In late November 1954, yet another of these creatures escaped the island. Soldiers from the United States and Canadian armies repelled the monster, but failed to slay it, instead chasing it in to the Arctic waste. It would be over fifty years before it resurfaced in Greenland, just south of the Arctic Circle, unconscious.

-excerpt from The Challenger Files (Theodore Ledger, author)

Evergreen wasn’t in the jolliest of moods. Production was woefully behind at the toy factory and the big man seemed to hold him responsible. Sure he was head of the chief design floor, but that didn’t make it his fault that the production line wasn’t producing fast enough. He tried to keep everything simple, wanted to produce old-fashioned toys like wooden horses and ragdolls. But more and more kids seemed to want fancier toys like game devices, action figures with umpteen points of articulation, and giggling puppet monsters. It wasn’t his fault; he blamed that picture box the kids all loved. Personally, he thought most of them should get stockings full of coal anyway. And so help him if the boss called him a “jolly elf” again, Evergreen knew he would scream. He was a gnome, dang it, they were all gnomes! Where did the fat man ever get the idea they were elves anyway?

Evergreen took a deep, calming breath. He couldn’t let the stress get to him. This was the busiest part of the season after all, and as any gnome could tell you, work was life. He grabbed another mug of gnomish coffee (five times stronger than that pitiful human brewed stuff) and went back to his work bench. He had quite a conundrum to work out on a new train set design, and he needed to have it done yesterday.

He went about his work for several minutes, despite the clatter of the usual hustle and bustle of the factory outside his door. The room shook around him, and it took all his skill to keep his designs from falling to the floor around him.

He stomped across the room and threw the door open, ready to give the other workers a piece of his mind. Instead, he found them all standing around the main doors, staring out. The entire factory shook again.

Evergreen heard murmurs from the crowd. “What is it?” and “How did it get here?” and “That’s a big darn ape.” He pushed through the crowd and watched as the giant monster known as Kong stomped right down Jingle Bell Lane.

The monster didn’t seem to quite know where it was going, but it wasn’t happy about it. It swung a huge paw in to a candy cane light post, snapping it in two. It continued on, kicking several sleighs to one side as it moved farther down the lane.

“Where’s the big man?” Evergreen scoffed at the question working its way through the workers. They should know he would be on his way. The fat man was nothing if not a showboat. He would arrive just in time to make the big save.

The Kong climbed atop the Fruitcake Furnace and beat his two hairy fists across his chest. The monster unleashed a huge roar that made every hair on Evergreen’s neck stand up on end.

But as the roar died away, they heard it. The sleigh bells went ding-ding-a-ling as Santa Claus and his eight reindeer flew across the sky. The reindeer made straight for the monster’s skull. Dancer and Prancer drove two sets of razor-sharp hoofs in to the Kong’s head before leading the other reindeer and the sleigh back in to the sky. Claus let out a merry “Ho! Ho! Ho!” as Kong’s mighty fist narrowly missed the rapidly moving sleigh.

Santa’s belly jiggled like a bowl full of jelly as the reindeer turned sharply. The sleigh turned at a sharp angle to make the next pass. Santa lifted his already full bag of toys to his hand. As they crossed in front of the giant ape, Saint Nick brutally drove it in to the nose of Kong.

The beast staggered back a step at the blow, but it swung out both hands wildly. Kong missed the reindeer completely, but hit the rear of the sleigh. Already at its severe angle, the sleigh tipped over completely. All the contents of the sleigh, including Santa himself, tumbled to the ground thirty feet below.

Kong roared again at its victory. The beast bent down and scooped the unmoving body of not-so-jolly ol’ Saint Nick. It turned and started to move across the roofs of Jingle Bell Lane.

The other gnomes were in an uproar. “How could he have been beaten?” was the main question off their lips. Evergreen ignored their comments as he watched Kong continue down the path to the Claus mansion. Mrs. Claus and the baby would be in danger from the beast soon as well.

He couldn’t let that happy. He turned back to the factory and began to draw out some quick plans. “Come on,” he said. His fellow workers all turned to him as he sketched out his design. “The big man needs us, now more than ever. We can build it and with it, we can kick some serious monkey tail.”

Gnomes are really only good at one thing and that’s building. Most people, human or otherwise would have scoffed at the one hundred twenty hour work weeks at the toy factory, but not gnomes. Building everything from simple wooden shapes to advanced electronics was their life, their livelihood, and their very reason for being. And they were not only good at it, but fast. So it should come as no surprise when, forty five minutes later, the greatest design of Evergreen’s long life was completed.

Evergreen looked around at his gnomish comrades. “Who should pilot it?”

They all looked at him. Wise Willow, the oldest gnome of them all and by far the smartest, walked up to Evergreen. He held out a pair of goggles to the young designer. “Go, boy,” he said. “Go and save Christmas.”

Evergreen took the goggles. He didn’t say anything. He couldn’t. He found himself fighting back tears at the great sage’s show of respect. Evergreen merely nodded at the decision. He climbed the ladder to the pilot’s station. Another gnome closed and sealed the hatch behind him. Two more gnomes pulled the ladder away, as the factory floor cleared to give him room to activate his creation.

A pad of six crystals and a futuristic helmet made up the entire control system. He slid the first crystal up and it locked in to place. Several screens came to life around him, showing various camera angles and sensor readings. So far so good. Evergreen slid the second two crystals forward. He could feel the engines and servos far below him come to life. The fourth and fifth crystals came next, and the pilot’s chamber began to vibrate. Evergreen left the final crystal in place. He pulled the helmet down over his own pointy hat, and latched it into place around his head.

He could feel his creation come to life. Though only a machine, it felt like a living breathing creature with him in control. He raised one foot and stepped in place, leaning slightly forward. He felt one giant leg move far beneath him as the massive robot took its first step. He swung both arms up in to the air, and Evergreen watched through the viewport as the robot’s arms mimicked the action. He brought the arms down to pat his tummy. The robot did the same, and patted the massive red belly, all made of the strongest steel.

“All systems go,” Evergreen said. “Mecha-Claus is online and ready for action!”

Two teams of gnomes pulled the hangar doors open and Mecha-Claus walked towards them. Evergreen smiled as he emerged in to the cold, but bright afternoon. He could see the Kong in the distance, heading towards the Coal Warehouse. He saw the red and white outline of the boss as well, still clutched in one great, hairy palm.

Evergreen pushed Mecha-Claus forward at top speed towards the monster. The robot couldn’t move any faster than a walk. But with forty foot strides, Mecha-Claus covered the length of Jingle Bell Lane in no time.

“Drop the jolly elf and pick on someone your own size!”

Kong turned at the sound of Evergreen’s enhanced voice. The creature growled as it recognized a new adversary. The monster gently placed Santa on top of the warehouse. It turned suddenly and quickly. Two massive fists crashed down on to Mecha-Claus’s shoulders. The robot buckled under the impact and Evergreen found himself being flung side to side in the cockpit. Even a vehicle as powerful as Mecha-Claus wouldn’t be able to stand up against many blows like that.

Evergreen slid the final crystal in to place. A voice quite like Mrs. Claus’s spoke. “Weapon systems online. Mecha-Claus at 91% efficiency.”

“Time to play,” Evergreen said. Kong brought another fist down, this time towards Mecha-Claus’s forehead. “Activate command: laugh attack.” Mecha-Claus dropped its jaw as sound emitters came to life deep inside the robot’s head.

“HO HO HO.” The laugh came at many hundreds of decibels and the concentrated blast of sound sent the Kong’s hands over its ears. It didn’t help, as blood began to trickle out from the creature’s burst eardrums.

The beast was far from finished, and Evergreen pressed his attack. He reached forward with both massive metal hands, and grabbed the shoulders of the Kong. “Activate command: belly buster.”

Evergreen grinned as the belly of Mecha-Claus slid open, revealing the rows and rows of missiles beneath. He couldn’t make Mecha-Claus’s belly jiggle like a bowl full of jelly, but he could make it turn his foes in to jelly.

“Fire!”

The missiles launched. All one hundred twenty-eight of them. Kong exploded in to a million furry chunks. Evergreen could hear the cheering of his fellow gnomes as they rushed in to the street to celebrate his victory. Santa himself gave him a smile and a wave from the Coal Warehouse roof.

“Thanks,” Evergreen said from inside the cockpit. “But we’d better get back to work. Christmas waits for no man. Or gnome, for that matter.”

The gnomes carried Evergreen back to the factory on their shoulders as they celebrated their holiday victory. Evergreen smiled with glee. He couldn’t have asked for a better Christmas present.