"Ho, Ho, Ho, Inspector Gadget!" A certain jolly voice beamed in relief. "Am I glad to see you." It was the real Santa Claus!
"Ho-ho-ho, and a go-go-Gadget-handcuffs to you!" said Gadget, as he popped out a pair of handcuffs, and clamped them around Santa's wrists. "I hereby arrest you for impersonating Santa Claus!"
Santa was, to say the least, shocked. "B-But I'm the real Santa Claus!" he insisted.
"Sure," Gadget replied dismissively. "Next you'll be telling me those eight shifty-eyed thugs with spiked hair are your reindeer!" he remarked, gesturing to the literal reindeer sitting in the icy jail cell. "Case solved! A record wrap-up, even for the Inspector!"
Santa just looked very unfortunate to be in this situation.
"Any Christmas greetings can and will be used against you," Gadget began to read the jolly old man his rights. "You have one phone call. Go-Go Gadget Phone!" he then called out before his hand became a cellular phone as he held it out to Santa. "Since it's Christmas Eve, the first two minutes are on me, but make it local."
Brain was shown to still be looking down at his companion from where he was.
"You there! Little elf!" Gadget then pointed at him. "Instead of sitting around there with that hand-dog expression, go tell the real Santa Claus that Inspector Gadget has cracked the case!"
MEANWHILE, UP IN THE TOY FACTORY...
Penny, LJ, and Henry were hiding inside a giant jack-in-the-box, while doing some surveillance.
"I don't like the looks of this..." whispered Penny. "Sleds with no runners..."
LJ watched an elf winding up a toy bunny, which shook and sputtered before it fell to pieces. "Crummy wind-up toys that break." he added.
"Dr. Claw has the elves in some kind of trance," noted Penny. "Kids won't trust Santa!"
"Not to mention whatever Talon's up to with his new buddy," LJ added. "On both fronts, M.A.D. must be stopped!"
"Hopefully Brain can help us out right now," Penny said as she made a call with her com-link. "Come in, Brain! Dr. Claw is ruining Christmas! Where's Uncle Gadget?"
Brain soon reacted by doing wild gestures for Penny, LJ, and Henry before putting himself through a clothes wringer.
"I don't understand any of that." Henry remarked.
"I'll explain for you guys, Brain and I sorta have this secret code with each other," Penny reassured him before answering the dog. "They tried to mangle Uncle Gadget in the toy machine?" she then asked Brain. "That's bad!"
Brain then showed more by jumping off of a step ladder into a bucket.
"But he escaped? That's good!" Penny then said in relief.
Brain then landed in a chair and grabbed the ends of it before rocking back and forth to make it look like he was behind bars of a jail cell.
"I understood that one," Henry commented. "He's in a jail cell?" he then asked to check.
Brain nodded at that.
"That's bad." Penny pouted.
Brain then took out a hat and a mop to look like Santa Claus.
"He found the real Santa Claus? That's good!" Penny smiled.
Brain then frantically barked and grabbed his collar to make it look like he was dying for a minute.
"Whoa, slow down, Brain," LJ soon said. "Inspector Gadget put Santa in a dog collar?"
Brain then finished his story before he put his paws up and began to cry in despair.
"Uncle Gadget arrested the real Santa?!" Penny cried out. "Oh, no! What next!"
"You brats are getting your butts kicked by The Elfa Strike, that's what!" A voice called out firmly from behind them.
"What are you talking about?" LJ muttered as he turned around. "...uh-oh, guys."
"I don't like the sound of that." Penny frowned at LJ.
"Why uh-oh?" Henry asked before looking over and gasped with wide eyes.
Two of the elves then shut the jack-in-the-box before a third elf drove by on a forklift to take the box away.
"Why did I have to ask?" Penny groaned to herself.
"You can't do this to us!" Henry cried out. "We're the good guys!"
The elf on the forklift drove the box into a warehouse, and then left.
"We'll get out somehow, Brain," urged Penny. "You get the key and save Uncle Gadget."
"Right-o!" Brain saluted before he hung up.
"Guys, we need to get out of here." LJ said to the others.
"I'm worried about that Elfa Strike Squad or whatever it is," Henry replied. "I mean, those elves sound like they mean serious business."
"They probably do," replied LJ. "But first, we can figure out what's going on with the elves, and WHY they're suddenly making all these lousy toys!"
"We will, guys, once we find a way out of here," Penny promised them. "There must be some way out of this."
Meanwhile, Dr. Claw was chuckling darkly to himself and petting MAD Cat, seeing the progress so far. "When the kids get these broken toys, they won't trust Santa Claus ever again~" he then declared maliciously.
MAD Cat snickered and agreed with his master.
"And he deserves it!" Dr. Claw then said as he took out an old sheet of paper. "For not bringing me that dirty trick sled when I was a baby Claw! Well, I'll show Santa after tonight... Santa is finished and Gadget will be eliminated!" he then concluded with a dark and raspy laugh and unknown to either of them, Brain was up in the rafters and could hear what Dr. Claw was plotting.
There was then a beeping heard coming from one of the monitors.
"Yes, what is it?" Dr. Claw asked, answering the call, seeing his nephews along with their new friend.
"We're just about done here, Dr. Claw," Peter informed with a dark smirk, looking as dark and menacing as Talon and Billy. "It's too late to change the naughty and nice list now, but after the children of the world get these toy abominations, then me and my new friends will be the ones to get ALL of the presents we deserve in the world after this year, especially me~"
"Right, right," Dr. Claw responded. "Excellent work."
Meanwhile, Gadget was still grilling the real Santa. "So far, you've failed to shake like a bowl full of jelly, and you've refused to go down any chimneys!" he read off.
"That only works with a rooftop!" Santa insisted.
"Name your eight tiny reindeer," ordered Gadget. "And no coaching from you on the end with the red nose!"
"Oh, I don't believe this!" Santa sulked.
"I hate to resort to rough stuff, but time is running out!" Gadget smirked at Santa. "Go-Go Gadget interrogation device!" he then signaled.
The hand in Gadget's hat soon came out and had a bird perching on its finger until it plucked one of its on feathers.
"Who's behind this?" Gadget demanded as he took the feather from the bird before sending it back into his hat. "Was it Dr. Claw?"
Santa soon started to laugh once Gadget gave him a bit of tickle torture. "Yes! Dr. Claw!" he then admitted through laughter. "Also a trio of boys were with him!"
"Ha! You expect me to believe that?" Gadget smirked as he wasn't falling for that.
"How kind of Gadget to help, eh MAD Cat?" Dr. Claw taunted as he stroked his feline companion.
Brain soon saw a key dangling from MAD Cat's antlers and tried to use a candy cane to lower and get the key, but accidentally strangled the bad cat as he started to yank on the prop antlers.
"You should do something about those hairballs, MAD Cat." Dr. Claw suggested as his cat began to grunt, gag, and groan.
Brain then swiped the candy cane up before biting into it as he grabbed the key while MAD Cat yowled and latched onto his master's face.
"Are you trying to tell me something, MAD Cat?" Dr. Claw demanded firmly as he threw his cat down.
MAD Cat mewed expressively, wearing the Santa hat and beard now as he saw Brain escaping.
"After that elf! No more Mr. Nice Santa!" Dr. Claw snapped in frustration as he slammed his control panel, scaring away his cat.
In the meantime, Gadget was now trying to pull off Santa's beard. "Your eyes don't twinkle, your dimples aren't merry, and this ratty fake beard wouldn't fool anyone!" he then told Santa assertively.
"Owch! Oh! Aaagh!" yelped Santa.
"Gimme that phony beard!" Gadget demanded, as Brain, in disguise as a security guard, came to unlock the jail cell.
"Speak up, turnkey!" Gadget called. "It's about time North Pole security showed up to give me a hand!"
"Yipe!" Brain exclaimed as he ran over, grabbed Santa and raced off.
"Ah-ha! I should've known you'd had an inside accomplice!" Gadget declared. "Go-Go-Gadget-Lasso!"
A lasso shot from his coat and fell around Brain and Santa, catching them both.
"It's lowlifes like you who give Christmas a bad name!" Inspector Gadget declared. "You two dwell on your folly while I tell the real Santa on you!" And he left, leaving them both tied up.
Brain whimpered and gibbered a few times.
"...my sentiments exactly." agreed Santa.
Brain then began to look and feel worried for LJ, Penny, and Henry being on their own.
"Those children better be careful," Santa cautioned. "Otherwise, they'll meet up with The Elfa Strike Squad."
Brain let out a questioning bark at that name.
"The Elfa Strike Squad," Santa explained to Brain. "They're a team of very special Christmas elves who fight and protect for me whenever the holiday is threatened."
"Ruh-oh..." Brain gulped.
MEANWHILE, OUTSIDE...
Gadget had just handed off a sackful of toys to Santa Claw. "Here you go," he said. "But haven't you forgotten Dunderhead, Blitzkrieg, and the other reindeer?"
"I'll take care of everything myself," replied Claw. "This time there can be no M.A.D. bl-er, merry blunders."
AND BACK IN THE BOX...
"So that's it!" Penny exclaimed. "Dr. Claw turned the elves into drones with microchips in their dingle bells!"
"Not to mention Talon and his friends are planning to jack all the good presents for themselves," glowered LJ. "Oooh, I'd like to give 'em a punch in the mouths!"
"We will, just as soon as we get out of here." Penny reassured LJ.
"Yeah?" Henry asked. "How are we gonna do that?"
"You see this clown?" Penny replied and gestured to the clown.
"Yes?" LJ and Henry replied like it was obvious.
"Grab onto it and follow me," Penny told them. "I know exactly what to do."
LJ and Henry looked at each other before shrugging as they did what Penny asked of them.
"Time to spring into action, fella!" Penny told the clown.
Soon, the clown head sprung right out of the box, sending the three kids up and shooting out of the air and into a pile of teddy bears. "Whoooooa!" they cried out on the way.
"Good thing these teddy bears could break our fall." Henry commented.
"This must be where Dr. Claw hid Santa's real toys!" Penny exclaimed.
"In that case, Christmas might just be saved after all," LJ beamed. "Let's get to work!"
MEANWHILE, IN THE ICE JAIL...
Santa and Brain were trying and failing to get themselves untangled from the Gadget-Lasso.
"Perhaps we should try this one more time." Santa told Brain as they seemed to get more and more stuck no matter how hard they tried.
Brain grunted and barked at that before they tried one last time, but they were STILL stuck.
"Oh, this isn't working, Dog!" Santa complained.
"Come in, Brain!" Penny's voice exclaimed.
"And it's no time to be doing little girl impressions." Santa then told Brain with a glare.
Brain shook his head at Santa and soon answered the call as he knew Penny was on the other line.
"Brain! Come in, Brain!" Penny's voice urged.
Brain barked as he answered her call while Penny, LJ, and Henry hid away while Gadget was helping "Santa Claw" get ready for the big night.
"Dr. Claw's about to take off in Santa's sleigh with the rotten toys!" Penny alerted Brain. "We've gotta stop him!"
"Roger!" Brain barked and saluted once he stood up and Santa came free from the rope.
"Well, what are you guys standing around for?" Santa called to his reindeer. "On Dasher! On Dancer! Move it, Prancer and Vixen! We'll meet you at the sleigh." he then told Brain as his reindeer came together.
Brain barked at that and soon dashed away.
Meanwhile, the kids continued to watch what Dr. Claw was doing as Talon, Billy, and Peter came to join on the sleigh, dressed like elves now so Gadget wouldn't notice anything weird.
"Oh, this is absolutely horrible!" Henry cried out. "Dr. Claw is gonna ruin Christmas for everyone who deserves a good holiday, I'm millions of miles away from the only person in my family who understands me, and Inspector Gadget won't listen to reason! Who's next to jump on the 'Ruin Henry Grimhilde and Friends' Pride and Joy on The Holiday Season Bandwagon' now?!" he then moped, looking very miserable right now and it was about to get worse.
"Your worst Nightmare Before Christmas, that's who, bub!" A voice called out then before the kids looked over to see a brutish looking elf who almost looked like Wolverine from The X-Men. "Now, I don't want any trouble, kid, so I'm tellin' ya like it is. Get out of The North Pole and nobody gets their Christmas turkey cooked early." he then threatened darkly.
"Nothing doin'," LJ responded. "There's bad stuff going down, and we came to stop it!"
"Look! You kids took something from Santa and when he finds out, he's gonna be real unjolly!" The elf glared as he had a piece of candy cane in his mouth almost like a cigar. "And my job is to keep the man jolly!"
"Look, we don't know what you're talking about!" Penny told the elf. "We're trying to save Christmas!"
"Yeah, there are other kids here trying to ruin Christmas!" Henry added. "You have to believe us!"
"So it's gonna be like that, huh? I should've expected that," The elf smirked before he called out. "ELFA STRIKE! ATTACK!"
Out came three more elves, one that looked like she had angel wings, another elf that looked pretty tall, and a third elf that looked like a Nutcracker soldier.
"Would somebody explain what is going on here?" LJ asked. "First Claw is pulling some crap about trying to ruin Christmas, and now these guys are coming about and accusing us of something or other!"
"They must be manipulated by Dr. Claw too!" Penny guessed.
"...thank you, Penny," LJ said. "And in that case, we hafta find a way to un-trance them, pronto!"
"How're we gonna do that?" Henry wondered.
"You kids ain't gettin' far!" The elf glared.
"Says who?" LJ asked.
"Says ME! Wintergreen!" The elf glared as he unsheathed candy canes from his hands that looked like claws.
"Look out, true believer!" A voice that sounded like Stan Lee began to narrate suddenly. "With bones of solid peppermintium, the ferocious leader of Santa's elite strike force is Wintergreen!"
Wintergreen lunged out at the kids and slashed his peppermint claws in front of them, shredding their clothes, including Henry's scarf.
"Hey! My sister made this scarf just for me!" Henry complained.
"And I'm gonna do worse to ya if you don't get out of my way!" Wintergreen glared as he then tackled Henry down to the floor, about to strike him with his peppermint claws.
"GET AWAY FROM HIM!" yelled LJ, feeling his jacket... and finding one of his PokéBalls! "Almost forgot I had these... go, Fishy Joe!"
As he threw the ball out, it burst open and revealed his Marshtomp. "Hey, bud! What're we up to?" he asked.
"Henry's in danger!" LJ exclaimed. "Use Hydro Pump on that Wintergreen guy!"
Penny and Henry both looked a bit wide-eyed.
"You got it, LJ!" Fishy Joe replied before he splashed Wintergreen with Hydro Pump.
"Augh! What the?!" Wintergreen complained.
Henry then got up while he still could and soon went to hide behind Penny and LJ. However, Wintergreen wasn't alone either. The Nutcracker elf appeared behind Fishy Joe and tackled him.
"Hey! Get off of me!" Fishy Joe glared as he was about to Hydro Pump the Nutcracker elf next.
The Nutcracker elf then suddenly disappeared, making Fishy Joe spurt water onto Henry, LJ, and Penny by accident.
"Hey! Easy with the water!" LJ cried out.
"Sorry, LJ." Fishy Joe said nervously from that.
"Hey! He blew up!" Henry pointed out as the Nutcracker elf disappeared randomly before coming right behind him.
The Nutcracker elf laughed and kicked Henry from behind and then jumped onto Penny's shoulders.
"Hey!" Penny complained from that.
"This elf was born quite strangely with a weird wooden head and if he bit you 'OUCH!' is probably what you would've said." The mysterious voice narrated.
"You wooden-headed menace!" LJ snapped. "Leave her alone!"
"Or what?" Nutcracker taunted before he bit onto Penny's head suddenly.
"Augh! Get him off of me! Get him off!" Penny cried out as that hurt.
Nutcracker then kept disappearing and reappearing while biting at Penny's head as she kept running around, trying to get away from him.
"Fishy Joe, use Supersonic!" LJ instructed.
"Right!" Fishy Joe nodded before he let out a piercing soundwave from his mouth.
The waves made Nutcracker feel dizzy. "Ooooh... mein strudel..." he groaned as he fell off of Penny's head.
LJ walked over and kicked him with the tip of his boot. "Jerk," he spat before looking up. "You okay, Pen? He didn't hurt you too badly, did he?"
"Yeah, I think I'll be okay," Penny groaned and rubbed her head a little. "I think I need some aspirin right now though."
"I'll find ya some later, right now I just advise wearing a helmet." LJ said as he put a bicycle helmet on Penny's head.
"Thanks, LJ," Penny said as she wore the helmet. "You're a good friend."
"I try my best," LJ nodded before he looked around. "Now, is there anything else we need to look out for?" he then wondered.
"Whoa..." Henry said as he found the third elf who had angel wings. "Are you an angel?"
"You could say that," The female elf smirked as she flapped her wings. "Let me show you."
"This elf got pelted by a radioactive snowball while walking home from Santa's on Christmas Eve," The narrator soon informed. "Now you can say there's no such thing as superpowers, but once you meet Snow Angel, you'll believe."
Snow Angel smirked once she flew down near the snow and flew around it before making a giant hand appear from the snow.
"Looks like someone can control snow." Penny remarked about Snow Angel.
"I sure can," Snow Angel smirked. "Now feel the sting of my Arctic Blast!" she then called out as she sent the snow out to attack the kids.
"Uh-oh, we're gonna need a little heat, guys! Lucky por vous, it's what I've got!" LJ declared as he started concentrating. 'Think warm thoughts... think warm thoughts...' And suddenly, he began emitting fireballs from his hands, which he fired at the giant snow hand.
Snow Angel glared and growled at LJ for that.
"Heh, I can't believe that actually worked, but good for me." LJ smirked.
"How did you do that?" Henry asked LJ out of shock. "That was like the time Snow White found her long-lost twin sister!"
"I get it from my dad!" LJ responded. "He's just amazing like that!"
"Cool, or I guess I should say hot." Henry smiled.
"My, what a White Christmas! What do we have here?" A tall elf called as he suddenly grabbed Henry and Penny by their collars, lifting them up off of the ground.
"Hey! Put us down!" Henry complained.
"Let go, Frostbite!" Penny added before something began to happen to the elf. "Uh, what's going on?" she then wondered.
The tall elf soon laughed before he seemed to grow needles all over his body like a Christmas tree.
"And last but not least, The Mighty Coniferous!" The narrator informed. "With the prickly power of perilous pine needles!"
Coniferous laughed as he then held Henry and Penny close against his body to poke them with the pine needles.
"Watch it, sprucey!" LJ snapped as he turned towards Coniferous. "Put 'em down, or else I'll toast ya!"
"I'd like to see you try," Coniferous laughed until he looked down. "What the?"
Penny soon growled and tried to bite on the pine needle patch to free herself and Henry.
"Augh!" Coniferous growled and complained before he dropped down Henry and Penny.
"Nice one, Penny." Henry said to the girl.
"I did what I had to," Penny replied. "I just wish these elves would stop beating us."
"Well, we would, but you did the wrong thing and now you have to pay," Wintergreen glared. "The North Pole don't take too kindly to brats on The Naughty List."
"What the heck did we even do, man?" LJ asked. "What went missing? Shot in the dark, just try explaining so we actually make some progress here!"
"You really don't know, do ya?" Wintergreen scoffed.
"Obviously we don't," Henry replied. "So if you don't mind, we'd like some clarification right now."
"Well, it's obvious," Snow Angel glared. "You're the three kids who came into The North Pole and tampered with The Reindeer System."
"What the heck is the ding-dang reindeer system?!" LJ shouted, grabbing at his hair.
"As if you don't even know!" Wintergreen huffed. "The Reindeer System is a device that Santa Claus uses to deliver presents."
"So, he uses that instead of the reindeer?" Penny asked out of confusion.
"No, he uses it to help them fly after he checks his list twice to see who's naughty and who's nice before December 24th every year and it's very important to the North Pole." Wintergreen explained.
"It's a giant computer system that connects to all the Christmas trees in the world and it shows all the children of the world on a giant screen and he decides who is bad and good," Snow Angel added. "If the child has been good, then they receive presents instantly under their tree. If they had been bad, they instantly get giant coal under their tree. Santa Claus is the only person who can control The Reindeer System without any problems."
"Yeah? What happens if someone else uses it instead of Santa?" Henry wondered.
"Anyone else that attempts to use the system will be consumed by their greed." Wintergreen informed them.
"Then why would we be in here instead of, I dunno, at this Reindeer system thingy?" LJ asked. "Doesn't that seem a little odd to you?"
"Trying to get away with the crime you committed and nothing will change our minds otherwise." Wintergreen glared.
"Yeah!" Snow Angel, Nutcracker, and Coniferous added.
"We're sorry about what happened to The Reindeer System, but please, you have to believe us when we said we didn't do anything," Penny pleaded with the elves. "And besides, the guy you and the other elves think is Santa isn't Santa, he's Dr. Claw, my Uncle Gadget's sworn enemy."
"Yeah!" LJ added. "Besides, Christmas is literally in danger of the highest level! If you won't help us save it, then we'll have to do it ourselves!"
"Well, there's no other way to save the most wonderful time of the year, so it looks like The Elfa Strike is gonna have to pull out its most ultimate weapon." Wintergreen threatened.
"I'm afraid to ask what that might be." Henry commented.
"We call in The 12 Days of Christmas Attack!" Wintergreen proclaimed.
"I didn't even ask!" Henry cried out, but it was too late as dark storm clouds suddenly appeared in the sky.
"12 drummers drumming, 11 pipers piping, 10 lords a leapin', 9 ladies dancing, 8 maids a milkin', 7 swans a swimmin', 6 geese a layin', 5 golden (onion) rings, 4 calling birds, 3 French horns, 2 turtle doves, and a Partridge in a pear tree!" The Elfa Strike summoned together as those items came crashing down on the kids.
A member of The Partridge family soon waved as she popped out of the pear tree for a visual pun. LJ, Henry, Penny, and Fishy Joe all groaned from the 12 Days of Christmas attack.
"Now bring back the reindeer you stole!" Wintergreen demanded.
"For the 10 millionth time..." Henry began to say.
"WE DIDN'T EVEN DO ANYTHING!" The three kids ranted together.
"Then what other three kids are there that wrong us, the other elves, and Santa Claus, huh?" Wintergreen demanded fiercely.
"Oh, gee, maybe the putzes who look like really tall elves?" LJ asked, pulling out a camcorder and showing the footage of the room he'd taken earlier when they had confronted Talon, Billy, and Peter.
"Gimme that!" Wintergreen glared as he swiped the camcorder to take a look with Snow Angel, Coniferous, and Nutcracker.
"Uh, did you always have that?" Henry asked LJ curiously.
"Yeah, it was hooked up to a GoPro," LJ replied. "Perfect for presentation of evidence at a most crucial moment."
"Nice," Henry remarked. "I have walkie-talkies that Ben Gold's dad sold to me if we ever go on another adventure together."
"Right," LJ nodded. "I just hope this helps convince these guys."
"Hopefully we can." Penny said nervously.
After a few moments, the four superhero elves approached the kids. LJ, Penny, and Henry huddled close together just in case as Fishy Joe jumped out with a dark glare, ready to attack if necessary.
"Kids, we owe you a huge apology," Wintergreen soon said to the trio. "I don't blame you if you don't accept it after what we just did to you, but we had it all wrong like the other elves."
"Apologize later, big guy," LJ responded. "There's still the matter of the real Santa Claus being missing!"
"You're right," Wintergreen agreed. "Now, let's see what we can do before it's time for take-off."