A/N: Well, here I am... Miss me? Probably not... Anyway, you'll all be happy to know that I've started plans for Series Three. Then again, maybe you all want to kill me now... Oh, well.

Chapter One: Force

The morning sun had risen, shining into the den onto Simba's face. Simba flickered his eyes open, letting out a yawn at the same time.

"Ugh, I hate the morning... I'm always so tired..." He said as he stood up and stretched. He looked down at Nala in the spot next to him. He might as well get her up too.

"Nala, wake up," he nudged her, "the sun's already up."

Nala yawned as her vision came into focus and she saw Simba, "Good morning."

Simba looked around the den. Some of his friends were still sleeping, which was odd, seeing as most of them were up long before him. He also noticed that none of the adults seemed to be anywhere... There was always a few left behind to watch the cubs when the rest went out on a hunt.

"Weird..." Simba said as he and Nala walked out of the den and looked out over the Pride Lands from the edge of Pride Rock.

"Something's off here..." Nala said. "It's quiet... I don't even see any other animals out there. It's as if everything vanished."

"Oh, that's nonsense," Simba laughed. "Not everything could have just disappeared. Maybe everything is just still sleeping... Or resting. It is rather humid; perfect resting weather."

"Simba, you know that doesn't make any sense," Nala told him. "Every animal in the Pride Lands wouldn't be sleeping at once."

"Well, then what?" He asked.

"Hm... Well, seeing as I don't see any other animals... Or any adults for that matter... Something is going on here, and it's not right."

Suddenly, a voice spoke up from behind them, "Oh, you're right about that, princess."

It was a lioness that neither of them recognized. They had to admit, her beauty was impressive. She had a sly grin; one of evil... It kind of reminded Simba of Scar.

"What?" Simba asked. "Who are you?"

"Me?" the teen lioness asked as she walked toward the two, staring both of them down. "What's it matter what my name is? I'm just here with some... Information you just might want to know."

"Your name first..." Simba demanded. It was obvious to him that this lioness was nobody good, so odds are she wasn't to be trusted.

"Oh... Very well," she said. "I suppose that it doesn't matter if you know my name, not much you can do with that anyway..."

"Just spit it out," Simba said, annoyed.

The lioness sighed. "Fine, fine... What a feisty little cub, I like that... I'm Fuerza."

"Fuerza?" Simba said, confused. That was an odd sounding name, but there was no time to dwell on that. "What are you doing here?"

Fuerza giggled, "Do you listen at all? I said I had some information you may want to know. You should really learn to pay attention, cub; it'll do you good... Anyway, I think you know two cubs that go by the names of Kulaani and Vitani, right?"

Simba didn't like the sound of this, "What did you do to them!?"

"Oh settle down, Simba," Fuerza said, "They're just fine. They're out in the jungle... Though I can't promise it will stay that way."

"Where are they?" Nala demanded. "Tell us!"

"What would be the fun in that?" Fuerza asked. "I'm not cold hearted enough to just kill your friends outright. You have a fair chance to save them... Of course, there is one little stipulation."

"And that would be?" Simba asked.

Fuerza grinned. "This is a dream. You're asleep right now, but none of you cubs can wake up... Unless you all make it to your friends before their time is up."

"This is messed up..." Nala said. "Why are you doing this? Well, I don't feel like going over it again, but long story short... You two need to die, but since I like to have a bit of fun, I'm giving you a chance to save your friends and yourselves..."

"Ourselves?" Simba asked. "This is a dream... We can't get hurt... Or die."

"Oops," the lioness said, "did I forget to mention that? If you die in this dream, you die in the real world."

This made Simba and Nala nervous.

"Well, then why not kill us now?" Simba asked. earning a glare from Nala for suggesting it.

"Because I can guarantee you and your friends won't make it through this alive," she said. "If you really thought this was going to be easy, you were wrong... Don't worry, you'll have fun! I'll have as much fun watching you all die as I did as I twisted that poor cub Haiba into a murderer... Same with that girl Angani... Well, I'm going to take my leave. You have until midnight to get to your friends... After that, well, you can imagine. Have fun!"

Then she disappeared.

"She's been behind all these recent issues..." Simba said, walking back to the den with Nala.

"Simba, we can worry about that later," Nala told him. "We need to get the others and get to the jungle before those two get hurt."

"All of you, wake up!" Simba yelled as he ran inside. "We need to get to the jungle, now!"

"Yeesh..." Malka said, rubbing his eyes with his paws, "Could you be anymore obnoxious?"

"Huh?" Kora yawned. "What's going on?"

"We'll explain on the way," Simba said. "We need to get moving, now..."

"Ugh... Looks like another stressful day," Sora said.

"Wait... Where's Mheetu?" Nala asked. "He must not be in this dream..."

"I'm dreaming?" Haiba asked. "How come Nala and Tora aren't feeding me grapes on the beach like usual?"

"Pardon me?" Tora asked.

Simba was starting to get annoyed. "Alright, we don't have time for this. We need to get moving... Now!"

"Okay, okay..." Haiba said. "I can already tell this is going to be a nightmare."

A/N: Well, now we know that lioness' name. That's something. Oh, and sorry if maybe this chapter was a little dull. Things will pick up.