Charlie Bucket looked up from his mountain of paperwork. He’d figured out why he’d been chosen by Willy ten years ago to take over the factory, Charlie was a details oriented person, as well as someone who could appreciate the finer aspects of candy making and invention. He’d been under Slugworth’s tutelage since he joined the Wonka factory, and just two years ago he’d been made CEO in a small private affair.

Under Slugworth he learned all the things necessary to run a major company, and when he’d mastered that, Wonka would teach him the magic of invention and candy making. Slugworth was on a vacation right now, and Wonka was on one of his various sabbaticals to countries that no one had ever heard of. His own parents and grandparents were at various vacations and spas around the world, living off the vast fortune Charlie had access to. All except Grampa Joe; since he didn’t take any of the pills to restore his youth, he had died shortly after Charlie had become CEO. He missed him terribly, but they all respected his decision. Now though he had some unpleasant business to attend to, but their conclusions would be most satisfying.

On his desk he had out files on four people that had been the principal instigators in recent troubles for the company. That disaster comes in threes, wasn’t accurate, for him disaster was a quadruple threat. First was Larry Jackson, a young teamster union negotiator. He was responsible for strikes and intimidation against Wonka and his secret work force of Oompa Loompas. Charlie eventually worked out a shipping arrangement with Larry and the teamsters, but the grief that he’d been given required an appropriate response.

The next was Fauna Moonsilver. Some hippy environmental whack job who claimed that the sky was falling, and that the Chocolate Factory was mostly responsible for it. Her threatened lawsuits and public appearances and boycotts had cost him considerable money and patience. In the end he agreed to give a large donation to her cause as well as provide scientific equipment for their studies.

Third was Monty Shlick, a lawyer that made even Slugworth proud and disgusted at the same time. He was responsible for opening a class action lawsuit against the Factory and several major fast food companies, blaming them for the nation’s obesity problem. The judge threw it out, but the door had been opened, and there were certain to be future lawsuits, unless possibly Shlick was unable to lead the charge.

Finally there was Emma Narter. She was a writer and investigative reporter. She was potentially the most dangerous of them all. She was just starting to write a book, which tried to piece together what really happened to the children that went into the Chocolate Factory, and why they came out so…different. She had managed to get interviews with some of those close to the children who are now grown up like Charlie.

Wonka thought he was like Teflon, but he wasn’t. That contract they signed with Narter didn’t cover every contingency, and this Emma had found a way to break the silence. There was one person she had almost no reliable information on, ironically this was the one who had broken the contract almost immediately and tried spilling the beans. Once she somehow secured that interview, the Chocolate Factory would be sunk. Charlie had plugged quite a few of the leaks from that first day in the factory more than ten years ago, tonight though would be the last leak plugged.

He looked at the monitors above his desk. Around the country right now were special teams of Oompa Loompas. He called them his trash collectors, and they were good at their job. They resisted the urge to sing, they worked in pairs and could effectively make people or things disappear with any number of well meaning, but crazy Wonka inventions. Tonight each team was a pair of Loompas, one standing on the shoulders of the other and covered in a trench coat. The one on top had a special camera, they finally fixed it and reduced it down in size to be useful, and it could transport things via TV waves. The Loompas were in place, each waiting for their designated target.

Larry was coming out of his girlfriend’s apartment and heading home to his wife when he was approached by a tall man with his hat down and collar up, holding what looked like a camcorder that suddenly flashed.

Fauna was leaving a meeting where she had planned her next protest. Waiting at the door to the coffee shop was a strange man holding a camcorder, she thought she saw a wisp of green hair before there was a brilliant flash.

Monty was entering his apartment after a hard day of gouging companies. The door to the apartment behind him suddenly opened and as he turned he only saw a bright flash.

Emma was at her home, going over the evidence she had gathered regarding the Beauregard family, and how they and so many of their acquaintances had disappeared. One by one, all gone, any that were there at the Factory, plus anyone who may have spoken to them. News stories suppressed, altered or just disappearing. The only thing she heard about was that supposedly there was one investigation into the disappearance of Violet’s long time gum chewing rival, she disappeared without a trace like the others, and supposedly her bedroom was drenched in blueberry juice.

She had heard quiet and unsubstantiated rumors that others had vanished under similar circumstances. No valid sources could confirm it though, and she received little cooperation from anyone. It all pointed to something nasty though going on in the Chocolate Factory. Her doorbell rang and she went to it and looked through the peephole. She was very surprised when she saw a leering orange-faced green haired man staring back at her. She was even more surprised when she heard the mail slot near her knees open up followed by a brilliant flash.

All of the Oompa Loompas in the field reported their success, and Charlie told them to come back to the Factory. Each pair then put the first camera away and pulled out a second one. The second one they placed on the ground near them and set the timer, then hurriedly got into place in front of its field of view. A few seconds later a flash went off and the pairs were gone, transporting back to the Factory on TV waves. The camera was the disposable variety, and only had the power for one shot before it began to disintegrate. Four troublemakers were about to learn that when you kicked this Bucket, you got kicked back.

Charlie took the Glass Elevator to the TV room where all had been assembled. Once there he saw the four pairs of Oompa Loompas exiting an enormous TV screen, the size of an entire wall. They were normal sized (for Oompa Loompas) and were shedding their disguises and putting back on their normal attire.

Wonka was so impractical at times. He was willing to spend millions developing some kind of new and special TV to allow things transmitted by the camera to come back in their normal size. It was Charlie who pointed out that if they used a bigger TV it would probably do the trick, and he was right. It was far too big (about the size of a movie theater screen) to be practical for home use, but was invaluable for jobs such as these.

The targets for tonight though were not normal sized though, they had been projected to a normal size TV using different wavelengths. They were all gathered on a table where their TV had been before some Oompa Loompas had removed it. They were perhaps six inches tall apiece and were quite confused at the moment. Each of them knew the other in a roundabout way, due to their respective actions against Charlie. But none had an idea of how they got here, what had happened to them, and what was in store for them. They all quaked in fear though as the giant Charlie loomed into view. They wanted to run, but didn’t dare, as the table was so high to them they would probably get killed if they fell off it.

Charlie loved moments like these, just as Willy Wonka himself did. He saw them all huddling together, squeaking impotently in fear as he approached, they had no idea what he had in store for them but they all deserved it very richly. The table came up to his waist only, and he towered above his shrunken persecutors. Oompa Loompas gathered around quietly, waiting for his orders. Unlike Wonka, Charlie hated their singing, and forbade them from doing it in his presence.

“Well, well.” Said Charlie, knowing his voice must sound like he was using a megaphone to their tiny ears.

“Four naughty little people, trying to end the Chocolate Factory. Trying to destroy a man whose only desire is to bring sweetness to people in such a bitter world. Trying to put the Candyman out of business. Shame, shame, shame. Well…” Charlie paused and leaned forward, directing his ear at the diminutive people. “Yes?”

“What are you going to do to us?!” squeaked Emma. Of all those here, she probably knew the most of what Charlie and Willy Wonka could do to a person.

“Well now that would be telling. Let’s leave it at this; I’ve got a special treat for all of you. Now then, let’s get started. Hmmm…we’ll start with you Larry.” said Charlie as he reached his hand toward them.

Larry broke and ran from the rest as Charlie’s enormous hand loomed over him. It was no use though; Larry was easily cornered and picked up by Charlie. He handed him to a waiting Oompa Loompa, who gingerly held him in both hands.

“Transport him to the loading bay, and bring him back to normal size, give him the Taffy treatment, and dress him accordingly. I’ll be there in just a bit.”

He then turned to Fauna. “You’re next Chicken Little,” he said as he reached down for her. She clung to Monty Schlick, who was desperately trying to pry her off of him, but Charlie had no problem separating them, and handing her to the next waiting Oompa Loompa.

“Bring her to the green house, and give her the Taffy treatment also. Don’t put her back to normal size though, and put her in that outfit I had laid out.” The Oompa Loompa took her away, her protesting shrieks fading as he walked out of the room.

“Now, let’s see, who’s next. The muckraker or the bottom feeder? I think I’ll go with the bottom feeder. You do know the difference between lawyers and bottom feeders don’t you Monty? Bottom feeders don’t eat their young. C’mere now. That’s it.” said Charlie.

He needed to use both hands to catch him, one to corral him to a corner, and the other to pick him up. He was wriggling like crazy, but there was no way he’d squirm out of Charlie’s hands. He handed him to another Oompa Loompa.

“Take him to the storage area next to the Candyland. Give him a dose of the new candy we developed, and put the receiver in him. Oh, and bring him back to normal size also.” The Oompa Loompa nodded and walked off, cupping his hands over the lawyer to make sure he didn’t get away.

“And last but certainly not least, Emma. Emma, Emma, Emma. The truth unfortunately will not set you free. No, the truth is definitely not your friend here. Digging up dirt on me and Willy, trying to expose our organization. You kept looking, kept trying to figure out what happened to Violet, what happened to her friends, her family. You’re soon going to find out.”

He reached down and picked her up easily, she seemed resigned to her fate. An Oompa Loompa was ready and waiting for his instructions. “Bring her back to normal size, and take her to the juicing room.”

The Oompa Loompa nodded and carried her off. Charlie smiled and rubbed his hands as he headed for the Glass Elevator.

The trip to the loading area was brief, thanks to how fast the Elevator was. The loading bay was typically the closest area of the Factory to the outside world. Assembled there were a small troop of Oompa Loompas, holding various lines attached to Larry. Larry was a young black man, in his early thirties. The position of Union negotiator for the teamsters was his steppingstone for what he hoped would be a brilliant political career.

Larry Jackson saw potential for the Presidency in himself, but Charlie was about to bring those dreams to an abrupt end. He was back to normal size and dressed in a form fitting one-piece silver outfit that covered everything but his head and neck, his hands and feet. This outfit was soaked in his special Taffy treatment chemical, and was right now changing the resilience and elasticity of Larry’s body. It was a gradual process; as long as he was in it his body would become more and more pliant and stretchy. It also made the muscles weak and soft. His struggles were ineffectual and weakening already as what looked like a flatbed truck was backed up to where they were. On top of the flatbed seemed to be some kind of strange steel framework that extended the length of the trailer. At the corners of the framework were powered winches and at the center of the back of the trailer was what looked to be the tail end of a chemical trailer, complete with a port to load and unload its cargo.

“You won’t get away with this Bucket, whatever it is you’re going to do!” shouted Larry; his struggles were changing from trying to escape, to merely trying to stand on his own power. His limbs seemed to be melting, becoming flabby and sagging.

“I wonder if Hoffa said the same thing.” chuckled Charlie. An Oompa Loompa came forward holding a silvery looking valve in one hand and a spray bottle with a thin straw attached to the nozzle in the other hand. Charlie took the valve and approached Larry. Meanwhile an Oompa Loompa stood to either side of Larry on stepladders, and they grabbed his head and held it securely, forcing open his mouth.

“I’ve heard enough of your garbage to last a lifetime. All your talk of brotherhood, all your talk of caring about workers, all of your lies. You never cared about them, about the people you were going to be putting out of work. It was all about getting more dues, and using me as a steppingstone on your career. You never worked a day in your life, but now you’ll get to be an integral part in Wonka’s new shipping program. I’ll be sending out tractor-trailers of our famous milk chocolate, and you’ll be part of the new fleet of trucks. Say ‘aah’…” said Charlie as he pushed the silvery valve into Larry’s mouth and then partway down his throat.

Larry gagged and sputtered but to no use. Once he had it in as far as it needed to go he pressed Larry’s lips around it with the help of the Oompa Loompas. While Larry was secured like that Charlie took the spray bottle and quickly but carefully directed a stream of liquid from the can to Larry’s lips and the protruding valve, neatly avoiding anyone’s fingers. They held him for a moment or two longer and then released his head. Larry immediately tried to spit out the valve but found that he was unable to, it seemed it was glued to his lips. His breath snorted and whistled and moaned out of his nostrils, but not a peep escaped his lips.

“Wrack him.” Said Charlie, stepping back to watch the show. The Oompa Loompas quickly dragged the visibly sagging union leader onto the flatbed near the end where the portal was. Using stepladders again they forced his head into the small chamber where liquid payloads would be loaded and unloaded. This meant his head was bent forward to stare at the ground about eight feet below, and his feet dangled inches above the floor of the trailer. His head twisted and turned, and you could still hear noises coming from his nose rather than his mouth, but his body, except for his hands and feet, could only twitch rubberly.

Once his head was secure they brought the trailing lines on his wrists and ankles to the winches at the four corners of the trailer and fed them into the mechanism, there was plenty of slack though, so he still hung impotently, his hands and feet clenching and flexing to no avail. There was a sudden grinding-whirring sound as the winches nearly parallel to his head, the ones attached to his hands, came to life.

At first it was just gradually taking up the slack in the lines, then it started to speed up a bit. Larry’s arms started to rise with the lines and soon were straight out from his body as the last of the slack was taken. Then after a brief pause, and some consternation on the face of Larry, his arms began to stretch. Slowly they lengthened, going from beyond his normal height of a little over six feet, to over seven feet, then eight feet. The winches finally stopped when the manacles attached to Larry’s wrists came into contact with them. His arms, from fingertip to fingertip, were close to nine feet! He hung suspended now not from his neck but his over stretched arms.

This brought some comfort to Larry, but also brought on fresh grunts and moans as he contemplated what was happening to him. Then the winches at the far end of the flat bed started. There was less slack in these lines, so the effect on Larry was almost immediate. His body started quickly rising to a position where he was suspended parallel to the floor of the trailer, and then the winches started pulling harder, judging by the strain of their engines. First his legs, then his midsection and torso, then finally his arms again, all started stretching to meet the mechanical demands of the winches. His entire body was lengthening and stretching, thinning out as he was literally pulled from one end of the trailer to the other, some 35 feet away. Larry’s eyes were screwed shut in discomfort and disbelief as a long keening whistle came out of his flaring nostrils.

Charlie watched with fascination and approval. He knew it wasn’t the most comfortable experience, but Larry shouldn’t be in real pain from this. He watched intently as slowly but surely Larry was stretched like a rubber band the length of the truck. Other Oompa Loompas were busy also, they had set up cameras from different angles and put a monitor in Larry’s sight so he could see and appreciate all that was happening to him. Eventually the cuffs on Larry’s ankles reached the winches too, and Larry was stretched out more than 35 feet, and his body thrummed like a guitar string.

“OK, phase two.” Said Charlie. A crane was wheeled next to the flat bed, and chains were attached to the end where Larry’s head was. During the time it took to wheel the crane into place Larry’s stretched out body seemed to visibly sag again as it compensated for this grotesque use of it. Once the cables were in place the crane lifted up, tilting the frame upwards and upwards until Larry was once again fully upright, his torso slumping further toward the ground because of gravity, and his arms stretching even more. Eventually the frame was lifted off the flatbed completely, and it was driven away, to be replaced by a new flatbed truck, this one with a huge metal cylinder standing on the end nearest the tractor pulling it.

Larry’s frame was lifted higher and higher until he was suspended directly over the top of the cylinder, which was open. Then engines were reversed, and Larry began to descend into it, the frames making whispered squeaks as it scraped gently on the tube. Eventually Larry’s rubbery body disappeared from view as the top where his head was secured sunk into the cylinder and sealed the whole thing shut with a hiss. Then there was heard the powerful sound of hydraulics as the cylinder started to be lowered from an upright position to a horizontal one. The whole process took a little over ten minutes, but finally, what to all the world looked like an ordinary liquid cargo truck was produced, complete with the Wonka logo painted on the sides of it in brilliant colors.

If one looked at the back though, they would see a rather ridiculous sight, Larry’s head sticking out of the loading aperture with a silver valve in his mouth, his nostrils huffing and puffing and producing all kinds of noises. The Oompa Loompas flicked a switch on the monitor and the cameras changed their view to the miniature cameras inside the trailer. There you could see Larry’s stretched and thin silver clad body, sagging in his restraints as he became more and more pliable.

“Now then, let’s load up this bad boy!” said Charlie as a hose connecting to a far wall was dragged over to them. A second section of hose was brought forward first though, this one had a small container of perhaps a gallon of clear liquid attached to it, and it was handed up to an Oompa Loompa that was standing on a stepladder near Larry’s head. The attachment of the hose was quickly affixed to the valve aperture jutting from Larry’s mouth.

“This will seal up your innards so that the cargo doesn’t get contaminated while it’s inside you.” Charlie said matter-of-factly. The Oompa Loompa flicked the switch despite the nearly silent entreaties and protests coming from Larry. There was a quick intake of air through Larry’s nose as a gallon of liquid was propelled down his gullet at high speed. Those watching the monitor saw a ripple pass along Larry’s body that traveled al the way to his hips, and briefly run back up towards Larry’s head. Larry’s eyes were screwed shut so he missed it, but Charlie watched with satisfactions and anticipation. The hose was detached as the next one was brought up. It was thick and sturdy as a fire hose, and a steady stream of liquid chocolate was dripping from the end of it.

“It’s too bad you’ll never get to taste this, when our chocolate is still liquid it’s the best in the world. That’s why we ship it like this, it tastes best this way. And just think, it’ll be union drivers delivering it! You made this possible! OK, start pumping,” said Charlie as the hose was attached to the valve.

At the far end of the room at the wall where the hose originated from stood an Oompa Loompa waiting for a signal to turn an ominous looking wheel by the junction to the hose and the wall. Once the hose was attached, he received a wave from the Oompa Loompa on the stepladder, and he turned the wheel with a grunt of effort.

There was enough pressure in the hose to make it the equal of a real fire hose, and all could see that as pressurized liquid chocolate surged through it. Any wrinkles or kinks in the hose were almost instantly smoothed out as the flaccid hose suddenly became rigid and round with the liquid rushing through it. It was agonizing milliseconds for all those watching as the deluge raced from the wall to Larry’s unwilling body. Finally the initial blast forced its way through the narrow valve in Larry’s mouth to his stretched out vessel of a body with amazing results.

The first thing that happened was that Larry’s neck and torso swelled and became rigid with pressure much like the hose did, then a huge wave of liquid chocolate rushed from Larry’s neck all the way to his ankles, a bloated bulge that deformed Larry’s body into nothing remotely human looking. His legs stretched downwards under the immense weight of so much chocolate entering his body so fast, and then rolled forward, pulling his midsection then torso down also, eventually so they rested on the rounded floor of the trailer.

There was still a straight line though from his neck to his feet, as the pressure was so intense it was able to keep most of his body horizontal, it was the side of his body facing the floor that was being stretched and bloated by the massive influx of liquid. Larry’s eyes had closed just before the chocolate reached his mouth, but after that initial blast, he had his eyes opened, and couldn’t turn away from the monitors, as he watched with sick fascination the virtual destruction of him, his transformation from truck union representative, to truck cargo bay.

As the hose kept pumping, more and more of his body was dragged to the bottom of the truck, where it lay and bloated and swelled. His arms and legs and neck were stretched long as the main portion of his body filled up, like a long sausage, or a clown’s balloon. Even with the intense pressure of the hose though, it would still take awhile for it to pump the thousands of gallons necessary to fill the truck adequately. The chocolate rushed into him, billowing the loose flesh all the way back to his legs, and then pooling into the central portion of Larry’s body, as he continued to get larger.

Soon his arms and legs didn’t seem to be as stretched out, as his body grew both around and in length, the deepest portion of him was probably more than four feet in diameter, and getting wider by the minute. As his body took on more and more chocolate, he steadily began to fill the enormous tank he was secured in. His arms and legs also began to fill with fluid as his body spread, and the liquid sought every last nook and cranny for it be stored. No one said a word; even Larry was quiet except for the huffing and puffing he was doing through his nose.

The tank was more than half filled, and Larry’s body was taking on a more proper shape for a stretchy vessel of liquid. There was nothing more inside the tank that remotely suggested that of a human form, just a growing silvery blob, and at the farthest corners, you might glimpse a futilely struggling hand or foot.

All told it took thirty more minutes to fill the cargo bay completely, and then another ten to bring it to the pressure that was desired. Larry’s face was red and sweating from the strain, but he was holding it all, thousands and thousands of the richest and most delicious chocolate in the world. No one but they knew that he was in there, the cameras no longer functioned; they had been first blocked then crushed by his enormous bulk. The hose was finally turned off, and after a few seconds the last drops were agonizingly pumped in. The hose was detached, and despite his fervent hopes, the valve held, and not a drop escaped him. Another metal framework was being attached around Larry’s protruding head, and he tried to see what was going on.

“Well Larry, that about wraps things up, I have other things to take care of. This little attachment will keep others from seeing just what they’re hooking into when they unload the chocolate. I’ll be using you for a while in this format, get you good and stretched out. After a year or so we’ll have ready the flagship in our new line of supertanker barges! That’s right! We’ll be shipping our liquid chocolate across the ocean that way, should be able to hold about a hundred or more times the amount of chocolate you have in you now.”

Larry’s eyes almost popped out of his head at that as the final seal was closed on the attachment, concealing him from the outside world, he felt the valve shift in his mouth as the aperture was poked through the concealing steel, so that he could be deflated and pumped up again, and again, and again. He heard a grinding sound as the truck was put into motion, and then felt his whole body move like a wave as the truck surged forward toward his destination.

Charlie took the elevator now to the green house, where Willy grew most of his exotic plants and ingredients. It was night now, but lights and fluorescents were on as he stepped out of the elevator and headed toward the two Oompa Loompas guarding the still shrunken Fauna. She was dressed now in a rainbow colored and tie-dyed one-piece outfit that covered her entire body except her hands and feet. This outfit too was soaked in the taffy treatment chemicals, but her suit had a version that made the body just a touch more resilient to stretching. Nearby were several sealed bottles of brightly labeled Fizzy-Lifting Drinks. Charlie groaned inwardly at his own misadventures with those as he approached.

The Oompa Loompas had her trapped in a box that she couldn’t possibly climb out of, and muffled squeaks came out of her mouth, as if she somehow couldn’t speak. Before Charlie arrived the Oompa Loompas had carefully inserted an internal version of the valve they used on Larry. It was stuck to the back of her throat and allowed her to breathe through her nose only, anything that passed through it via her mouth was on a one-way trip. Charlie came into her terrified view as she waited for nearly half an hour to find out what he was going to do to her.

“My little activist. Don’t you look sweet, I could just eat you up!”

She squeaked again in fear as Charlie chuckled.

“No, no, just kidding. I don’t eat vegans. No, I have something to add to your so-called ‘cause’. I already made a large deposit into your favorite fund, which is apparently you, and I’ll be adding data to what your lame-brained college-drop out scientists will be collecting on the atmosphere. Just like we agreed right? Biggest bunch of garbage since the Kyoto Accord.” He snapped, exasperated at how much work he had to do, how many hoops he had to jump through to satisfy this little idiot who got it in her head that he was the source of all the world’s air pollution.

“Well, let’s get started, my other guests are waiting.” One of the Oompa Loompas picked up one of the bottles and attached a thin tube near the bottom of it. He took the other end of the tube and reached for Fauna, who did her best to avoid his grasp, but to no avail. Once he had her he gently squeezed, causing her mouth to open, and he shoved the tube in, until a click could be heard coming from inside her tiny throat. He tugged it gently just to make sure it was secured and then nodded to Charlie and handed him the bottle.

“Ah, one of my favorite products, it’s too bad we never quite got this fixed. You’re about to become part of my latest science project you little twit! Isn’t that exciting?” he said as he twisted open the bottle top. There was a slight pop, and then a bit of a whoosh, as the change in pressure at the top of the bottle forced the liquid down the small tube and into Fauna’s tiny wriggling body. Initially there was no change, but the pressure continued to force its way down and finally started swelling her up like a ball. The bottle was about twelve ounces, and was almost twice as tall as her, but it was emptied very quickly, as Fauna changed shape from a young woman to a brightly colored formless water balloon. Her body was spherical, but sloshed and swished with the liquid in it. The Oompa Loompa still had her in his hands, and when the bottle was emptied Charlie unhooked the tube from the base of the bottle and into the next one. Not wasting any time except to savor the desperate look on Fauna’s face he opened the next one.

Now that her body had been stretched a bit, the flow was even faster. Her eyes were bulging out as her arms and legs were rapidly absorbed into the formless mass of her swelling body, her hands and feet flapping and gyrating. She was now a good and proper size for a water balloon, thought Charlie as the Oompa Loompa carefully laid her onto the table before she outgrew his hands. She spread and flattened out on the table a bit as her body changed to conform to gravity. Charlie couldn’t resist, and playfully patted her midsection, loving the way it made a slapping bubbling sound, and he also loved the way her body quivered as he did so.

“How about another? Don’t mind if I do!” said Charlie as he hooked up the next bottle. He wasted no time; he wanted to get all of it in her before it turned to gas. He opened the top and watched with satisfaction as she swelled up still more with the influx of bubbly liquid. The last traces of her human looking form was erased as her elasticity began to run out and she became more and more of a tightly filled ball of liquid.

She was perhaps the size of a basketball now, and he could hear some bubbling coming from within. He had one more bottle though, and he meant to get it in her! He quickly hooked up the last bottle and then slammed the base hard onto the table, making her body jiggle and quake, and then he opened the top. The extra agitation caused some to overflow the top of the bottle, but most of it rushed down through the tube even faster, stretching her over filled body even more. By the time it was empty she was quivering with the pressure from four full bottles of the drink, and she rivaled a ripe watermelon in size.

The Oompa Loompa twisted the tube in her mouth slightly, causing the valve in her throat to release it. Unfortunately for Fauna, none of the Fizzy Lifting Drink was allowed out of the valve, and she began to hear more intense bubbling coming from inside her spherical and quivering body. The Oompa Loompa quickly attached a thin line through some loops on her taut and colorful uniform. Just in time too.

No sooner had the lines been attached to a clamp secured to the floor when poor Fauna started floating. She squeaked as she suddenly rose up off the table to an upright position, the liquid in her sloshing ominously. She wobbled to and fro in the air as the liquid kept shifting and swirling and bubbling in her.

“Amazing stuff isn’t it? It’s got incredible lifting power, we’ve diluted it a bit so you don’t go flying off into space, but you still got quite a lot in you. You see it dissolves when it’s in someone’s body and releases a gas that’s incredibly light. I found out the hard way how light it was. Me and Grampa Joe only saved ourselves by burping. You however won’t be so lucky. Since you can’t burp, you can guess where all that gas is going to go.”

Fauna knew already, as she felt the incredible need to burp but was unable to due to the valve. The pressure was building and building at her throat until she thought she was going to pop, and her body started quaking, then finally she swelled even more! The immediate need for burping was gone, at the expense of further bloating. She could already feel the next one coming though, faster than before! A wave of pressure hit her as she tried desperately to release it in a belch, but instead she got still wider.

Charlie watched with fascination. He wasn’t 100% certain that this would work, but there was no denying it now. She was inflating more with each burp she couldn’t express, growing from beyond the watermelon to beach ball size and more. She was completely round also, and she looked so cute with her head and hands and feet sticking out ridiculously from her swollen form. He had some fun and decided to speed the process by agitating the liquid in her. He started by first patting her body a little roughly, causing her to sway on her tether, then he swatted her a bit harder, then finally he was using her similar to a child with a punching balloon, the vigorous motion causing the liquid to fizz with greater speed, and she grew larger with each smack. Soon she was well beyond beach ball sized and beginning to rival first the Oompa Loompas then Charlie in size, rather impressive since she started out at less than six inches tall. Her extremities though stayed the same size, no matter how big she got she’d keep the head and hands and feet of a toy.

The bubbling finally stopped when she was more than six feet in diameter, her body was tight as a drum from all the pressure, but the last of the Fizzy Lifting Drinks were used up inside her.

“Ah, done I see. Good, well you’re about the size now of a standard weather balloon, and I’ll soon use you like one. Think about it, you’ll get a chance to see the world! Fly everywhere the wind takes you. All the while carrying this transmitter which will collect data and send it back to your goofball friends.” Said Charlie as he held up a black plastic box about the size of a pack of cigarettes. He clipped it onto the line that was tethering her to the floor. Meanwhile, one of the Oompa Loompas was using a crank to open up the roof above her, exposing the clear night sky.

“Well, Bon Voyage Fauna, I hope you enjoy the trip!” said Charlie as he unhooked the clasp beneath the black box. The line separated with a snap and the inflated Fauna immediately began floating upwards at a rapid pace, clearing the roof with one final squeak that Charlie could barely hear. He slightly envied her, he’d like to be able to get away from it all and fly like a bird. He wistfully remembered one more time his own experiments with the drink. It was quite a sensation as he recalled. He sighed and headed back to the elevator.

Now for the lawyer, thought Charlie as he punched in his destination on the elevator console. In a few moments he was there, a large and empty storage chamber, and he saw the pasty white, slightly over weight lawyer, clad only in his boxers, struggling against a small army of Oompa Loompas who were holding him down. It was in vain though; ten Oompa Loompas were more than a match for an out of shape middle aged lawyer. He walked up to the mass of them so he could address Monty.

“Councilor? Councilor! Order please, all this struggling is so unnecessary. You’re not going anywhere. I trust that you’ve already sampled the new candy I developed.”

Several Oompa Loompas nodded grimly to confirm this. “Excellent. Well you’ll be pleased to know that I solved that so called obesity problem you sued me about. Yes, that candy would solve all the problems of it. I’m not sure if you’ll care for the solution though. You see it just takes away all of the problems with obesity, no more problems, and no more limits either. That’s right, no limit to how fat one can get, hundreds, thousands of pounds even. Of course I haven’t quite tested it yet, but that’s where you come in. Since you championed this cause, you’ll be the first to benefit from it.”

Charlie pulled a remote from his pocket and pointed it at a wall nearby, the wall faded from view and became completely transparent, revealing a lush garden, a cornucopia of sweetness; candy growing on trees, running in a chocolate river, falling from cotton candy clouds, the very ground itself, everything was candy and delicious. The lawyer stopped his struggles as he marveled at the sight, but came back to his senses after a moment or two.

“What are you going to do, force-feed me that?” he asked scornfully. Charlie laughed, he laughed long and loud. The Oompa Loompas laughed too, they were all laughing except for Monty, who was beginning to sweat from the struggling and his own fear.

Charlie finally managed to control himself.

“No, no, I wouldn’t waste my candy on you. No, you see this is part of a settlement offer for the children who you got to join on your class action suit. Unlike you I have a real cure for their problem, and it’s not a lawsuit. They agreed to drop the suit, if I could help them get thin, and I threw in the added benefit of letting them into my Candyland. Oops, there they are now!” said Charlie as double doors opened on the far wall of the candy garden. Streams of children began pouring in, some as young as three or four, others as old as fifteen and sixteen.

There seemed to be no end to them, but Monty knew them all, and had convinced all of them and their parents to join in his trumped up law suit. All were in various stages of obesity. Some were merely plump, whereas others were definitely very over weight, perhaps weighing as much as 400 pounds at the top end. They ran and waddled in, all wearing a glittering nametag around their neck. Their parents (many who were over weight also) with similar tags came in behind them, gaping in awe as well. In all there was perhaps 300 or so bulging children with their parents in tow ready to demolish Candyland.

“See those name tags on them? That’s the real cure. You see while they’re wearing it none of the food they eat will be stored in them, their bodies will only take the minimum amount of nutrition it needs to survive, and so their bodies burn the excess stores of fat. Eventually they’ll be down to their ideal weight.”

Monty stared aghast as a literal human feeding frenzy was occurring. Children and some adults were diving into the rich candy landscape, scarfing down vast quantities of the sugary and fattening stuff. They seemed unable to see Monty or Charlie, the window must have been one-way, but Monty doubted they would have cared, as they were so intent on gorging on the candy.

“B-but, where…where does it all go?” asked Monty as he saw all the faces stuffed with candy, their cheeks stained bright colors.

Charlie smiled as he turned to Monty; he’d been watching the festivities with some pride.

“Take a look for yourself.” He said simply, pointing to Monty’s waist. Monty looked down, no longer struggling and so the Oompa Loompas gave him some room. His belly was growing right before his eyes. His paunch was getting bigger and bigger, and his love handles more pronounced as somehow all of the candy being eaten in the next room was transmitted to him as pure fat. He looked all over himself aghast as every part of him was quickly swelling with fat and flab.

“Let him go.” said Charlie, and the Oompa Loompas let go of him completely. As Charlie suspected, he didn’t try to attack him, but instead ran to the window waving and shouting at them to stop. They didn’t hear or didn’t care though as they kept eating and eating, 300 mouths being stuffed, and everything they ate showing up on him. He was soon being dragged to the floor under his own weight as he bloated and grew fatter and fatter.

“Help him, arrange him like I showed you.” Said Charlie, and the Oompa Loompas came forward to catch him and prop him up against the wall. They had to hurry though he was growing fat so fast as Candyland was quickly emptied out, even down to the chocolate cobblestones and licorice tree bark. Charlie guessed his weight was over nine hundred pounds and still rising fast. Computer simulations showed that he’d gain more than a ton of weight from this, and he little reason to doubt that as the pounds kept adding on. It was a fascinating sight for him. Every inch of Monty’s body was swelling with fat, losing definition and becoming shapeless. He was so fat so fast that he could no longer move; he just sat there breathing loudly as he kept expanding.

Charlie was surprised at how fast Candyland was cleaned out. Even 300 people shouldn’t be able to do that, but then again, their appetites weren’t really being sated, since it was all going to Monty. Some Oompa Loompas in Candyland were leading out the colorfully stained, yet strangely unsatisfied candy eaters, giving them wet rags to clean themselves, and handing out instructions on where they could place the device that would prevent them from getting fat no matter how much they ate. For some it was a necklace charm, others got rings, earrings, or bracelets. As long as they wore it they couldn’t gain weight, and would eventually burn off their excess fat. They seemed quite happy with that.

Monty sat propped against the wall, a small hill of a man, a mound of flesh and flab. The scale in the floor told him that he was 2,367 pounds. “Now what to do with you. You see if I let you go you could honestly blame me for making you fat, and I have no desire to go to court again over this.”

Monty just sat there, sunk into his own incredibly fat body, his massive rolls of flab making it nearly impossible to make out bodily features.

“I thought I might send you to the Vermicious Kanids, they love fat people. But even they wouldn’t eat a lawyer.” Charlie chuckled at his own joke. “No, I think I’ll keep you here. You see that Candyland will all grow back in a month or so. Unfortunately after three months it begins to go bad, it leads to a lot of wasted candy. That’s why I gave all the people in your lawsuit an open invitation to come back every four months to clean the place out again, just like they did now. In between those months every thing they eat will still be sent to you, but their appetites will decrease after awhile. Once they’re all pretty much where they want to be I’ll start opening up Wonkaland Fat Camps so I can treat fat kids from all over the world. All thanks to you. It takes a real ‘big’ man to make such a difference to so many people don’t you think?” said Charlie.

Monty could only groan at the thought.

“Give him the Fizzy Lifting Drinks and take him to the larger holding area.” Said Charlie. Monty couldn’t even resist as they poured bottle after bottle down his throat until he finally started to lift off the ground, like an elephant in space. They pushed him easily through the large hole that opened in the wall. He would be taken to a much larger place lined with cushions. He’d usually be filled with the Fizzy Lifting Drinks though to make him more comfortable. As he was pulled out of sight like a parade float, Charlie entered the elevator for one last trip of the night.

Charlie came out in the juicing room. It was actually a lot bigger than it was when Willy first designed it. They needed the extra space, yet right now it looked like the floor of a bottling plant, behind one of two huge sliding doors a hose was protruding from it and led to a conveyor belt where a blue liquid came out of it, filling bottle after bottle. Behind the door a vague pneumatic hiss could be heard over and over again. The conveyor belt trailed off out of sight, presumably to be boxed and shipped out.

“Welcome to the juicing room, Emma. You’ve probably heard about it in your investigations. Probably heard what it might be meant to do also.” Emma was back to her normal size and tied to a chair in front of a TV and VCR, and she had been dressed in a one-piece outfit colored a dark blue. She still seemed resigned to her fate, though she also couldn’t resist some curiosity at finally getting the last secrets revealed.

An Oompa Loompa came forward carrying a box of materials, many of them Emma knew quite well, as they were undoubtedly taken from her office and apartment. Others though she had her suspicions of, suppressed stories and police reports, photo evidence, newspapers that never were printed for the public. Charlie took his time displaying all for her to see, story after story of someone connected to the Beauregards in some way, all mysteriously disappearing.

These stories and clippings though had another thing in common, each described a scene of a room or vehicle or ground doused in blueberry juice. Charlie took his time, wanting to make sure that it all sunk into his guest. Meanwhile bottle after bottle kept filling up with mysterious blue juice, from a room she couldn’t see into.

Finally Charlie reached the bottom of the box which had her outline, hard drive, disks, and the few printed copies she made. All went back into the box once Charlie had perused them. He handed it back to an Oompa Loompa who set it aside.

“Wh-what are you going to do to me?” said Emma finally.

“I thought it was obvious, but this should clue you in.” He pressed the Play button on the VCR and it showed a scene from more than ten years ago, the incident which Violet and her family alleged happened to her in Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory. She saw the spoiled little girl grab a piece of gum out of Willy’s hands and pop it into her mouth and begin chewing it up. She saw the excitement on her face and the terror on Wonka’s as she described in detail each flavor she experienced.

Then came the unbelievable part, the secret that seemingly so many people died to protect. Emma saw the undeniable proof that Violet turned into a giant human blueberry. She watched as the children and parents gasped in shock as she swelled and turned purple and blue. Then the Oompa Loompas taking their time rolling and bouncing on the bloated girl as they took her inexorably toward the juicing room, this very room. The tape ended.

“Mystery solved at last.” Charlie said crossing his arms on his chest.

“You killed them!” shouted Emma.

“Well, they broke the contract first. But not all of them are a blueberry stain. Violet was the first to disappear. She was my favorite you see. I couldn’t bear to think of anything happening to her. So I kept her safe and secret from everyone. Then we tested out the gum on everyone she talked to, trying to find the limits of it, and how to break those limits. We found out how on the last one. You see, once the process starts if you don’t juice them immediately they explode, as you’ve figured out by now. But if you dejuice them they’ll be OK except for the purple skin. That doesn’t do me much good though if I wanted to make a moneymaking product. There just wasn’t enough juice in them. So we tried out different things and found out that if you could prevent the explosion with the right amount of external pressure, then the body will accommodate rather than explode. Give it a little more time, and you can even give them another piece and swell them even larger. It’s not easy but we’ve perfected it as you can see.” Said Charlie as the door behind him began to rise.

At first Emma couldn’t see anything, then she saw what vaguely looked like a mass of navy blue attached to the hose. It was only when the lights were turned on in the chamber that Emma could see the whole spectacle.

It was undeniably Violet, but she was larger than she could have possibly imagined. She was so dark blue that she seemed almost black, and her size was massive, she was comparable to a zeppelin, she filled almost the entire hangar sized chamber. The hose was connected to a mask, which she presumed was attached to poor Violet’s face, her skin was so blue and her size so big, it was hard to tell where any features were. She saw where the hissing came from. Above her was a huge hydraulic press, which would periodically descend from the ceiling and push onto her forcing out huge quantities of blueberry juice into the hose.

The press would stay down for a few moments and then retract, allowing her body to almost instantly reproduce all of the juice that had just been squeezed out of her. Emma was absolutely awestruck as they all stared at her immensity. Charlie then clicked a button on the remote again, and the door in front of them began to close at the same time as Emma heard the door behind her open up.

Emma’s chair was turned around and she got to see that the chamber behind her was far larger than Violet’s was. Several times longer, taller and wider in fact. It was currently empty, but Emma had little doubt that it would soon be occupied.

“Our Blueberry Juice drinks are selling pretty well, and demand has risen to where poor little Violet just can’t keep up, she needs some help.” As he was saying this the Oompa Loompas untied her and took hold of her arms to prevent her from running and they pulled her into the empty warehouse sized room. They brought her quite a ways into it, maybe a block or more by her estimation. Charlie whistled along behind them. Emma was too shocked and terrified to offer any resistance as they turned her around to face Charlie and the doorway so far behind them. Charlie came forward and laid his hand on her shoulder, stroking the form-fitting suit they gave her.

“It’s this suit that makes it possible. It constricts at just the right moment to prevent you from exploding. Once that passes we can allow you to get bigger again. We gave Violet eleven pieces in total and she was producing excess juice on her own by the seventh. We were afraid to take her any further, because she’s so special to the Wonka Company. But now we know so much more about it, and well to be honest, you’re just a profiteering writer and muckraker. If you don’t work out as well as I hope it’s no great loss, that’s what the grates on the bottom are for.” Said Charlie pointing towards the floor. Emma looked down and indeed saw grates spread all around the floor, presumably to gather any spilled juice.

“Well no sense wasting any more time, it’s been a big and busy night.” Charlie pinched her nose shut and held up a small unwrapped cube of gum. Emma tried to hold her breath but eventually she opened her mouth and gasped, and when she did so Charlie popped it into her mouth. He then pushed a button on the remote causing the suit to respond and take over Emma’s resistant mouth and begin chewing for her. Despite her best efforts her mouth was eagerly chewing the piece of gum, which had an intense, too intense, flavor of blueberry. Her eyes widened with shock as she realized.

“You noticed. We skipped the first two courses, now it’s just the payoff, the dessert.” Said Charlie, smiling.

“It’s starting to work already.” said Charlie pointing to her exposed hands. She looked down and saw that it indeed had, the skin on her hands was rapidly turning blue then purple, and she felt bloated and flushed.

“This is my favorite part.” said Charlie as she started to swell. It started at her midsection then spread out to her entire body. Emma wanted to scream, but her mouth wouldn’t let her, she just kept methodically chewing that piece of gum, which was causing her body to swell and bloat with juice. Unlike Larry and Fauna, Violet was tight with the juice, there wasn’t any trace of her that was loose as she kept swelling and bloating.

Despite the tightness of her body she kept getting bigger and bigger, changing shape till she was almost entirely round, ovoid shaped actually, and her limbs were withdrawing quickly into her body. The Oompa Loompas had long since let go of her, as there was nowhere she could go, she was well past the ability to move. The Oompa Loompas though took her carefully and began to push her forward until she was lying on the vast expanse of her swollen body.

Soon she was resting on the broadest part of her body and she began to rumble ominously. Still she kept chewing and chewing, though her body wasn’t swelling, it was just straining at the confines of her suit, which was resisting her expansion. The pressure kept building and building, her face and hands actually getting puffy from the strain, before the pressure eased up somewhat. The suit loosened just a bit and she could breathe again after she swallowed the spent piece of gum.

Charlie already had another piece of gum ready for her and as soon as Emma opened her mouth to breathe and perhaps utter a protest, Charlie popped it in. She was already chewing furiously, and could feel its effects even sooner than the first piece. Her body was tightening again, swelling larger, the floor receding further and further from her head and her manically chewing jaws. The growth wasn’t as dramatic as the first one, but that was only because she was only growing larger, not actually changing shape. The incredible tightness came back as she was eye to eye with Charlie, making her more than ten feet wide at her center, and her body rumbled and shook again. The only one that was alarmed though was Emma, as Charlie was already unwrapping another piece for her.

When the tightness passed again, Charlie pressed a button on the remote and Emma swallowed the second piece and opened her mouth for the third. Charlie seemed just a bit bored by it now, and so while Emma was chewing and swelling again he gave instructions to the Oompa Loompas.

“I need to take care of a few things. Keep giving her a new piece of gum every time the last one stops. Let me know when we reach her absolute maximum or 30 pieces, whichever comes first.” Emma and even the Oompa Loompas were in shock at the number. 30 Pieces! She’d be as big as…as…in her fevered mind she couldn’t even comprehend how big that would be, but it was well over twice the amount given to Violet, who was probably bigger than a fully inflated blimp!

Charlie handed over the remote to one of the Oompa Loompas and then turned and walked out, waving to Emma as he reached the door. The walk was so long that the gum in her mouth was losing its flavor by the time he reached it, and she could feel that now familiar near explosive tightening in her body that came with that. The Oompa Loompas were also setting up a hydraulic lift platform to bring them up to her head and give her more gum.

Charlie returned half an hour later, when they told him that she seemed to be reaching the maximum at 27 pieces. He told them to give her one more and then wait for him. They said they weren’t sure if she could take it, but he told them to anyway, he had confidence in the suit plus the research they did. The trip from his office to the juicing room was a short one; he liked to be close to his favorite room in the whole factory. When he came in he was quite pleased with what he saw.

Nestled just out of sight of the entrance to the huge doorway, was the simply titanic Emma. The fact that her head was more than fifty feet above the ground was testament enough that she’d hold for another few. Her body was in a continuous state of juice production at this point, and even after they stopped giving her gum she’d get bigger. However even she had her limits.

Charlie stood directly in front of the doorway, her massive body was only ten yards back from it, and this warehouse was more than a mile long! She was quite simply the largest thing he’d ever seen, she was so big that whales could actually fit and swim around inside of her. He’d done a great job. He reached into his pocket, and pulled out the last two pieces of gum he had, it had taken him a year and millions of dollars to produce that much, but this was worth it. The amount of juice she could make was alone worth a fortune. But the satisfaction of pumping someone up to such an insane and ungodly size was the real payoff.

He could see that her body was swelling slowly still, he’d have to hurry and juice her before it was too late. He hopped on the elevating platform they were using. For Violet they just needed an ordinary ladder, as her head was only about 19 feet above the ground. For Emma though they needed hydraulic platforms they used to make high rises and skyscrapers. They rose quickly, Charlie was in a hurry. When they reached eye level with Emma Charlie smiled. She was even a more brilliant and deep shade of violet than Violet, and she was simply bursting with juice.

“Almost there my sweet little berry.” Said Charlie. Emma was exhausted and could barely register that Charlie stood in front of her. She was in such a state of discomfort from being so tightly packed, so full of juice. The floor spun out of her sight below her, she barely responded when Charlie put the 29th piece in her mouth. Her aching jaws again began chewing mechanically as she swelled still larger with an ominous rumbling sound. Amazingly she was getting still bigger, her head was rising above them, and her bulk was slowly pushing the lift further back. The swelling slowed but didn’t stop, as Charlie made her swallow the gum. He then raised the lift higher so he was eye level again. “Get that mask ready, she’s going to need immediate juicing. Have her pump into a reservoir just to take the pressure off, there’s no way we’ll be able to fill the bottles fast enough.”

The Oompa Loompas were worried, but they listened to Charlie, he hadn’t been wrong so far.

Charlie then took the last piece of gum and placed it in her unresisting mouth, as she began to chew one last time.

“Now!” cried Charlie “Get the mask on!” an Oompa Loompa hurried forward carrying a mask similar to Violet’s with a hose trailing to the floor, now some 75 feet to the floor. Her swelling was more dramatic and dangerous sounding than before and she grew larger and larger. Charlie took the controls of the lift and backed them away from her and out of the doorway altogether just to be sure. Even Charlie was worried though. She was getting so big with each chew. Looking up he saw that her enormous body had almost reached the hydraulic press on the ceiling, and she couldn’t get much bigger. The rumbling increased, and they all could see the strain on both Emma’s face and the suit she wore.

“Just a little longer…just a little bit…” said Charlie. He had to time this perfectly, if he waited too long, the explosion could take out the entire factory.

“Almost…almost…just wait…wait…” groans and rumbling as well as burbling were coming from the humongous woman. “Almost…almost…NOW!” yelled Charlie as he stabbed the buttons on the remote with his finger. Emma swallowed the gum just as her back began to brush the ceiling of the room. At the same time the ceiling started lowering with inexorable force, pressing on the dangerously bloated woman, pushing the juice to all sides of her. The suit was strained to its utmost…but held.

Juice started flowing in tremendous quantities from Emma’s mouth and down the hose into a huge reservoir the size of a backyard swimming pool. The force was strong enough to peel paint off the walls and the pool was rapidly being filled with each new blast of juice. They had a second reservoir ready just in case. They needed to take the edge off her, give her body a chance to accommodate such an unbelievable amount of juice. Soon though she’d be out of danger, and they could start bottling the new juice.

Charlie was quite pleased with himself; he’d taken care of four major pains in the neck, and made himself quite a profit by doing so. Emma he was especially proud of. He’d probably have to raise the ceiling a bit, and he doubted that they’d get the door closed judging by the way she was partially bulging out of it, but that would come in time. One of the Oompa Loompas handed him a ladle full of freshly squeezed blueberry juice. He took a sip and it was some of the most satisfying stuff he ever tasted.