"I have a few ideas on how we could enslave the Pride Lands," Hago told Scar. "All of them quite…" He chuckled. "Disturbing."

Scar chuckled along with him. He liked Hago. Scar could sense he had the same amount of evil and hate inside of him, making him the perfect candidate to become his partner in evil. Hago had power, and Scar knew he could find a way to exploit this power, if it was done in the right way. He had a lot of plans for this evil lion…

"Well, go ahead," Scar urged. "What's your first plan?"

Hago laughed sinisterly. "Well… I was thinking we should put the Prince in the middle of the gorge nearby, and then tell him his father has a surprise for him, and to wait there. Then, your hyenas can cause a stampede of wildebeest that will be herded right into the gorge, thereby putting the Prince in quite some jeopardy. Then you can alert King Mufasa, send him into the gorge also, and kill them both in the stampede!" Hago laughed evilly.

Scar stared at Hago, wide-eyed by his explanation. After a few seconds, Scar burst out laughing, rolling about on the ground. "That has to be the stupidest idea I've ever heard!" he exclaimed through laughter. "Like that would ever work!"

Hago narrowed his eyes. "I can see you're not impressed. It doesn't matter anyway – there is a plan B."

Scar's laughter ceased, and he quickly became intrigued, rising up so he was staring Hago in the eyes. "A plan B, you say? How… good of you to plan ahead. Now tell me, what is this plan B?"

"I've faced the Prince and his troublesome little friend before," Hago answered, a look of pure hate burning in his eyes.

"They ruined my plans for universal domination, and I was so very close to achieving my plan, too. They humiliated me, and I know just the way to make them pay."

"How?" Scar asked, listening with interest. The evil contained within Hago was so powerful Scar could almost feel the anger emanating from him. Evil at its best…

"The plan is quite simple. We stage a hostage situation," Hago answered, an evil smile slowly creeping across his face.

"A hostage situation?" Scar repeated, his eyes widened.

Hago nodded, his cruel smile still on his face. "We kidnap Prince Simba's little friend and simply wait for him to come to her rescue. Then we can kill them both, thereby putting quite en emotional dent in the King. This gives us quite the opportunity to then viciously murder King Mufasa, allowing us to enslave the entirety of the Pride Lands!"

Scar chuckled evilly. Hago's plan sounded like it would work. It sounded like it would work perfectly! Why didn't he think of it before? Hago and him could make a powerful force when working together. No one could stop the two of them!

Everyone would cower before them, for all eternity!

"You're quite a smart lion," Scar told Hago.

Hago looked flattered. "I know of my brilliance. After all, I do have magical powers you know."

Banzai rolled his eyes. "Magical powers. Yeah, right."

"Yeah," Shenzi agreed, staring at Hago with doubt. "What a phoney!"

Hago noticed the hyenas were commenting on him. "What was that?"

Shenzi and Banzai looked at each other nervously, and laughed. "We were just saying how… magical you were."

Banzai nodded, smiling nervously. "Yeah. Magical, that's right."

"Fools!" Hago exclaimed, aiming his cobra staff at the two of them. Arcs of electricity shot out from the cobra eyes at the top of the staff and struck the two hyenas, electrocuting them both. Ed was laughing hysterically as Shenzi and Banzai screamed in pain.

Eventually the electrocution ceased, and Shenzi and Banzai collapsed to the ground, unconscious, their bodies smoking from the painful electrocution.

"Nice shot," said Scar, smiling.

"The key is not to pull the staff, but squeeze it," Hago told him.

"When should we strike?" Scar asked, eager to exact Hago's horrible plan. "I want the Pride Lands in my grasp as soon as possible!"

"Scar, you seem quite itchy to see my plan in action," Hago observed.

"Yes!" Scar admitted loudly. "Too long have I waited to enslave the miserable population of this pride! It's about time I had my revenge on my troublesome brother! Now that you're here I can see my dream is finally becoming true."

"Our dream," Hago corrected him.

Scar waved him away. "Yes, yes, I was getting to that."

"Well, I was going to suggest that we strike in the middle of the night. Take the cub when everybody is sleeping innocently. It's the perfect opportunity."

"Excellent thinking, Hago," Scar told him. "We shall strike tonight. Finally, the Pride Lands will be mine!"

The two of them laughed evilly, their cackles echoing into the night. An evil duo had been formed, and it looked like they were going to succeed in their sinister plot…

"Tired?" Nala asked Simba as she climbed off his back once they arrived in the den.

"Tired?" repeated Simba. "Me? Nah! I could stay up for hours!"

"You won't be, though," came the voice of Simba's mother, Sarabi, as she wandered over to the two cubs.

Simba rolled his eyes at his mother. "Aw, come on, Mom! All the other cubs stay up later than us! Why can't we?"

"Because, Simba, if you're going to be King then you need to go to sleep early if you want to be stronger in the morning." Simba frowned. Typical Mom answer. He had a feeling complaining would be pretty useless. His dad was always up late sorting out everything in the kingdom, and he sure doubted that his dad went to sleep early when he was Simba's age, either. It really wasn't fair!

"Can't we just stay up a little later?" Simba begged his mother.

"No, Simba, it's far too—"

Simba and Nala both flashed cheesy grins at Sarabi. "Please!"

Sarabi sighed at the two cubs, and decided – for once – to give in to the cubs' demands. "Okay," she agreed. "But only if you stay in the den."

"All right!" the two cubs exclaimed together, happy. They bounded further into the den to enjoy their extended freedom.

Five Minutes Later…

"… Well, I let them stay up for a little longer," Sarabi told Sarafina as they walked through the den, "and five minutes later I found them like this."

Sarabi pointed to an area in the corner of the den. Simba and Nala had both fallen fast asleep. Nala had collapsed on top of Simba, and was snuggled up to him, a smile on her face.

Sarabi and Sarafina both shared a glance at each other. "Aw…" Sarafina said. "That's adorable!"

Sarabi chuckled. "It is, isn't it?"

"Sarabi… why don't we leave them?" Sarafina asked. "Just for the night? I'd love to see the look on their faces when they wake up."

Sarabi smiled. "Yeah. Let's leave them. I don't think they'll mind one bit."

The two friends laughed together, and left the two sleeping cubs to themselves. They stayed that way for hours…

Well, until something – or someone – grabbed Nala and carried her out of the den…