Simba glared at Hago with nothing but anger. He knew Hago was up to something, but he didn't exactly know what it was. Something was seriously wrong, and Simba knew it was up to him to figure it out.

"What are you doing here?" Simba asked Hago in an unwelcoming tone. If there was anyone Simba didn't want to see right now then it was Hago. He hated Hago almost as much as he hated his Uncle Scar. Almost.

"I'm here on the order of my best friend, King Mufasa," Hago replied, smiling innocently. He knew he would win this one.

There was no one who could stop him, because his plan was completely foolproof. "He has quite an… interesting announcement to make at the end of the day, and had requested my presence."

"You're lying," Simba stated, seeing right through Hago's lies. He knew that his father would never be friends with such a cruel person. Hago was the type of person his father would see as an enemy.

"Simba, don't be so rude," Mufasa scolded. "Hago is a very respected friend of mine. He wouldn't lie."

"Huh?" Simba exclaimed. Was he hearing this correctly? Why was Mufasa standing up for Hago? What had Hago done to him? "Dad, you can't be serious! He's evil! He's one of the bad guys!"

"Mufasa, this is totally absurd," Hago told the King, trying as hard as he could to stop himself from laughing. He found the fact that Mufasa believed him instead of his son to be quite funny.

"You're right, Hago," Mufasa agreed, staring down at his son, feeling quite angry that Simba didn't believe his good friend, Hago. Mufasa would trust Hago with his life. He wasn't the type of person who would lie. "Simba, I think you owe

Hago an apology."

Hago suppressed a snicker. "Yes, Simba. You've put quite a dent in my pride, I must say. But I'm willing to accept anapology from you."

Simba frowned. "You're not getting anything from me! I'd rather die!"

Nala rushed over to Simba's side, seeing all the commotion that was going on. "Simba, what's going on?" she asked, looking back and forth at Mufasa and Hago. Mufasa looked angry with Simba, while Hago looked quite offended. But

Nala also detected a smidgen of enjoyment in the expression on Hago's face. It was like he found the whole situation rather entertaining. It wouldn't surprise her.

"He's done something to my Dad!" Simba exclaimed, pointing at Hago angrily.

Hago scoffed. "Simba, what could I possibly do to your Dad? This is getting absolutely ridiculous!"

"Simba, I want you to go," Mufasa commanded.

"Dad, he's—"

"Go!" Mufasa roared, causing Simba to jump back in surprise. He stared at Hago for a few seconds, before running off.

Nala was staring at Hago too. "What have you done?"

Hago grinned evilly, pure menace evident in his eyes. "Nothing," he replied. "What would make you think that?"

Nala stared into his menacing eyes, before she too ran away, following after Simba. There was something seriously wrong going on. Suddenly, Mufasa seemed to be good friends with Hago. That was one of the most unlikely things that could ever happen. It just sounded wrong.

Nala finally caught up with Simba in the middle of a grassy field. The sun stood high in the middle of the sky, telling her that it was the middle of the afternoon. It wouldn't be long now before the sun began to set, and evening begun, before that too would slowly dissolve into night.

"Simba, what are we gonna do?" she asked her best friend. "Why the heck is he friends with your Dad?"

Simba shook his head, a worried look on his face. "I don't know! I know he's done something to my Dad, I just don't know what!"

Nala could see he was starting to panic now. They couldn't start panicking. It would just make things worse. "Simba, calm down," she said soothingly, putting a comforting paw on his shoulder. "We need to think."

Simba nodded, taking a deep breath. He didn't like this. He'd was used to stopping Hago's various plots and schemes, but now his own family was at risk, and that made things quite different. It made things that little bit more dangerous.

"Okay," he said, breathing heavily. "Okay."

"We need to figure out what he's done to your Dad," Nala told him. "Then maybe we can, I don't know, make it right again."

Simba thought for a moment. "He knows magic, right?"

Nala nodded. "Yeah. So?"

"Well, what if he made my Dad his friend?" Simba suggested. "He could have… changed him, or…"

"Hypnotised him," Nala finished with wide eyes.

"Hypnotised him?" exclaimed Simba. "How could he do that?"

"With his magic, duh!" she replied, causing Simba to suddenly feel rather stupid.

"Oh, yeah. But why would he hypnotise my Dad?" Simba asked, wondering Hago what could gain from taking control of his father's mind.

Nala narrowed her eyes. Simba really missed out on the most obvious things sometimes. "Simba, your Dad is the King.

Think of what Hago could do if he had control over him."

Simba gasped in horror. "He could have us banished!" Simba realised.

"Or he could take control of the whole kingdom!" Nala exclaimed, trying to get through to him.

"Oh, yeah. That too. Well, we've… we've gotta stop him!" Simba was beginning to panic again. Normally solutions quite easily presented themselves when he and Nala were in trouble, but this time there didn't seem to be an easy solution.

Was there any way to stop Hago from taking over the Pride Lands?

"How are we gonna do that?" Nala asked, hoping he had some kind of a sneaky plan. Most times he did.

Simba thought for a moment, and his face lit up when a plan formed in his head. "We could always try telling my Mom.

She'd be able to tell straight away if something was wrong with my Dad."

"Sounds like a plan," Nala said with a smile.

"We'd better hurry!" Simba then ran off, followed closely by Nala. They had to get to Pride Rock before Hago tried anything else.

"This is pure genius!" Hago exclaimed as he and Mufasa got closer and closer to Pride Rock. "I'm surprised I never thought of it before, really!" He turned to his obedient slave Mufasa, an evil grin on his face. "Mufasa, when we reach Pride Rock you're going to announce to the entire pride that you're going to make me the new King. You'll say that you have every confidence in me, and I'll make the perfect successor to you. You're going to say that I'll be b etter than you. In fact, that's quite a good reason for why you're stepping down actually. You'll say you think you've been a miserable failure as a King and are respectfully stepping down. Got it?"

"Yes, master," Mufasa complied. "You will be a far better King than I ever was."

"Oh, I know," Hago said with an evil chuckle. "I'm going to be the greatest King in all of history."