie, what other colors do you have?" Violet asked.
"Any color you can think of really! Green, purple, crimson, magenta, cyan, silver, gold, burgundy, lavender, and so much more!"
Willy looked at his apprentice with pride as the boat approached the sweet island. A strong scent of sugar filled the air.
"All ashore!" Willy announced as the group leapt off the boat.
"So, is this like the chocolate room, where you can eat anything?" Violet wondered out loud.
Willy laughed.
"Why of course my dear Violet! You can eat everything on this island, even the sand! It's made of Wonka Grahams! Go ahead, give 'em a try!" Willy told her as she, along with Mike and Veruca darted into different directions.
Charlie watched the others sample the desserts and then looked at his mentor.
"Willy, how am I doing?" he asked.
The chocolatier gently smiled at his apprentice.
"You are doing excellent today Charlie. I'm so proud of you!" he replied, still nervous.
Violet stared at a tall, chocolate scented palm tree. One of its bright green leaves laid against the chocolate palm tree. She hesitantly picked up the palm and took a small nibble. To her surprise, it had a wonderful key lime flavor to it and she ate the remainder of the palm.
Mike scooped a sample of the graham cracker sand and chomped on a small red flower-shaped cupcake. Veruca did not consume a single dessert and scanned around the island, deeply thinking and looking at the purple boat.
Violet was about to finish her fourth key lime palm leaf when she heard light footsteps.
"Hey. Are you liking this stuff?" Mike asked with a wide smile, clutching a large slice of coconut cake.
"Yeah! Wonka's recipes have definitely improved since the 70's!" Violet replied, swallowing the palm pieces.
"Absolutely. You should have tried some of this stuff by the whipped cream pile! Do you wanna have some of my cake?" Mike requested.
"No thanks, I'm totally fine," Violet politely declined.
"Come on Vi, I insist. I can't eat that whole gigantic thing! It's delicious..."
Violet let out a weak smile.
"Sure, why not!" she responded as Mike carefully split the cake in half.
Violet chowed the cake down and enjoyed every bite.
"This is the best coconut cake I ever had!"
"Right? Aren't you glad that you got some?"
Violet grinned and wiped some cake crumbs off of her face.
"Yeah, definitely!" she replied.
"So, what have you been up to past twenty years?" Mike asked.
"Oh, I'm a yoga instructor in LA-"
Before Violet could finish, Mike's blue eyes widened.
"You live in LA?! You're actually not too far from me at all! I'm in downtown Phoenix. How do you like the city life?"
"I absolutely love it there. So much to do, lots of cool people to hang with."
"I bet it's way better than where you used to live, in North Dakota, right?"
Violet let out a snort-like laugh.
"Haha close! I'm originally from Miles City and I do not miss that place one bit! But, I have to go up there to see my folks every Thanksgiving and Christmas." she replied.
"I agree! I've never been there but living in the middle of nowhere can suck, that's for sure. That's exactly what Marble Falls is like, only in the middle of the desert. I don't know if you know that I'm an artist now?" Mike responded.
"No I didn't! What kind of stuff do you draw?"
Mike slowly unzipped his paint-splattered backpack.
"I paint anything western related, especially the Grand Canyon, my all time favorite place to be. In fact, Mr. Wonka asked me in my letter to bring one of my works. Wanna see it?"
Violet nodded and Mike pulled his small painting out, hoping Willy and Charlie would not see. Before her eyes was a bright, neon colored painting of a desert scene, with cacti, an orange and pink canyon in the background, a cow skull, and a bright yellow sun with an orange swirl. The centerpiece was a purple dancing, hunchback man with long antenna-like hair that played a flute. Small pink music notes were playing out of the flute.
"That's really cool Mike! Who's that purple guy?" Violet asked in amazement.
"Oh, that's Kokopelli, a Native American god that apparently represents fertility and childbirth, and his flute also allegedly chases the cold weather away. That's why he's always playing his flute." Mike explained as he quickly put his painting back into his backpack.
"Cool, but what does this have to do with Wonka and candy?" Violet wondered.
"It doesn't but I think of Wonka whenever I see Kokopelli because don't you remember when he played his pipe flute when Augustus fell into the chocolate river and when you- you know what I mean? I hope he'll like it." Mike responded, zipping his backpack.
"I think he will, from what I saw you're a great artist!" Violet praised.
Mike let out the biggest smile.
"Really?" he asked in awe.
"Really." Violet replied.
Once the runner-ups stopped eating, they walked towards the chocolatiers, who were both closely watching them.
"How did you like Dessert Island?" Charlie happily asked the ticket finders.
"It was awesome! So much better than before!" Mike happily told Charlie in the same nervous, overly animated tone in his voice.
"I'm so glad you did and perfect timing! It's time to move on to the next room!" Willy exclaimed.
"And where might that be?" Veruca demanded.
"Patience is a virtue and you shall find out soon my dear," Willy replied with fake enthusiasm.
As the oompa loompas rowed the boat, the group looked around the blue chocolate. Rather than turning back to the harbor, it turned towards a sky blue wall which slowly opened, revealing a large, oval shaped dark hole. Violet's face turned ashen.
"Hang on Mr. Wonka, I don't like this tunnel! I want off!" she yelled, remembering the scary tunnel years ago.
"This isn't a tunnel. My friends, we are gonna go on a wild ride on the blue chocolate rapids! Hang on tight everybody! Here it comes!" Willy yelled as the boat sharply descended down into the hole.
The runner-ups let a loud scream and bright blue lights illuminated the dark room. A loud clinking noise suddenly sounded as the boat plummeted into the raging blue rapids. Veruca had grabbed her faithful gun and quickly placed it in her stained jacket.
Mike and Violet looked at her in concern, not noticing the gun.
"Are you alright?" Violet asked.
"Does it look like I'm alright?!" Veruca snarled as blue chocolate splashed her squarely in the face.
Mike burst into laughter and the boat quickly dipped down towards the blue rapids once more. The ride only grew bumpier as it progressed. Suddenly, Mike felt a strong force strike him in the left shoulder, which caused him to fly out of his seat.
He let out a loud scream that grabbed everyone's attention. He managed to grab the side of the boat just in the nick of time. Mike was frozen in his spot, fiercely panting. Everyone else looked on in concern. The ride made one last drop before finally slowing down. The five oompa loompas silently rowed towards a tiny stone harbor which faced a tall steel door which read: WONKA WASH
"That's it ladies and gentleman! The journey through the blue chocolate rapids has ended but still so much to do, so much to see. Now, before we see the next room, we must tidy up in my updated Wonkamobile! I'm sure you remember that Mike?" Willy announced as the oompa loompas parked the purple boat in the harbor.
"Boy, do I ever Mr. Wonka..." Mike replied, shuddering at the thought of the white soda suds shooting at him and his mother during his previous visit.
"Good. Very good! Now on we go!" Willy shouted.
The group all rose from their positions. As they walked out of the boat, Mike suspiciously glared at Veruca.
"Hey! Did you try to push me off the boat!?" he yelled.
Veruca gave him a shocked look.
"Of course not! Why would you think of something absurd like that?" she replied.
"I felt you shove me in my left shoulder and that was definitely NOT caused by the boat shifting or the rapids!" Mike retorted.
Veruca's face reddened.
"Liar," she hissed as she spat directly at Mike's face.
"Veruca! That's enough!" Charlie angrily shouted as he stood in between his fellow ticket finders.
Veruca looked at the young chocolatier who was once the mild-mannered boy clad in a navy blue sweater in shock, never imagining him so angry. Her shock soon turned into aggravation.
"Fine. I'll just shut up and move on this lousy tour! I don't even know why I even wanted that bloody golden ticket!" she hissed.
Charlie glanced at the fuming gang member, hurt. He looked at his mentor, who gave him a reassuring smile.
"It's alright Charlie. Don't let her get to you..." he whispered as he lead and Charlie lead the others towards the renovated Wonka Wash.