Who knew my perfectly regal boyfriend had a wild side? I like it….

Jay, Carlos, Gil, Harry, and Dude walked through the woods in search of Ben.

“Ben,” shouted Carlos. His call echoed through the tall trees.

Dude heard a rustling sound coming from a patch of trees and paused. “Woo, boy, you’ve got to be smelling that, right?” He stuck his little wet nose in the air.

Without warning, a terrible beast with wild eyes, matted fur, and a booming roar burst out from behind the trees.

Each of the four boys raised his fists (or hook) in a defensive stance, ready to fight the brute. The beast lunged toward Harry, but Jay quickly pulled the pirate out of the way.

Harry studied the untamed creature that growled in front of him. Granted, he hadn’t been in Auradon very long, but he knew a king when he saw one—and this was not it. The pirate looked pointedly at Dude. “You need some serious nose adjustments,” he critiqued.

Carlos stepped forward tentatively to take a closer look at the feral creature. The beast had familiar eyes. “Ben?” Carlos asked.

The beast turned toward Carlos and nodded his enormous furry head.

“Huh, I thought I recognized those pants,” said Jay, noting the beast’s blue racing pants with yellow side stripes. The outfit looked familiar, with one notable difference: the pants now sported a large hole in back, through which the beast’s long bushy tail whipped around wildly.

The beast clawed his way up a dirt mound, clutched his large paw, and roared with monstrous pain.

“Aw, he’s got a boo-boo,” said Gil. “That’s why he’s so cranky. You know, my dad said his dad did not handle pain well. At all.”

Beast Ben let out a deafening and dangerous-sounding growl, drew back his massive arm, and took a savage swipe at Gil.

Jay looked at Carlos. “You’re good with animals. Do something.”

“What? Okay…” Carlos took a deep calming breath and approached the untamed brute with cautious steps. “Hey, Ben. It’s me, Carlos, all right?”

The beast snarled, bared his teeth, and launched toward Carlos.

“Whoa, whoa, Ben, it’s me, Carlos. You know me.” Carlos reached for the beast’s injured paw. The creature snatched it back with a deep, intimidating howl.

“You helped me once. Remember, with Dude? Let me help you. Let me see your hand,” said Carlos tenderly.

The beast relaxed and reluctantly held out his paw. A large gnarly splinter was stuck in his palm, the flesh around it puckered angrily.

Carlos looked from the nasty wound to the beast’s pointy teeth and hesitated. Jay nodded at Carlos with confidence; he could do this.

“Let’s count. One, two, three.” Carlos gently grabbed the splinter with both hands, tugged, and removed the offending wood shaving from the beast’s palm. With the piercing pain gone, the beast released a deafening roar of relief.

“There it is. You did it!” said Carlos. It was unclear if he was talking to the beast or to himself.

Out of nowhere, a forceful stream of water blasted the terrifying beast in the chest. All heads turned to find Jane standing in the forest clearing, looking intrepid and no-nonsense. She aimed Chad’s water gun at the beast and squirted him with a rapid-fire stream of water from the Enchanted Lake.

Carlos and Jane locked eyes and wasted no time in sprinting toward each other. They hugged happily and talked over each other in excitement. “When you didn’t show up, I was sure she got you, too,” said Jane, taking Carlos’s hand.

“I was so worried. I didn’t forget your party. We had to go and I forgot to call,” said Carlos earnestly.

“I’m so glad you’re all right!” exclaimed Jane and Carlos in unison. They giggled. The reunion was nothing short of adorable.

Ben looked at Jane with great appreciation. He was soaking wet, but he was King Ben again.

“All right, you good?” asked Jay, helping Ben down from the mound. “Take a seat right there,” he said, pointing toward a sizable tree trunk.

“Yeah, uh-huh.” Ben still seemed a bit shaken up. “That was funky.”

“Was. Is,” said Jay, tilting his head and staring at Ben. Ben still looked part beast, with unruly hair, a full beard, and teeth pointy enough to be called fangs.

“You need another blast,” Jane said decidedly with a knowledgeable nod.

Carlos beamed at Jane proudly: that smart girl thought of everything.

Jane raised the sprayer to waist level, cocked it with confidence, and blasted Ben with more water, this time to no effect. He was still beast-ish. “Please stop,” said Ben, water dripping down his face.

Jane emptied the water gun with one final useless squirt. “Huh. It’s Enchanted Lake water. But I guess there’s only so much it can do.”

Harry watched the scene from afar and was impressed by the bubbly girl. “Well, well, well,” he said, sauntering up to Jane. He bowed low in an exaggerated gentlemanly fashion. “Harry Hook. And you, my little duckling, are ravishing.”

“Ravishing and taken,” said Carlos emphatically as he tried to stand tall. “Just in case anyone was confused.” He stepped right between Jane and Harry and shot the pirate the meanest look he could manage, then made a point of putting his other arm around Jane. Jane’s bright blue eyes danced with excitement. Carlos had just called her ravishing.

Ben listened to the exchange with great confusion. “Hold on. Whose side are they on?” asked Ben, baffled. The last time he’d seen Harry, the nasty pirate had him roped to a ship mast and was ordering him to walk the plank. The king was not a fan.

Jay did his best to catch Ben up on the day’s events, but it was difficult. An unfathomable number of things had gone down in just a few short hours. “They escaped and joined us. Mal has the ember, which is our only hope to stop Audrey. Details to follow,” said Jay.

“Hades’s ember? Has Mal gone back to the Isle?” Ben asked. He was utterly perplexed.

“I said ‘details to follow’! We’re meeting up with Mal, Evie, and Uma,” Jay told Ben.

“Uma?” Ben’s mouth hung agape and his eyes widened in shock. Ben couldn’t imagine how she had ended up in the mix.

The whole group leveled looks at Ben. “Details to follow,” everyone yelled in unison.

As they set off through the woods, Harry looked at Jay, tipped his hat, then ran his hook slowly over his chin and grinned. “Hey, Jay, um…” The pirate cleared his throat awkwardly. “Thanks for saving me gorgeous face.” He swatted Jay on the back in an almost-friendly way.