𝕭𝖑𝖔𝖓𝖉𝖊 𝕭𝖊𝖆𝖚𝖙𝖞 (𝕲𝖔𝖑𝖉𝖊𝖓 𝕳𝖊𝖆𝖗𝖙 𝕭𝖔𝖔𝖐 𝕺𝖓𝖊)

Dude

"Okay. Carlos, we're gonna do some sprints. Are you ready?" Ryder called out.

Carlos nodded. "Oh! Ah! No, wait!" Carlos started running and screaming but neither Ben nor Ryder realized why.

"Sweet," Ben called stopping the stopwatch, Carlos on the other hand didn't stop; he kept going, past the princes and out of the bounds of the field.

"No Ahh!"

He shot off into the woods leaving Ben and Ryder to look at each other in question for a moment. "Carlos?" Ben called.

Ryder heard a dog bark and only just now realized that Dude was chasing him. It didn't make sense that the son of Cruella De Vil was afraid of dogs but that was the only plausible reason for him to run off into the woods. "Carlos!" The two princes ran after him.

"Carlos!" They yelled out at the same time.

"Ben! Ryder! Help!" He screamed pure fear, lacing his tone. They found him along the hiking trail and a few yards up a tree with dude barking at him.

Ryder raced forward to pick up the Brussels Griffon dog. "Whoa-whoa-whoa," Ryder easily calmed the animal down.

"Ben, Ryder, help me! This thing is a killer! He's gonna chase me down and rip out my throat. This is a vicious, rabid pack animal!" He said pointing at Dude, hugging the tree a little tighter. How he got all the way up there so fast was a mystery.

Ryder looked at him like he was crazy, "Who in the name of the sun gave you that idea."

"My mother," Carlos said in a duh tone.

"Curella?" Ben questioned; Ryder gave him a look letting him know that that was a dumb question.

He didn't have time to correct it though as Carlos rushed out his explanation, "She's a dog expert, a dog whisperer." He only then noticed that Ryder was holding the supposedly rabid animal. "Why are you holding him? He's gonna attack you!" he cried hysterically. It was starting to dawn on Ryder just how bad the isle was. Carlos raised to be a villain like Mal, Jay and maybe even Evie, he wasn't mean spirited. He was raised to be a slave, he was broken. Carlos wasn't an 'I'm Evil and will destroy all you love' Villain. Instead, the message Ryder was getting was, 'I'm evil, don't hurt me!' But Carlos had been hurt. If Curella, a lower-level villain on the isle could do this to her own child, her own flesh and blood what were the more dangerous ones doing?

Ryder let out a pained laugh, "I don't think a dog whisper specifically is a thing. Dude meet Carlos, Carlos this is Dude the campus mutt slash mascot." 

"He doesn't look like a vicious, rabid pack animal," he said slowly climbing down the tree. Ryder held out Dude a little so Carlos could pet him. "Jeez. You're a good boy, aren't you," He handed the dog to Carlos, showing him how to hold him, "You're a good boy."

Ben looked a little sad as he looked over at Ryder who was devastated. The boy was one of the four kingdom heirs; he was just as much in charge as Ben or Ella. He didn't use it often; he preferred to sit back and let his sister handle the life changing decisions. They were all too young to rule but he was the youngest, the least experienced, the least trained. But right now, Ryder was making a decision worthy of a leader, ready to put the good of his people above all else, because these children remembered what their parents had forgotten the people of the isle were their citizens as well. "I guess you guys have it pretty rough on the isle."

"Yeah, let's just say we don't get a lot of belly rubs," Carlos laughed.

"Good boy," Ryder chuckled at Ben's mix up. "I mean, you're a good runner. You're... you're fast, you know."