Shadow Reader's Christmas Carol Chapter Three

Shadow made his way back inside the studio, and made himself a cup of tea in the break room. He then made his way towards the viewing room where his interns were watching a rough cut of the remade Christmas special. He sat down, and violently sipped his tea as the special played a scene which had Peck telling Freddie he no loved him as he had become a cruel ferret similar to that part in A Christmas Carol where Belle tells Scrooge she no loves him due to him becoming a cruel man.

"I see the greed within you Freddie as it eats away at you like a man on a train eating crisps." Peck said sadly. "You don't know nothing." Freddie said back to which Peck replied with, "I hope that you're happy in the life you've chosen, and I....." Shadow rudely cut off Peck by yelling, "well I am happy with the life I've chosen you little bitch! In fact I couldn't be happier!" Shadow then left the viewing room to see how his animators were doing only to get intercepted by a member of the Easily Offended Knights of Nottingham.

His name was Two China Tsao, and he said, "Sir I'm afraid you're going to have cancel the Christmas special!" "Why?" Shadow asked confused. "Because you have a scene which contains sexual content  which is a scene where Pablo makes out with Austin." Tsao explained. "But I want to see them making out." Shadow complained to which Tsao added, "but this is a Christmas show!" "Well Charles Dickens would have wanted to see them making out." Shadow explained before having Tsao taken way by his enforcers to have some heroin as Tsao was an addict of the stuff.

Shadow continued his day like normal for the next hour completely forgetting about the events that had happened him just one hour earlier with DaveTheUseless. Shadow was shown the rough cut of the special, and he checked his watch realising it was 1.57 pm, and remembered that the second ghost would be visiting him at 2. Shadow ordered his interns to commission the special even though he had only seen one scene in which Freddie refuses to give money to Otis and Bear who were collecting money to give to charity.

Shadow not wanting to deal with another ghost of Christmas decided to hide in a closet only to feel a small flipper tap his shoulder. Shadow said, "oh buggering buggerton," as he turned around to see none other than Pablo and Austin themselves.

"What the heck are you two doing here!?" Shadow asked bewildered. "We are the ghosts of Christmas Present Shadow, and we're here to show something reallllll cool." Pablo explained, as he and Austin teleport Shadow to a small house on a street corner. "Hang on a minute," Shadow said before continuing, "why are you showing me stuff when you two aren't even real. You're fictional characters." "We were always real Shadow: but you just didn't know it yet." Austin explained. "We've been watching you for a very long time, and we're delighted to finally be able to show you the error of your ways." Pablo added. "So why have you brought me to a street in the middle of no where?" Shadow asked. "Why don't you go and take a look?" Austin asked while pointing at the window of the house.

"Well why only you two where's Uniqua, Tasha, and Tyrone?" Shadow asked confused. "They're away on a confronance call in Miami settling business with the Hyman Roth Pie Syndicate." Pablo explained. "Right." Shadow said albeit a little unsure of himself.

Shadow then turned his attention towards the living room window, and made his way towards it, and peered in. Inside the house was Dark Reindeer, Skyrunner, Shadow Fiend, and Shadow Lioness. They were getting a table set up for Christmas dinner, and the room was filled with Christmas lights, decorations, and a large Christmas tree which sat by the fireplace.

"So Lioness," Fiend said before continuing, "did you and Reindeer speak to Shadow about coming over here for Christmas dinner with us?" Shadow Lioness gave a small sigh and said, "We didn't even get to the question before Shadow sent us away, but why should we be surprised when he says the same to us every year now." "I honestly don't why we even bother at this point. When Shadow left YouTube all those years ago he changed, and he'll never be like the man he used to be." Dark Reindeer sighed as he set down some plates onto the table.

Lioness then walked into the kitchen, and made sure that the turkey was still cooking. It wasn't quite ready yet. Suddenly, the doorbell rang, and Skyrunner got up to go see who it was. Shadow never thought he'd see the day because when Fiend opened the door he was greeted by none other than Hoodo Hoodlums Revenge himself. Also some weird looking bird in a scarecrow outfit came in following behind as well as Luca Brasi.

The bird's name was Henry Tomasino Junior, and he was the son of Henry Tomasino a mobster from Empire Bay who got killed by the Chinese Mafia after giving the feds information about them. He acted as Hoodo's personal driver. Luca on the other hand was Hoodo's personal enforcer,personal bodyguard, and part-time lover.

"Where the heck have you guys been?" Shadow Lioness asked after placing the now cooked turkey onto the table. "Stuck in traffic. It's a bitch." Hoodo sighed while farting violently as it made Shadow's nostrils sting, It smelt like that spaghetti he had on one of his streams many moons ago. "So where's Shadow?" Hoodo asked as he sat down at the table. No one answered instead they all looked down with sad looks plastered on their faces. "Oh don't tell me" Hoodo said as he continued with, "he said no again didn't he?" "We didn't even get to ask him the question this time." Dark Reindeer said in a sad voice.

"So how are you Luca?" Shadow Fiend asked as he ate some disgusting looking soup as everyone had began tucking into their meals now. "One thing must be understood, I would never go against The Godfather. Don Corleone is a man I respect. I understand he must put his sons before me in the family business." Luca explained. "Sure..." Shadow Fiend said uncomfortably as he poured himself a glass of water from a jug which was located on the table,

"What do they mean when they ask I always turn down their offer?" Shadow asked. "Uh you stupid Shadow?" Austin asked. "Wow harsh Austin, and to think I gave you and Pablo a whole season to build up our relationship." Shadow complained before getting cut off by Pablo who put his flipper over his mouth. "Dave!!!!!!" Pablo yelled at the top of his lungs. "We need your help." Pablo continued as DaveTheUseless came crashing down the roads with his cab from earlier.

"Well hello Shadow long time no see." Dave said as he let out a massive fart. "Sure long time Dave what do you want?" Shadow asked. "Well it seems that you can't seem to remember your friends asking you over for Christmas dinner every year." Dave explained. "But they never did that." Shadow added to which Dave sighed before clicking his fingers causing the room to change that of Shadow's office at Nickolodeon Studios. He was talking to Shadow Lioness and Skyrunner.

"Oh please Shadow do reconsider!" Skyrunner urged. "No! I already told you two my YouTube channel means nothing to me now." Shadow explained. "But just one night Shadow just one night with us for Christmas dinner, and then..." Shadow Lioness was cut off as Shadow said, "Backyardigans Backyard Adventures got 10 million views on the first episode. Tell me have any one of my videos ever reached that amount of views?" Shadow asked in a cold voice that make a cat shit it's pants. "Get out." Shadow said as the two made their exit. "Come on Lioness there's always next year." Skyrunner said as the two disappeared from Shadow's sight.

"Wow Shadow you really are an arsehole." Pablo said which caused Shadow to gasp and say, "don't say such vile things dear Pablo who thought you such vile phrases!?" Shadow asked in utter fear. Pablo didn't respond as Dave said, "I think he's seriously H."

Shadow glared at Dave before being shown some more scenes from his past which all played very similar to that with the people asking Shadow the offer of having Christmas dinner with them changing. One year it was Shadow Fiend and Hoodo Hoodlum's Revenge, another year it was Gunner and Skyrunner, and then another year it was all of them asking Shadow to join them for Christmas dinner. Each year it always ended with one them saying that there was always next year.

Shadow sighed as Dave flicked his fingers changing the room back to the one from earlier with Shadow Lioness and her friends having fun. Shadow Lioness was singing Take On Me on a karaoke machine, Shadow Fiend was dancing like a mad man, Skyrunner was playing Fornite with Hoodo, and Henry was chasing Gunner and Brasi around the house with a pair of scissors in his feathers.

Soon after, they all played a game of Twister, and all Shadow could do was wish he had of taken their offer as well as the offers they had made to him in the past years which he had completely forgot about. "Goodbye again sexy." Dave said as he left the trio of Shadow, Pablo, and Austin. He then disappeared back into the shadows of the night. The faint sound of a cab driving off into the distance could be heard in the background until there was nothing.

"Come we have one more thing to see." Pablo said as they made their way towards Nickelodeon Studios. In there, Shadow saw that Ellie was crying over the fact she hadn't got to spend the day with her family, Tessio was crying about the training montages been cut out, and the other interns weren't fairing better either. "Come here big boy," Pablo said as he led them into Shadow's office which showed him eating his toenails.

Shadow sighed. He had made people hate him not love him. That he does not forgive. "Look can we leave it there?" Shadow asked. "No Shadow we have much to see!" Austin said in a demonic voice as his eyes turned red, and he charged at Shadow with huge claws. Shadow dodged the attack, and they had an epic fight with Pablo cheering on Austin in the background.

Shadow however managed to come out on top, and defeated Austin as Shadow found himself back in the closet from earlier. Before he left, Pablo said, "good luck Shadow." "Yeah sure." Shadow said as he made his way to his office.