"And I wish it could be Christmas every day..."

With a roll of his eyes, the Muppet Man turned off the television, and turned over on his bed. There was never anything interesting on at Christmas, especially Christmas night, he told himself. That wasn't what was really bugging him though. In fact, he would have preferred to be anywhere but where he was, stuck inside, having been told to 'rest up' and not 'go overboard' by his doctor. He really wanted to go out with his friends, and maybe drown some of his troubles, instead of lying here for hours on end, doing bugger all.

It was in these long, tedious hours that the pain became worse. Muppet had little else to think about, other than what Dave Harley had done to him, and what he was missing out on. That, and what he had to do in the upcoming weeks; because there was no way in hell he was going to pass up another opportunity, and let the Devil's Own gain an even stronger foothold. Sometimes, he thought that he was only one that cared about the future of the WWA, and not just his own personal glory and prospects of revenge.

Maybe he was right.

But as he sat up on his bed, the Muppet Man felt completely alone. He didn't know who to trust, or who to turn to in his time of unease. More so, though, he didn't know what the hell to do. He was bored out of his mind, and all this time to contemplate his mistakes and his situation certainly didn't help matters. He wasn't any closer to coming up with a solution, either. Getting to his feet, and still holding his ribs, Muppet moved over to the door, opening it and walking out. Screw going to sleep, he needed something to drink. Something strong.

Heading down the large staircase of Muppet Manor, Muppet rubbed some of the sleep out of his eyes. Whatever he was thinking about, and whatever he was feeling, he was still very tired. What annoyed him more than most things was that his friends had deserted him. King Muppet knew that Muppet couldn't do anything, and yet he had gone out anyway. He could have at least stayed back, and humoured Muppet. He could have at least pretended he cared. In this extra-pessimistic state, Muppet was about as angry at King as he'd ever been.

And then there was Alice Waterhouse. Muppet wished that he could call her his girlfriend, but that was out of the question. There was no way she'd let him, he thought with a slight smile. It wasn't a smile of happiness, though. Much more like a smile of exasperation. Muppet was foolish to think that she had changed after their little encounter with Mr. Takeichi. At least, not so quickly. He still had hope, but right now, that wasn't looking very likely either. As he entered the kitchen, Muppet looked up at the clock on the wall.

"3:00..." he muttered. "I should really be sleeping. Where the hell are those fools?"

Sitting down at the table in the comparatively small kitchen, Muppet opened the fridge, which was within arm's reach. With a quick glance he realised that there was nothing strong in there, so he made do and grabbed two beers from the second-top shelf. Much to his displeasure, Muppet still had a lot of thinking to do. First and foremost, there was his situation in the WWA. There was a tournament starting up, the 'Embrace The Power' tournament. A tournament that he had been entered into, despite the wishes of his doctor. A tournament that if he wasn't careful, the Devil's Own would take full advantage of.

Cracking one of his beers open, Muppet took a... heroic swig. He was booked to wrestle next week, the week after Christmas. In the first rounds of the Embrace The Power tournament, he had to get past one of Dave Harley's lackeys, Mr. Darkness. Normally, he would have thought this to be no problem at all. After all, Harley had cheated his way to the title, and just a couple of weeks before, Muppet had beaten him in a one on one match. What possible challenge could one of his henchmen pose?

With a grimace, the Muppet Man clutched his bandaged ribs and chest. This was going to be a lot harder than he had thought. He could still pull it off, though. All he needed was some support, the support of his friends, and those around him. But right now, he wasn't exactly very likely to be getting that. The fact of the matter was that he had no one to turn to. For the first time since he had left the Devil's Own himself, he was completely alone. He was the only one who understood himself.

And if there was anywhere he wanted to stay away from, it was that place.

He was never going back there... not as long as he lived.

Taking another huge gulp of beer, Muppet got up and grabbed both bottles. It was no use sitting here and thinking around in circles, he had to do something. So, since he couldn't sleep, he was going to go and find his wrestling tapes, and do the oldest trick in the book. He was going to study some of Mr. Darkness' old matches, and find out his general strategies, weaknesses, and how Muppet could protect himself sufficiently with his injury. Sure, it was cliché, but what else could he do?

At least, that was what he planned to do. But as he walked across the main hall, he heard a car pull up outside, and he went to the door to check it out, opening it. There was King Muppet, walking slowly up towards the house, with an odd grin on his face. He was wearing one of Muppet's hats, which was a little off centre, and he walked with a slight skip in his step.

He didn't look too drunk.

"A- Andy, old bean!" he shouted out, grinning even wider at seeing Muppet. "What a poshitively cr- cracking night it ish, eh?"

Then again, appearances can be deceiving.

Slapping his forehead and sighing deeply, the Muppet Man rushed out to meet King, who was tripping and stumbling all over the place as he attempted to climb the stairs up to the front door. "Someone's been having a good time, I see," Muppet said, keeping all emotion from his voice.

"O- oh, yeah! Yeah, it wash a- awesome! Haven't been to shuch a party in sh- sho long now, old fruit!" King said, stumbling as much over his words as the steps. Muppet grabbed him, steadying him, and guided him back up into the house.

"Y- you're a pal, Andy! I r- really appreciate it, you know..." King said, beginning to trail off. "Hey, where the... where the hell are we?"

Muppet was a little taken aback. He wasn't used to dealing with drunk-King when he himself wasn't equally as hammered. "Uh... we're at home."

"What?" said King, tilting his head. "Oh... oh yesh, sho we are! Hahaha! You could have fooled me, old shpiche!"

"Old... what now?" Muppet asked, as they walked back towards the kitchen.

"Shpiche..." King said.

"...Spice?"

"That'sh the one!"

"Where's Alice?" asked Muppet, remembering. The whole situation with Mr. Darkness had been driven out of his mind.

"Hm?" King stuttered. "Oh... I don't know. P- probably shtill enjoying hershelf with the others... and him."

"Him?" Muppet said, confused.

"Yeah. Th- the guy who organishded thish whole party... thingy... real wizard, he ish. Top notch bloke. UP THE CLOWNSH!" King said, punching his fist in the air.

This caused him to lose his balance, though, and he shlipped... uh, slipped over.

"Hey... y- you alright?" King said.

"Just fine..." muttered Muppet, helping him up. "The clowns? Who the hell is this guy anyway?"

King started, "It's R- r- r- r- r- r..."

"Take your time," Muppet said, steadying, meanwhile attempting to hide the beer behind his back. "R...?"

"R- r..." King said, "...RUFIO!"

The Muppet Man was stunned. Suddenly, it was all coming back to him. He had run into Rufio the Seven Foot Clown during the Birthday Brawl, but because of the time and place, he hadn't had a chance to do anything... or ask any question. What was he doing there? And where had he been this whole time?

"So, Rufio's back..." Muppet muttered, mostly to himself. This memory had also awakened another, though. The white face of Mr. Darkness was once again spinning inside his mind, making him feel almost as dizzy as King looked.

"W- what'sh wrong?" King asked, seeing him put his hand to his head.

"Not much... you know I'm booked this week?"

"O- oh yeah. Againsht... who wash it?" King said, attempting to play along.

"Mr. Darkness," Muppet finished for him.

"Well... that shouldn't... that shouldn't be much of a p- problem, sh- should it now, old... monkey?"

"Yeah, but you're forgetting one thing," he said. "I'm injured, and he's not. He's got the Devil's Own in his corner. And what have I got?"

"Y- you've got me!" King said, opening his arms wide, trying to cheer his friend up.

"Yeah, right, whatever..." Muppet said, turning away and crossing his arms.

"Well, you've got Odium..." King said, subdued, also turning away, and sounding genuinely hurt. Before Muppet could say anything, he was walking out of the room, and back into the entrance hall. Muppet sighed, going to follow him, but suddenly they both heard police sirens outside.

"What the hell...?" shouted Muppet, rushing to window. He looked out, and saw a police car pull up next to King's car. At least... wait...

"WILL!" he screamed. "THAT'S NOT YOUR CAR!"

"Oh... yeah!" said King, sidling over with a laugh. "Sho that'sh why it wash sho hard to get in!"

The Muppet Man slapped his forehead again. "Get out and sort this s**t out! I'm not getting involved this time!"

"Okay, okay..." King said. "Don't get sho uppity. I'll... I'll short it out."

"If you don't get done for theft, you were driving drunk..." Muppet continued muttering, as King opened the door and walked. Not wanting to hear the rest of it, Muppet slammed the door right behind him.

What the hell was he going to do?

On top of everything, he was probably going to have to bail King out of jail...

Well, there wasn't much more that he could do. And besides, King had revealed something very important. There was still someone he could turn to.

Reaching into his pocket, Muppet pulled out a card that he had completely forgotten about. On it was a picture of the WWA's only white haired resident. Other than Aidan DelaCroix.

This might just have been the answer to his problems...

Turning around, the Muppet Man went not towards his collection of tapes, but back up to bed. He was going to do some real preparation... and that meant sleep.

For he'd made his decision.

Andy Scrine was going to make the most of his time.

He was going to Embrace The Power.

He had to...

Because he didn't know how long the Muppet Man would be around for.