Yeah, this is in the Universe that Moreno rented out Valiente and his Dad out to rodeos as a way to make side money. I mean, Moreno had dressage horses so its definitely a possibility. But it's just suppose to explain how the hedgehogs got to Casa Del Toro in the first place. It goes with my story The Story of the Notches. Can be read on its own.
Also just a side note, does anyone every just like study Valiente? Like really study him? So it's confirmed by the directors that he's the smartest out of the bulls. But in an interview by the magazine 'Krash', it describes that he knows he's more like Ferdinand than he'd like to admit. It left me wondering what they meant by that. So, I kept rewatching the movie and I figured it out. Like, as a kid, he thinks he can beat the matador without gaining a scratch right? But then, after his dad loses the match, and Ferdinand's done talking to his dad you see Val's dad in the background as Valiente smashed the flower. I think that's the point Val's dad reveal that fighting the matador is life or death situation and more times then not you die. Then, when Ferdinand fined the empty trailer, you see Valiente do a lot on his face. At first shock, like dang, Raf actually died. Then Val looks back at his dad, like oh shit, because he figured out that Raf beat his Dad, Matador beat Raf, what chance did his dad have at surviving? He looks at Ferdinand angry, but Val could be doing something else. I think this is the point his mental state snaps. The other calves are his family. Wether you want it or not, when you grown up with someone, you develop emotional bonds. I think Valiente was trying to protect them this entire movie, just like Ferdinand was trying to protect them. You see, when Ferdinand is reintroduced to them as adults, Valiente shoved Bones to the side. When Bones makes a comment, Valiente physically intimidates him, but doesn't actually hurt him. He purposely reminded Bones of his size, after Bones comment on Ferdinand's growth. This may have been his way of telling Bones, just like Bones mentioned as a kid, that his advantage to his small size is speed. Then he stresses Guapo out before their time to impress the matador. This would be a simulation of the real thing, which would be an extremely stressful situation. He was forcing Guapo into a stressed out state to prepare him for a real round in the ring. Or this is just an idea he was forcing them to perform below him so he would go into the ring first, understand how to beat the matador and return to teach them. Then did you notice his choice of words after the dance competition? Dance your way straight into the chophouse. If he's that smartest, why would he remind them to train? He would want them to party so he would have the advantage of training properly. No, I don't think he was as big of a Jerk as he his originally thought. I think he really cared about his herd and wanted to them to survive, he just had a really shitty way of showing it.
"So, Una, Dos, Tres, and Cuatro," Lupe trailed her sentence until the hedgehog siblings were looking at her. "How did you guys get separated anyway?" She tilted her head as the herd lounged and grazed in a field.
Una bites her lip as she glanced around, her siblings also look antsy as they fidgeted.
"Yeah, how did you all get to Casa del Toro?" Guapo wondered over, picking up bits of the conversation. "It's like you all showed up one night and never left." The bull settled down, ready to hear the story.
Other members of the family gathered around to listen to the commotion. Una flickered her eyes past Lupe to the bull behind her. He hadn't moved from his napping spot. Instead, he flicked an ear in their direction to let her know he was listening.
"Yeah, how did you guys end up in such a terrible place?" Ferdinand questioned. Una, Dos, and Cuatro's expressions harden at Ferdinand.
"That place was our haven next to this," Dos warned him. "We went through a lot worst before hitching a ride back there."
"Oh, my bad." Ferdinand quickly apologized. Una gestured to her brothers to relax.
"You're fine big guy, you didn't know." She waved in dismissal. "But we actually lived in Seville in our youth, big town on rodeos and bullfighting," Una told him.
"So how did you get separated?" Lupe encouraged, she nodded as she blinked the siblings. The nanny goat plopped down ungrateful.
"Well, during February, it was always kind of hard to find food. But during Carnival, the streets were loaded with goodies. All we had to do, was steal it." Dos painted the picture for them. "One night, we slipped into the wrong building. It was the cattle building that holding all the bulls for that week. Stupidly, w decided that we could sneak past the sleeping bulls, we started to move their food." Dos stated bitterly.
"Then, Tres dropped an apple on a resting bull's tail," Cuatro remembered with horror. Tres rubbed his face in embarrassment.
"It was heavy!" He complained. "Anyway, the angry bastard woke the entire barn up with a yell. Moments later we were surrounded by pissed of bulls." Tres gulped.
"He was big and patched," Cuatro recalled.
"The jerk threatened to kill us for attempting to steal from him, 'a prize-winning bull'." Una mocked. "That led to a chant, 'squish them'," Una hugged herself.
"Kill the thieves," Dos mumbled.
"I plucked one of my quilled and threw it at the asshole. As soon as he recovered from it, he kicked me across the room. Last thing I remember before I blacked out was him stepping on my leg." Tres held Dos and Cuatro's hand.
"When we heard the crunch, we thought..."Una trailed off, wiping a tear from her eye. "The patched bull came back to us and told us we were going to die nice and slow."
"But then, Val-" Cuatro began to shout excitedly before Una covered his mouth. Cuatro looked dejected when the older sibling shook her head.
"We aren't allowed to tell." She reminded him. Dos piped in,
"Well, the conditions aren't the same," He crossed his arms. The violet hedgehog gathered her brothers in a circle.
"We made a promise." She corrected the blue mammal.
"Let him decide," Dos looked at her expectingly, his hands on his hips.
Una looked up at Lupe, then subtle glanced past her. Valiente lazily flicked his tail. Una rolled her eyes before ducking her head back into the huddle. "He said up to us." She made eye contact with each brother before breaking the circle.
"Go head Cuatro," She waved a hand at the happy hedgehog.
"So then, Valiente threw himself over top of us and told the guy to back off!" He wiggled around in excitement. Confused faces broke through the herd. "At first we were really scared, but he was stopping the older bull from stepping on us so we kept quiet." Heads swung back to the 'napping' bull.
"Really?" Bones asked shocked. "Big bad Valiente stopped someone from stepping on you?" Una nodded her head.
"Yeah, everyone in the barn knew who he was, Corazon Valiente, one of the most dangerous rodeo bulls in Spain. He was worth more than most of the bulls in the barn, combined. If one of them touched him, they could have been sent to the chophouse for it." Una emphasized with grandeur. "Patches sneered and joked to the other bulls that Val was a big softy for protecting a bunch of squirrels. " The hedgehog seethed.
"The big guy told the other bulls we were his assistants and property. He warned those suckers that if we were threatened again, he'd take that as a personal offense. He also demanded that Patches apologized for killing our brother." Dos smirked, fist-bumping Una. The pair remember how the brown and white bull got on his knees and begged for forgiveness from Valiente.
"And that he did brother." Una agreed.
"He told us to come with him and he led us back to his private stall." Cuatro sat down and gazed up at the sky. "Once we out of prying eyes, he said he was sorry he wasn't fast enough to save our brother. He promised that when he was taken back home, we could come with him." The little hedgehog sighed.
"For days we hid in his stall, and after his last rodeo event, he walked up into his trailer." Una stared openly at the resting bull a little ways from the group. Most heads turned in that direction too. "It was a cool night and he offered to let us snuggle up to him. Once we did, Valiente explained that he had to play the alpha role to hold respect. He said that kindness was a fault where he was from. "
"He said we could take anything from his stall we needed, as long as we didn't associate ourselves with him." Dos nodded along with his word.
"How'd you make it?" Lupe turned to the green hedgehog. He jumped at the sudden address.
"Well, all I remember was waking the next day to find myself in a trash can with a broken leg. I lived in an ally for a few months while my leg healed up. Once I could move, I hopped on a flower truck to take me to the country. I had to get out of the city, I thought that the bulls had killed those three." Tres shrugged, pointing a thumb at his sister and brothers.
"So, Val saved ya?" Angus tilted his head, still trying to wrap his he around the concept.
"Yeah, as we were falling asleep on the drive there, he told us-,"
"I gotcha hedgehogs." A soft voice rumbled low. All head swerved to the obviously awake bull staring at the hedgehogs with soft eyes.
"Why didn't you say anything about them?" Guapo questioned. Valiente rolled his eyes.
"There wasn't a need to." He put bluntly. The small mammals rolled over to brown bovine. They leaped onto his broad back. Both parties seemed comfortable with the action like they had performed it a hundred times before.
"You are a softy huh Valerie," Lupe trotted around the bull. He shook his head.
"I couldn't be soft Lup," The brown bovine sighed, "None of us could be soft. Soft dies, and you all were like my brothers. I refused to let you die." He shook his head again. Bones seemed to be the first to understand his implication.
"So you didn't hate us, you just didn't want us to go like our dads..." The tiny bull whispered, turning his head slowly towards the previous alpha. Valiente just hummed at this before laying his head back down on the grass.
Ferdinand smiled, Valiente and him weren't so different after all, they just had different ways of showing their love.
So, cannonly, if you read my side note, do you think Valiente was actually a sweetheart with a jaded worldview?