Well, the answer to my question has brought us to this giant Christmas cookie factory in a farther part in town. The next question is, what could the Hooded Claw possibly do to Penelope in this factory?

"That's what I was just about to ask." Said Penelope, who had been tied to the factory's long conveyor belt. "What evil plan do you have planned for me in a Christmas cookie factory?"

"Good question, Pitstop." The Hooded Claw sneered. "I'll be more than happy to tell you what evil plan I have planned for you."

"If you'll notice, you're tied to the conveyor belt of this factory, which only closed for the night no more than an hour ago." He began to explain his peril. "When I start the lever across from you, the conveyor belt will move all the way from here to a large oven, which is so hot, you'll know how chestnuts feel roasting on an open fire!"

The Hooded Claw gave an evil laugh after his explanation.

"You're starting the lever yourself?" Penelope raised her eyebrow. "Sounds too simple for someone as elaborate as you are."

"Yes, I know, Pitstop, but haven't you noticed how long this conveyor belt is?"

Penelope looked back and noticed that the conveyor belt that led to the oven was extremely long.

"It's a long journey from here, Pitstop. This should be plenty of time for your life to flash before your eyes!" The Hooded Claw laughed.

"You would try to do me in, even around Christmas, you little ole hooded Scrooge!" Penelope scowled.

"Just getting into the spirit of things is all…" The Hooded Claw smirked. "My way, that is!"

He then turned to his henchmen.

"Okay, Bully Brothers. Pull the lever!"

"Right, Claw." The Bully Brothers replied before they both pulled the lever.

From there, the conveyor belt was activated, sending Penelope on a slow, long ride to the oven.

"Sorry I can't stay to see your heart warmed by all the Christmas cheer around you!" The Hooded Claw laughed before he and the Bully Brothers turned to leave.

Oh no! Is Penelope doomed to experience how chestnuts feel roasting on an open fire? Or will the Ant Hill Mob, plus Peter Perfect find Penelope's trail in time to keep her from becoming the world's first human Christmas cookie?

At the same time, The Ant Hill Mob and Peter Perfect arrived into the part of town where Penelope was kidnapped by the Hooded Claw while getting her winter hat back.

"We'll never find her in town!" Yak-Yak giggled. "No sir-ee bob!"

"Oh yes we will!" Clyde replied. "Chuggaboom's gonna find her trail and from there, we start our search!

"I see two different sets of footprints in the snow." Peter made a new discovery. "One set belongs to a pair of oxford shoes."

"That would be the Hooded Claw." Pockets told him.

"I knew that, and the other set seems to belong to a pair of high heels." Peter kept looking at the snowy footprints.

"I think those footprints might be Penelope's!" Softy sobbed.

"Yeah, footprints…" Snoozy echoed through snores.

"If that's the case, get sniffing, Chuggaboom!" Clyde ordered Chuggaboom.

Chuggaboom started to use his super-sniffer to sniff both the Hooded Claw and Penelope's snowy footprints. After a minute of sniffing, Chuggaboom perked up, indicating that he found the trail.

"Find anything, Chuggaboom?" Zippy asked.

"Uh-huh, uh-huh!" Chuggaboom nodded.

"Good, now get going, Chuggaboom!" Clyde demanded.

"R-r-right!" Chuggaboom darted ahead on the trail to find Penelope.

And it's off to find Penelope our good guys go! Please do hurry gentlemen! Heaven only knows how much longer it'll be before Penelope reaches that oven!

Meanwhile, Penelope was halfway toward the open oven, and its flames looked rather big and ready to burn anything that went in, even humans.

"Oh dear…" Penelope started panting. "I'm not even close to that oven and already, poor little ole me feels so hot."

Just hang in there, Penelope, your favorite boys in the world have found your location.

The boys finally arrived into the part of town where Penelope was.

"Alright, you guys." Clyde told the rest of the boys. "Here's where the trail ends."

"There's no way we'll find Penelope here!" Yak-Yak chuckled.

"Don't make me put a muzzle on you, Yak-Yak!" Clyde threatened him. "We're sure to find her here somewhere."

"We'll have to stick together in order to find her, old chaps." Peter told the mob.

"I give the orders, Peter!"

"Very well, Clyde." Peter sheepishly replied.

"Stick together, men." Clyde assembled his troops. "Certain clues in town just might give us an idea on where she is."

"Right, Clyde." The rest of the mob replied.

"Look Clyde, look!" Zippy pointed to the cookie factory. "The lights of that Christmas cookie factory are on."

"It closed for the night an hour ago." Peter scratched his chin.

"Duh, maybe someone's working the, uh, night shift." Dum-Dum figured in his own stupidity.

"Night shift nothing, you Dum-Dum." Clyde figured it out. "I know what's going on."

"So do I!" Peter scowled. "I'll bet the Hooded Claw broke in there, and Penny's trapped inside!"

"Let you foil my plans?" The Hooded Claw grinned evilly as he hid behind the corner of another building. "I don't think so."

Just what do you think you're doing, Claw!?

"Nonsense, Buster." The Claw grinned. "It's not what I'm doing. It's what my men are doing to keep Penelope's men back."

He then looked up at the top of the factory where the Bully Brothers were standing and holding a fishnet and gave a signal with his hand.

"Now's your chance, Bully Brothers! Make it good!"

"Right, Claw." The Bully Brothers nodded before they threw their fishnet from the roof and onto Peter and the Ant Hill Mob.

"Hey, what the!?" Clyde shouted.

"We're trapped!" Zippy cried.

"Duh, who did this?" Dum-Dum wondered.

"The Hooded Claw, Dum-Dum." Peter frowned. "That's who."

The boys kept trying, and failing, to escape the net. It was just too strong.

"There's no way out." Softy wept. "We'll never get to Penelope!"

I fear you may be right, Softy. Our boys are trapped and Penelope's just about to become an overdone Christmas cookie.

"At last, my dreams are coming true!" The Hooded Claw laughed.

Don't get too wrapped up in your dreams, Claw! Penelope has determination written all over her face, and not to mention sweat!

Back inside, Penelope was getting closer to the hot oven. But she was not even the least bit afraid. Instead, she was struggling to remove her right boot.

Getting too hot for your boots, isn't it Penelope?

"Yes, but that's not why I'm taking off my boot! It's part of a plan. If I can just simply aim it at the lever, I can stop this here machine!"

It took Penelope some time, but after moving her right let around and pushing her boot down with her left foot, it slid halfway off her leg. From there, she aimed for the lever and flicked her right leg, sending her boot flying forward to the lever. The boot hit the lever and pushed it straight.

Penelope was not out of the woods yet. The conveyor belt was still moving.

Nice aim, Penelope! But the machine's not off yet!

"It's for reasons like this that two shoes are better than one!" Penelope removed her other boot and flicked her left leg, also causing this boot to fly forward and hit the lever, pushing it all the way back.

Double the hit! And not a moment too soon!

Once that happened, the conveyor belt stopped just in time before Penelope was about to enter the oven.

"I'm safe!" Penelope smiled, catching her breath. "Little ole me is safe!"

But she was still hot and sweaty.

"But little ole me is still hot. I have to get free and out of here. But how? I didn't bring my nail file."

All of a sudden, the door of the factory opened, causing Penelope to pause and look with wide eyes.

Oh please don't let it be the Hooded Claw!

The footsteps got closer to Penelope, making her nervous. It was not the Hooded Claw that came in. Instead, it was Peter, who felt relieved that Penelope was safe again.

Oh, it's just Peter Perfect. That sure was close.

"Oh, thank heaven you're okay." Peter took and breath.

"Peter!" Penelope smiled. "You found me!"

"All eight of us found you after Chuggaboom found your trail." Peter explained.

"I could barely hear anything over the noises in this factory, but I could've sworn I heard familiar voices shouting."

"That's because the Hooded Claw and his henchmen trapped us after we discovered he broke in here."

"And you managed to escape."

"I was growing impatient and worried sick." Peter continued to explain. "I couldn't just let some trap stop me, and I couldn't just let you get done in, so my instincts, as always, kicked in."

"I'm so glad you're here." Penelope panted. "I may have stopped the conveyor belt, but could you get me free, sugar? It's so hot in here. No one should be sweating in December.

"I'll be more than happy to, Pretty Penny." Peter said, pulling out a knife. "Just hold real still, okay?"

Peter used his knife to untie the ropes binding Penelope to the conveyor belt, and from there, he took Penelope's hand, helped her off the conveyor belt. He could tell Penelope was getting hot.

"This isn't the first time you've seen little ole me sweat." Penelope wiped her brow.

"Don't worry Penny." He held her and gave her a soft kiss on her forehead. "I'll get you outside. It might be cold but I know it'll help."

"And at least the Hooded Claw was somewhat kind enough to let me hang up my winter coat and hat, so I won't freeze."

After Penelope grabbed her winter coat and hat, Peter led her outside the factory. When they got outside, Penelope was horrified to see the Ant Hill Mob still trapped in the fish net.

Peter may have gotten free, but it appears the Ant Hill Mob still didn't have such luck.

"Oh my poor little ole dears!" Penelope bent down to see her protectors. "Oh, the Hooded Claw did this to you, didn't he?"

"None other." Clyde replied.

"Can you fellas get out?"

"We kept trying, but we just couldn't find a way out." Zippy told Penelope.

"Peter, we must save them." Peter turned to her love. "Get out the knife you used to untie me. We'll cut a hole in this net and they can climb out."

"Leave it to me, Penny." Peter took his knife back out and started working on the fish net.

"Careful, Peter." Softy wept.

"You can trust me, chaps."

IT took Peter some time, but he finally managed to cut a hole in the fish net, enabling the Mob to climb out.

Thanks to Peter Perfect, the Ant Hill Mob is free, too!

"Thanks, Peter." Clyde grinned and took a breath himself.

"We're so glad you came with us!" Softy cried.

"And I'm glad you and Penelope invited me to join you for caroling." Peter smiled. "But it is just starting to get late. We should probably head home."

"We'll head over to my place boys." Penelope told the boys. "It's only December first, so we have lots of time to do more caroling! Besides, let's not forget that I promised everyone a little ole something…"

The boys remembered.

"Hot chocolate!" They all said.

"Yes, and I have plans that I am hoping to include you boys in tomorrow! I'll tell you all about them when we get home. Let's go!"

"Right Penelope!" The men nodded.

"Blast! Foiled again." The Hooded Claw growled, before an evil smirk came to his face. "But no matter. It's only the first of December after all, so the Christmas rush isn't over. There's much more where that came from, and lots of time to get rid of that Pitstop for good!"

The Hooded Claw then laughed.

Now that our heroes are back at home, they can all unwind with some delicious hot chocolate! Where's mine?

Back at Penelope's house, Penelope, Peter, and the Ant Hill Mob were all settling down in the living room, carefully holding mugs of hot chocolate.

"This hot chocolate tastes delicious, Penelope." Dum-Dum took a sip of his hot cocoa. "You even remembered the marshmallows!"

"I agree, Dum-Dum, it is good!" Clyde also sipped his. "Penelope, if my memory serves me right, you said something about making plans tomorrow."

"Oh, yes." Penelope started to tell the boys. "Tomorrow's December 2nd, of course, so I am eager to go looking for a little ole Christmas tree. I would like it very much if you boys came with me. Would you like to?"

"Penelope, we'd love to." Pockets grinned.

"Good! Before we go tree hunting, we'll get some lunch first, because nothing's worse than looking for a Christmas tree on an empty stomach." Penelope explained her plans. "After we find the tree, we'll all come back to my house to set the tree up, get that and the whole house decorated and have dinner and a dessert. Are y'all in?"

"Every single one of us is in, Penny!" Peter smiled and nodded with the Ant Hill Mob.

"Good! This is gonna be so much fun!"

Everyone agreed and laughed as they enjoyed their hot chocolate.