One of the things Simba and Nala sometimes dreaded about going home too early was that occasionally they had to pass through the water hole, which is where the other cubs usually hung around until gone dark. They were so lucky...'

"Hey, Simba, you call that a girlfriend?" one of the cubs spat as they walked by.

"Shut up!" both Simba and Nala snapped towards the cub at the same time. They were used to it by now. Too used to it. The two friends often joked about how when Simba was King, he'd have them all chased out of the pride, never to return. Revenge best served hot.

One of the other cubs chimed in. "What are you, attached to each other now?"

"That's what happens when you're so in love," a female cub joined in.

Simba and Nala simply ignored them, their heads held high. They were too good for this kind of abuse. They weren't going to let it get to them. Never had, never would.

After all, there were more important things to worry about.

Scar angrily stormed around the Outlands, searching for his 'top hyenas': Shenzi, Banzai and Ed. That was a big understatement, though. They just happened to be the least stupidest of all of his slaves. Plus they were certainly a step upwards from the last nuisance Scar had to deal with, an annoying little fan of Scar that went by the name of Mtumwa, or 'Tummy' as he liked to annoyingly call himself. Anyone was better than him.

Scar had felt himself rapidly declining in the past few days. Everything seemed that little bit worse – worse than it already was for him, that it. Everything felt so useless these days. No matter what Scar did, he could never take over the Pride Lands. It was the one thing he yearned for – was it so hard to take over one lousy kingdom?

But good help was hard to find these days. Scar of all people knew that. If only there was another genius around somewhere. Someone like him. Someone with the same wit and cunning and... well, evil.

Instead, he had to deal with the ridiculous stupidity of his hyena minions. Even they proved to be useless. Every task he gave them always ended in a miserable failure, and this only succeeded in making Scar more miserable. Misery, misery, misery. That's all he received. All Scar had ever received.

"Hey, it's Scar!" a voice cried.

Scar sighed and turned around to see Shenzi, Banzai and Ed approach him. Immediately he could tell from the look in their eyes that they wanted food from him. Well, he didn't have any, so they could starve for all he cared.

"So, Scar, old buddy, old pal of mine," said Banzai. "Do you happen to have any food by any chance, huh, Scar, huh?"

"Not today," Scar grumbled.

Shenzi noticed Scar looked a little... miserable today. At least, more miserable than usual. "Hey, Scar, you look a little bit sad. What's up?"

Scar glared at them furiously. "Sad?" he roared. "I never get sad!"

"Well, you look sad to me," Shenzi muttered.

Banzai nodded. "Yeah. Feeling a little down in the dumps, Scar?"

Scar closed his eyes and sighed deeply. "The kingdom is becoming increasingly hard to overtake."

"Like always?" said Banzai.

"You're not making me feel any better, you know," Scar informed Banzai.

"Oh." He laughed. "Oops."

"As I was saying, I have the sickening feeling that I'm going to need..." The word choked in his throat for a second. "Help... if I am to succeed in crowning myself King.

"Help?" exclaimed Shenzi. "I thought we were your help."

Scar couldn't help but laugh. "You? You can hardly be considered help. You're all slaves. Nothing more. I need some kind of assistant, someone I can plot with easily."

"Did someone say my name?" a voice called from behind them all.

Scar swiftly turned around to see a strange lion wielding a staff with a cobra-like head. "Who are you?" Scar demanded.

The lion smiled. "Just a friend," he replied. "But you can call me... Hago."

Scar quickly grabbed Hago by the throat. "How did you find us here?"

"Now if I talked, what would keep you from slaying me O Evil One?" Hago replied. He gestured towards the scar on Scar's face. "By the way, that's never gonna heal if you don't stop picking."

"What do you want?" Scar demanded angrily. "Who sent you?"

"I sent me," Hago replied. He glanced around. "I see there hasn't been much in the line of decoration here," he commented, seeing how barren the Outlands looked. "But I'm sure it can be brought up to code with a little bit of magic."

"What are you talking about?" Scar asked, thinking he had yet another creepy psycho with brain damage to deal with.

Was there a whole club devoted to them or something?

Hago sighed. Surely Scar was intelligent – couldn't he tell he was a magical wizard who sought control of the Pride Lands?

"Look," Hago began, taking a deep breath. "I am Hago, the greatest wizard in all the world. I want to take over the Pride Lands, and enslave the entire population. Understand?"

Instantly, Scar's eyes glinted with curiosity. He could now see enormous potential in Hago. A wizard? Who wanted to control the Pride Lands? Wanted to enslave the population? Scar liked him already! This was the type of scheming madman who Scar was looking for all along.

Scar put his paw around Hago's shoulder. "Why didn't you say so? I've been expecting you."

"Sorry? Expecting me?" said Hago, raising an eyebrow. "No one expects me. I came to find you."

Scar looked surprised. "Oh, really? Why would you be looking for me?"

"Because Scar, I know you. You're a power-hungry maniac with anger problems who wants control of the Pride Lands."

"Anger prob lems?" Scar roared furiously. "I have no anger prob lems!"

Hago smiled. "Right," he said, nodding.

"This guy's good," Banzai whispered to Shenzi, watching this interesting spectacle.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't tear you apart right now!" Scar threatened.

Hago seemed completely unaffected by Scar's threats and yells. This was different to the hyenas, who cowered in fear when Scar raised his voice. Hago however, just stood there, smiling.

"Because today I was thinking, 'Hey, maybe I should try and get some help to take over the kingdom I so much adore,' so I decided to find you. With my brains and your... evil, we could be unstoppable."

"I'm listening," Scar said. Things were looking up...