Unaware of Glick's evil plans, Santa and the Monkees traveled north up to Santa's workshop. Despite the colder temperatures, nobody was cold. Santa explained that there was a force field around the car that kept the cold air out.
"Hold on boys, I'm going to change the vehicle around." Santa said as they neared the North Pole.
"What do you mean by that?" Mike asked.
In answer, Santa pushed a button on the dashboard and suddenly the sports car changed into a large snowmobile. Santa started to descend to earth and soon they touched down onto the snow. With the skis underneath the snowmobile, they easily covered the distance to the factory. They rounded a bend in the road and all four Monkees let out a gasp of surprise.
In front of them was Santa's workshop! It was a huge castle with several turrets pointing to the sky; all lit up like Christmas trees. Santa chuckled at the boys, especially Peter, who was wide-mouthed with happiness. This was a dream come true!
Santa pulled the snowmobile up to the front entrance and immediately Mrs. Clause and several elves, including Tic and Toc, came out to meet them. Santa and his wife kissed, while the elves, except Tic and Toc, started to unload the Monkees' gear from the back. The Monkees climbed out of the snowmobile and began to shiver, since they were no longer protected by the force field. Santa called the boys over.
"Fellows, I'd like you to meet my wife, Kristyl. Dear, these are the Monkees. They'll be playing at our party soon."
"I'm pleased to meet you boys." Mrs. Clause said warmly.
"We're glad to...to meet you too, Mrs. Clause." Mike said shivering.
"Oh my, come inside quickly and warm up." Mrs. Clause said. "I'll show you boys to your room and have some hot cocoa brought to you."
"Th...thank you." Peter said, teeth chattering.
The Monkees quickly followed Mrs. Clause inside, followed by the elves carrying the gear. Santa turned to Tic and Toc.
"I can tell by the looks on your faces that something's wrong." He said, "What now?"
"Well, boss..she's..back." Tic said, shivering, and not from the cold.
"She's in your study, waiting." Toc finished.
Santa sighed. "OK, I'll be right there. Take care of the Santa mobile." He walked inside.
Mrs. Clause led the Monkees upstairs, down a hallway and into their room. They gasped as they saw how large it was. It was bigger than their pad in California! They quickly chose beds and flopped down on the soft comforters.
"I hope you boys will be comfortable here." Mrs. Clause said.
"Oh yeah, this is nice!" Micky exclaimed.
The elves that had followed them gently put their gear in the middle of the floor and left.
"I'll have the cocoa brought up soon." She replied.
"Thanks again, Mrs. Clause." Davy said.
Mrs. Clause gently ran a finger down Davy's cheek. "You remind me of someone I read about many years ago."
"Really? Who?" Davy asked, surprised. Mrs. Clause thought a moment, then she started to frown when she realized who Davy looked like. But she quickly caught herself and smiled again.
"It was a king." Mrs. Clause said, "He was...very bold, a leader of many."
"What happened to him?" Davy asked.
"Legends say he went off on a quest to a far-away land...but never returned."
"Oh." Davy replied, a little disappointed. The other three giggled behind him.
"Well, I'll see you later, boys. I'm sure my husband will want to talk to you about the party."
"Goodbye, Mrs. Clause." All four Monkees said as Mrs. Clause left the room.
As soon as the door closed, Micky, Mike and Peter started laughing.
"Davy looks like a king?" Micky said, laughing. "Maybe king of the midgets!"
"Watch it fuzzy, or I'll crown you." Davy said half-seriously.
"You gonna hit him in the kneecap again?" Mike said, trying to stop giggling.
Micky, Mike and Peter were rolling on the bed at that one.
"Very funny, fellows." Davy said with a smirk. "Just for that, I'm gonna tell Santa on you and have the three of you put on his naughty list." Davy started for the door.
"NO!!" Micky, Mike and Peter yelled as one and raced after Davy. He opened the door and almost ran into an elf carrying a tray of hot cocoa drinks and cookies.
"Your hot cocoa, gentlemen." The elf said, walking into the room. He placed the tray on a table and left.
The fight forgotten, the Monkees devoured the cocoa and cookies.
If Davy had gone to see Santa, he would've walked into a tense situation.
Santa was sitting behind his large wooden desk in his study, warily eyeing his visitors sitting across from him. Tic and Toc were standing closely behind Santa, as if afraid the visitors would attack them. Their fears weren't too far-fetched, for Santa's visitors were Grizelda, Queen of the Trolls, and her lackeys, Hither and Yon.
Trolls were smaller than humans, like elves, but that's where the similarities ended. They were about four and a half feet tall, slightly taller than elves, but unlike elves, they were mean and cruel and liked to live and work underground. Trolls also had long noses and clammy skin and liked dark clothing. As such, Queen Grizelda sat facing Santa wearing a long, black dress and a scowl on her face. Hither and Yon wore matching scowls.
"So, what can I do for you, Queen Grizelda?" Santa asked, already knowing the answer.
"We want you to buy more, not less, coal from us!" Grizelda growled in a deep voice.
"As I've told you before, your majesty, there are less and less naughty children every year, so I don't need as much coal as I used to put into their stockings."
"Perhaps you need to raise your standards." Grizelda shot back.
"My standards are already quite high. No pouting, no crying, being nice to others all year, not just at Christmas time." Santa said, getting annoyed. "You know I can't export your coal to the outside world, because there'd be too many questions about where it came from. Neither of us can afford to be found out."
"You want us to perish!" Grizelda shouted. "We're just too evil for you, right?"
Santa shook his head. "No, no, your majesty. I still need your coal to run my factory and keep my house warm. I may not need as much coal, but I'll still need it. You and your people won't go without."
"Promises, promises." Grizelda said with contempt, "Someday, Santa, you won't be so smug. We Trolls will one day call the shots."
"Is that a threat, your majesty?" Santa asked quietly.
"No, it's a promise." Grizelda replied. With that, she got up and stormed out of the room, Hither and Yon close on her heels.
Santa shook his head. He had enough to worry about getting the toys ready without the Trolls complaining and causing trouble. Santa had always had an uneasy agreement with the Trolls: They would supply him with the coal for the stockings and the factory and his house, he would give them diamonds that his dwarves dug in his secret mines. The arrangement had always worked well, but recently, with less naughty children in the world, he didn't need as much coal. Santa wished Grizelda would just accept that fact, but she came to his study often, demanding the same things over and over again. Grizelda, in fact all trolls, were stubborn, but recently she was even more mean and demanding than before.
"You OK, Santa?" Tic asked, coming from behind Santa's chair.
"Yes, I'm fine. Let's go over these lists one more time."
Grizelda, Hither and Yon got into their tunnel car and traveled back down under the Earth. The queen ground her yellow teeth. Why did there have to be so many good topsiders (troll term for humans) nowadays? Maybe The Great One could help answer that. Then maybe she could find a way to change it.
The car came to a halt and another troll opened the door for her, then bowed down to the floor.
"Greetings my Queen!" he said, "The Great One wishes to speak with you."
"Very good, Crumble." The queen replied, "I'll take it in my chambers."
"Yes my Queen."
Grizelda strolled off. She walked down a dank, dark tunnel and into her chambers. She quickly sat in front of a large piece of coal, about the size of a desk. The coal began to glow and soon the face of The Great One appeared. It was the evil Wizard Glick.
"Yes, Oh Great One?" Grizelda asked.
"I have great news for you Grizelda." Glick said cackling, "It seems your great King Davius has returned!"
"What?!" Grizelda said, shocked. "It's been so long..."
"Yes, but it seems he doesn't know who he really is. You see, Santa put a spell on him so that he'd think he was just an ordinary singer."
"Why would Santa do such a thing?" Grizelda asked angrily.
"He doesn't want you Trolls to be more powerful than he, that's why, silly!" Glick replied. "Like I've told you, this nonsense of less and less naughty children is just an excuse to keep you under his thumb!"
Grizelda's gray eyes narrowed. "What do you want me to do?"
"It seems that Davius is staying at Santa's castle right now with a few friends, supposedly to play that so-called 'music' of theirs." Glick shuddered. "I want you to bring Davius and one of his friends, say, the curly-haired one, to your domain. I'll come up to the North Pole and then release Davius from Santa's spell. With Davius by your side, the Trolls will have no problem rising up against Santa and destroying his toy factory! Plus, you'll get his diamond mines too!"
For the first time in years, Grizelda actually smiled. "Oh Great Wizard Glick, this is so wonderful! I will do what you say immediately...but why do you want Davius' friend?"
"Oh...because he helps Santa keep Davius in line." Glick said quickly. He didn't mention that Micky led the Monkees to victory against him last time and he wanted revenge. "Now here's a picture of Davius, taken as he went to visit Santa."
Glick's picture was replaced with a picture of Davy as he was riding in Santa's sports car.
"Now off you go, Grizelda!" Glick said.
"Yes, yes, right away!" Grizelda replied. The picture went dark.
Glick starred at his TV screen for a long moment, than bust out laughing. Grizelda was so easily manipulated! He not only would destroy Christmas but get revenge on those Monkees as well!