Someone made the comment about how this makes them think of the CatCF video game. That's because I am incorporating parts of the game in this story. Good catch; you'll be seeing more of it in this chapter.
Also emeraldphan – Hey, haven't seen you in a while, welcome back, dude.
The boat was rowed leisurely along the chocolate river for the children to get another look at the room. Selena sat at the back, humming jauntily.
"I want a boat just like this," Veruca said. "A big boat made out of a giant boiled sweet."
"And I wanna kick your can 'cause you're vexing me so much and the world'd want me to," Selena sang quietly.
The children turned to her. Veruca was glaring in her direction.
"What are you singing?" asked Violet.
"The candy man can 'cause he mixes it with love and makes the world taste good," Selena sang a bit louder. "You never heard that song?"
"No."
"Never heard of it."
"What a dumb song."
Selena narrowed her eyes at them and sat back.
"I thought it was a nice song," Charlie said quietly.
Selena's expression switched to a bright smile. "Why thank you, Charlie."
The boat turned and headed for a dark tunnel.
"Full speed ahead," ordered Selena.
The drummer at the front picked up his tempo and the Oompa-Loompas rowed faster. The boat slipped into the darkness.
"How can they see where they're going?" asked Violet.
"They can't," Selena replied with a wide smile. "There's no knowing where we're going. Lights!"
The tunnel lit up a split second before the boat lurched forward and careened down the river. Chocolate splashed along the metal walls and against the boat, the fast current carrying them quickly along. The chocolate evened out and the boat slowed down.
"If you have not already noticed, the chocolate river runs under the factory," said Selena. "Right now, we are passing some important rooms right now."
Charlie read off the signs on the doors. "Clotted cream, coffee cream, hair cream."
"What do you use hair cream for?" Mike asked derisively.
Selena turned to him. "Uh, this doesn't stay like this naturally." She patted at her curls. "You have any idea how fried your hair can get doing this? I need something to lock in the moisture."
Mike wrinkled his nose and faced forward.
A cow mooed and whips snapped. To the side was a cow suspended in sling and several Oompa-Loompas were snapping whips at it.
"Whipped cream," Charlie said with a smile.
"Precisely," said Selena.
"That doesn't make any sense," said Veruca.
Selena turned to the girl. "For your information, whipped cream isn't whipped cream unless it's been whipped with whips. That other stuff you get is whisked cream, not whipped cream."
"Does it hurt the cow?" asked Augustus.
"It's more noise than anything," Selena replied. "The real work starts after the cream is collected from the cow."
The current picked up again and they went flying by several other rooms. The boat was turned around a few times before it evened out again.
"Stop the boat here," said Selena, pointing to a door.
The Oompa-Loompas pulled the boat up against the dock. They all got out of the boat and Selena opened the large circular door.
"Welcome to the inventing room," said Selena. "This is the most important room in the entire factory. Without it, Willy wouldn't be where he is today. Now you may explore, but remember: no touching, no tasting, and no telling."
"No telling?" repeated Charlie.
"This is where all the recipes begin. Competitors would sell their own mothers for five minutes in here, first born for ten," said Selena.
The room looked like some mad scientist's lab, filled with all sorts of machines and chemistry sets of brightly colored liquid. Puffs of steam were released periodically from different apparatuses. Oompa-Loompas in shiny jumpsuits and goggles scurried around.
"Okay, you can all look around, but remember, no touching." Selena looked pointedly at Augustus.
The five of them ran off to look around.
Violet and Mike ran over to a vat full of water. Colorful balls were being shot into it. An Oompa-Loompa was snorkeling around, picking some off the bottom.
"Hey, Miss Selena, what's this?" Violet called.
Selena walked over. "Let me show you." She stuck her hand over the vat and the Oompa-Loompa handed a ball to her. The ball was red and a little bigger than a golf ball. "Thank you. These are Ever-Lasting Gobstoppers. They're for children who are given very little allowance money. You can suck on it all year and it won't get any smaller. At least it's not supposed to. Few more tests."
"It's like gum," said Violet.
"No," Selena corrected. "Gum is for chewing and if you tried chewing one of these, you're gonna break your teeth. And that's not very attractive."
Veruca smirked at Violet. Violet glared back.
Selena put the Gobstopper down and led them over to another part of the room. "And over here we have an assortment of products in development. Purple Fuzzy Whiz Doodles, Chocolate Covered Nuts and Bolts, Peach Kibble Cough Drops, Hair Toffee – I don't understand the purpose of that one. – Exploding Candy for Your Enemies – personal favorite."
She picked up a notecard laying on a table and skipped over to a bubbling vat.
"Willy, I'm not your secretary," she said, looking at the note.
"Do you need help with something?" asked Charlie.
"You should be checking out the inventing room, not helping me," said Selena.
"But I want to help," said Charlie.
"Fine. I need Sunny Peach Mumble and Yellow Yelling Candy Corn," said Selena. "The Mumble should be in a bottle around here somewhere."
"I'll find it!" Charlie went around the table looking for what could be Sunny Peach Mumble. He brought her back a bottle.
"Good eye, Charlie," said Selena. "And I found the candy corn. Pour that bottle in, would you?"
Charlie poured the peach contents into the vat.
Selena added the candy corn. She picked up a large mixing spoon and started stirring. "Double, double toil and trouble!" she cackled. "Ah, pity Cackling Witch Hazelnuts don't go into this. Willy likes playing mad scientist, I prefer being a witch. You know I caught him screaming 'It's alive!' when he was working on Shock Tarts."
The children stared at her.
Selena put the spoon down and pranced over to another machine. Oompa-Loompas were adding wheelbarrows of food to a hopper at the top. She gave a wide smile and pulled a lever. The machine started up, bells ringing and buzzers buzzing. It cranked and churned and bubbled and a strip of gum dispensed with a ding.
"That's it?" asked Mike, unimpressed.
"Do you even know what it is?" Selena asked, taking the strip from the machine and holding it up.
"It's gum," Violet replied plainly, chomping on her own piece of gum.
"Eh, half right, I'll give you that," said Selena. "It's the stick of the most fabulous and sensational gum in the entire world. Once it hits market, that is."
"Why?"
"It's a three course meal condensed into this little stick," said Selena. "Willy's trying his hand at reducing world hunger. This one's tomato soup, roast beef, and blueberry pie."
"It sounds great!" said Charlie.
"It sounds weird," Veruca commented.
"It sounds like my kind of gum," said Violet. She snatched the piece of Selena's hand.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Selena warned casually. "It isn't quite right yet."
Violet took her world record piece out of her mouth and stuck it behind her ear. "I'm the world record holder in chewing gum. I'm not afraid of anything!"
Selena shrugged. "I don't know how being a gum chewer has to do with not being afraid of anything, but suit yourself. Just don't say I didn't warn you."
"Violet, maybe you should listen to Fraulein Selena," Augustus said worriedly.
But Violet was already putting the stick of gum in her mouth. She gave several loud chews. "It's amazing! Tomato soup! I can feel it running down my throat!"
"I think you should spit it out," said Charlie.
Violet ignored him. "It's changing! Roast beef and baked potato – crispy skin and butter! I'm the first person in the world to have a chewing gum meal!"
Veruca fumed at Violet, puffing up her cheeks and pouting.
"Blueberry pie and ice cream!" cried Violet.
"What's happening to her nose?" asked Veruca.
A spot of blue appeared on Violet's nose.
"Her nose is turning purple," said Mike.
"What do you mean?" asked Violet, rubbing at her nose, the color spreading.
"Violet's turning violet," Augustus said. "You shouldn't have eaten that!"
Violet turned to Selena, her entire face now blue.
"I told you it wasn't quite right yet," Selena said, a grin spreading across her face. "It always goes wrong when it comes to the dessert."
"What's happening to her now?" Veruca asked.
Violet was entirely blue and was swelling up like a balloon. "Oh, I don't feel so good," she groaned.
Soon she was nothing but a large orb that towered over the other children.
Selena put her drink cup down and pulled out a pen and notepad out of nowhere. "And that makes 21," she sighed and marked down.
"21?" asked Charlie.
"21 blueberries," Selena explained, tucking away the notepad and pen. "The gum's been tested before, but Willy hasn't figured out a way to stop the blueberry pie from turning Oompa-Loompas – and now children – into blueberries."
"But I can't be a blueberry," moaned Violet. "How am I supposed to compete?"
"You can enter a county fair," Veruca suggested.
"Do they do largest blueberry?" Selena asked. "I know about pumpkins, melons, and squash, but berries were always in pie form."
Steam began hissing and machines began whistling and humming in time. The Oompa-Loompas began to gather around Violet and started to sing.
Listen close, and listen hard, the tale of Violet Beauregarde
The dreadful girl, she sees no wrong
Chewing, chewing, chewing, chewing, chewing, chewing all day long
Chewing, chewing all day long
Chewing, chewing all day long
Chewing, chewing all day long
She goes on chewing 'til at last, her chewing muscles grow so fast
And from her face her giant chin, sticks out like a violin
Chewing, chewing all day long
Chewing, chewing all day long
Chewing, chewing all day long
For years and years she chews away, her jaws get stronger every day
And with one great tremendous chew, they bite the poor girl's tongue in two
And that is why we try so hard, to save Miss Violet Beauregarde
Chewing, chewing all day long
Chewing, chewing all day long
Chewing, chewing all day long!
They rolled her across the inventing room to another door.
"What happens now?" asked Augustus.
"We have to help her," said Charlie. He turned to Selena. "Right? Just like we had to help Augustus."
"How?" asked Mike. "She's a giant blueberry. It's not like we can push a button and dump her out of a tank like him."
"There has to be a way to fix her," said Charlie.
"There is," said Selena. "She needs to be taken to the juicing room. Getting the juice out of her is the easy part. Getting her to the juicing room is going to take a bit more effort. Come along."
They followed her through the same door the Oompa-Loompas had pushed Violet through. On the other side they were waiting for Selena.
"Thank you, gentlemen. We'll take it from here," said Selena.
The Oompa-Loompas went back to the inventing room.
"The juicing room is a few halls over," explained Selena. "You four roll her there. I'll get the juicer started up."
"You're leaving us to move her by ourselves?" Mike asked incredulously.
"There's four of you. You can do it," said Selena. "Make each roll count and you'll be there in no time." She walked off, quickly disappearing in the hall.
"How are we to know where we're going?" asked Veruca.
"By the signs?" Augustus pointed up to an illuminated sign that pointed in the direction of the juicing room. Down farther was another.
"Okay, help me push," said Charlie, getting behind Violet and pushing.
The others got behind her and started pushing.
"She's heavy," strained Veruca.
Violet moaned. "Be careful. That hurts."
"This isn't working," Mike said, stepping back.
"We can't give up," Charlie told them, still trying to push. He gave it up. "We need to do it together."
"That's what we were doing," snapped Mike.
"If the Oompa-Loompas can do it, we can, too," said Charlie. "We just need to work together. Everyone, get ready to push." He set himself up to push again.
Mike, Veruca, and Augustus put their hands on Violet.
Charlie counted down, "Three, two, one, push!"
The four pushed at the same time. Violet began to roll.
"It's working! Keep going, guys!" Charlie encouraged.
They rolled Violet down the hall.
"We need to turn. Get on one side and push away from the wall."
They got her around the corner and stopped.
"Oh, no," said Veruca.
"What? What's wrong?" asked Violet.
The hall was divided up with machines on either side. There were rails to keep things back and from falling into the equipment. The width of their path was wide, but turned like a maze. The door they needed to get to was on the same side of the hall they were, but they had to get her through the room to get to it.
"We're never going to get her there," moaned Augustus. "We'll be too tired before get to the end."
Charlie looked at the railings. "Maybe. But Selena said if we can make each push count we can make it. If we give a hard enough shove, maybe we can bounce her off the railings."
Mike thought about it. "The railings are on an angle. It would be like a giant game of pinball."
"Pinball? Oh, no," groaned Violet.
"Hang on, Violet, we'll get you to the juicer," said Charlie.
With one great shove they sent her rolling across the hall. She bounced off one railing and angled into another before coming to a stop at the other side of the room. The others jogged to catch up to her.
"I think I'm gonna be sick," she groaned.
"Please don't," said Augustus.
"I think we can get her through the other door with one more shove," said Mike.
"Hopefully that's the last door," said Veruca.
They shoved Violet again and she went rolling through the door.
"There's still more!" she shouted back.
Mike huffed and Veruca and Augustus groaned. On the other side of the door there were more railings and the door on the opposite side of the room.
"We can do this in one push. We just need the right angle." Mike walked around, trying to figure out the angle exactly. He walked back. "I'll line her up and when I tell you, you push."
It took a few more moments for Mike to line up where to push Violet so she would hit the railing where she needed to.
"Okay, get ready. Push!"
Violet rolled and ricocheted off a wall and a railing before neatly rolling through the door.
"Nice job!" they heard Selena call through the door.
They followed Violet and found her at the bottom of a sloped floor. Selena was off to the side at a control panel.
"Stand back and watch," she told them. She pressed a button and a giant tube came down from the ceiling to cover Violet. She pressed another button and the machine started up. "And now we wait."
And they waited. Selena hummed and kept checking her wrist like she was wearing a watch, sipping on her drink.
There was a loud ding and the tube retreated back into the ceiling. Violet was no longer a blueberry, but her skin and hair were still blue.
"There! All done. Moving on." Selena walked around the control panel and to a door.
"That's it?" Violet cried, looking at her hands. "I'm still blue!"
"And a lovely hue, too!" Selena added.
Veruca snickered at Violet's misfortune. Violet glared at her.
"Will it ever go away?" asked Charlie.
Selena shrugged. "Eventually. Maybe. We'll see. Come along, children, come along."
They left the juicing room and continued the tour.