(Well, here's another chapter! Oh, and: Becky's name was a coincidence. An eerie kind of coincidence, but definitely a coincidence.)

Moneybags was fast asleep again, as the clock struck one. He jumped out of bed, determined not to let the Spirit catch him be surprise. He waited a minute, then ran out of his room. "I know this one's around here someplace!" he muttered. After a few minutes of waiting, he decided that the Spirit was not coming and went back into his room. There he saw that it had undergone a spectacular change.

The room was festive with big green garland strands hanging off all the walls and the bed. All over the place was lots and lots of pizza. Sitting in the middle of all this was the next Spirit. It wore a green robe, a wreath of garland on its head, and it also looked suspiciously like Spyro. "Spyro! Get out of my room!" yelled Moneybags. The Spirit gave him the "hello, Mr. Crazy" look. "Who's Spyro? I'm the Spirit of Christmas Present."

"And I suppose you're going to show me some stuff I need to pay attention to and learn from, right?"

"Yup."

"Let's don't and say we did?"

"Nope."

"Dang." said the bear. "Well, where are we going?" The Spirit took him by the hand. "We're going to take a look at what's going on around here. Hang on!" There was a brief pause, and then they were standing on the streets. People were going to visit their neighbors, or on their way to run errands. All about the scene was an aura of holiday cheer. "This way." said the Spirit, leading Moneybags down the street towards a run-down part of town. "Why are we coming here?" asked Moneybags.

"Some people you should know very well live down here."

"Oh really?"

"Take a look right here!"

They had stopped in front of a small house. The outside walls needed a new coat of paint, the yard was full of bare spots and weeds, and the porch looked ready to collapse. Moneybags wiped some frost off the window and peered inside. "Hey! These are my employees!" he exclaimed. "Shh." Said the Spirit. "Watch."

Inside the small house were Spyro, Hunter, Elora and Bianca. They were sitting in a room furnished only with a couch, a chair, a small fireplace, and a flickering television. In one corner stood a small Christmas tree, sparsely decorated. "So, who's turn is it to sleep on the couch tonight?" asked Hunter. Everyone pointed at everyone else.

"His."

"Hers"

"Yours"

Elora checked her watch and stood up. "I think dinner's ready." She said. She went into the kitchen and brought back five microwaveable pot pies. "Take one quick, they're hot!" she exclaimed. After her friends had taken a pie, she was left with two. "Don't start eating until everyone is served." She reminded. "At least not tonight."

"Yeah, where is Clumsy Clem anyway?"

"Behind you."

In the far corner of the room near the fireplace was Clem, completely covered in bandages with his arm and leg supported, lying on a hospital bed with many different machines around him beeping. "Here you go, Clem!" said Elora, setting the incredibly hot dish on his chest.

"Mmmfff!" said Clem, eyes bugging out.

"You're welcome."

They all pulled their chair and couch closer to Clem. "Well, here's to another Christmas." said Bianca. They raised their coke cans. "Here's an ice-cold coke for you, too Clem." Bianca said, putting it on him where the pie had been. Clem sighed with relief.

"We know it hurts, Clumsy Clem." said Hunter, setting his really hot dish on top of Clem, who groaned again. "You can't help it that you're naturally clumsy."

"Oh, remember when it happened?" asked Spyro. Elora nodded. "I remember like it was yesterday. Clem had finally gotten out of his last body cast and we took him to the circus to celebrate."

Bianca shook her head sadly. "I told him to be careful while looking at those tigers." she said. "And the piranhas, and the gator, and the fifty-seven rings of fire." she sighed. Hunter patted her on the back. "It's not his fault someone happened to drop seven banana peels right in his path." he said.

Clumsy Clem's heart monitor had started beeping more slowly. "He's asleep." whispered Spyro.

"He'll be asleep for much longer if he doesn't get that operation, or the therapy." said Elora. She picked up a dart and threw it at a lone dartboard hanging on the wall. Taped to it was a picture of Moneybags, with many little dart holes in it. "Stupid bear." she muttered.

"Yeah, if it wasn't for that asinine freak, we'd be much better off." Spyro said angrily, accidentally slapping Clem's arm. "Mnnnf! Mmmmmmff!" squealed Clem.

"Oh, Clem!" said Bianca. "You're handling this well. Always uncomplaining."

"Spirit." said Moneybags. "What will happen to Clumsy Clem?"

"I see an empty craftmatic bed in the corner."

"Does that mean Clumsy Clem will die?" Moneybags asked, concerned. Inside the room, they could see Hunter get up to go get dessert and accidentally stepped on the bed controls, catapulting Clem across the room.

"If the course of things remains unchanged, and Clem does not get the kidney he needs, of a spleen, or a liver, or an appendix, or tonsils, or the therapy, then yes, he will die."

"No!"

"Yes." said the Spirit. "Now follow me, we have more to see." He led Moneybags down the street again and through the town to the suburbs. They stopped again at an upper-middle class home, with many cars parked in front of it.

"Wow! A party!"

"Yes, it's your nephew's house."

They looked in the window at the scene before them. It was a large dining/living room. There was a large Christmas tree in the corner, and the small children were busily playing. There were many adults there, including Moneybags' nephew and his wife. "Hey everyone! Who wants to play twenty questions?" asked Frank.

"I do!" shouted everyone else enthusiastically. Frank smiled. "I'll go first. What am I?"

"Is it blue?" someone asked. Frank shook his head. "Is it green?" someone else asked. Frank shook his head. "Is it brown?" this time he nodded.

"Is it fuzzy?" a child asked

"Well, I guess you could say that."

"Is it something nice to hug?" one of the other kids asked. Frank started laughing. "No! If you were to hug this, you'd never live to tell the tale!"

This continued on for a while until Frank's wife spoke up. "I know! It's Moneybags!" she exclaimed. "You are correct!" said Frank. "C'mere!"

He pulled his wife close and gave her a kiss. The little kids made groaning noises. Moneybags huffed. "So, that's what they do, eh? Mock me?!"

"How does that make you feel?" asked the Spirit.

"How does that make me feel?!" exclaimed the bear. "Well, it makes me feel…it makes me feel….ah….a little depressed. Everyone inside the house had started on the buffet. "So no one really likes me?"

"What was your first clue?"

"What about my other business associates?"

"They all think you're a stingy old fool."

"They do?"

The Spirit nodded. " 'Fraid so."

Moneybags sat down on the porch. "So I have no true friends? Well, what do I care?" he asked himself. "I've got everything I need. Money, a business, a house, so what do I need with close personal friends?"

"I bet you'll need them a lot more than you think." said the Spirit. "You have yet to listen to us, and yet to alter you future."

"Future, bah!" snapped Moneybags. "What do I care about my future?"

"I think you'd care more about your future if you knew what will happen." said the Spirit disappearing, leaving Moneybags alone on the porch. A low, heavy fog rolled in. The bear stood up. "Spirit! Where are you?"

All around him he could see nothing, and then a dark figure loomed up out of the fog.

It was tall, and completely cloaked from head to foot in a black robe. No head was visible, just an empty, black hole where a face should have been. An unmistakable aura of doom hovered about it.