Hago was smiling evilly as he and Scar sat near the border that separated the Pride Lands from the Outlands, awaiting for Simba arrive to 'rescue' Nala.

There was no way they were going to let that happen, though.

"He'll be along any minute," said Hago excitedly. "The plan cannot possibly fail!"

"And soon the Pride Lands will be ours," Scar added, laughing sinisterly, "and there won't be anyone left to oppose us."

"You won't win," said a voice from behind them.

Scar and Hago turned around to see Nala, who had quite a confident smile on her face. The two villains looked at each other, their eyebrows raised. They then looked at Nala, frowning.

"Oh, really?" said Scar, doubt in his mind. "And why do you think that, you inept little cub?"

"Like I said, Simba will be along to rescue me any minute, and I'm sure he'll have no problem taking care of you two."

Scar and Hago laughed, thinking the idea of Simba beating them was outrageous. Nala still had the confident smile on her face.

"Fine, laugh if you want," Nala told them. "But Simba's managed to beat you before, so I don't see why he can't do it again."

"There's a slight difference this time," Hago informed her. "You may have been able to outdo me on my own once before. But now I have a power-hungry genius, and an army of hyenas by my side. Now, you silly girl, how do you think one cub can stop that many of us?"

Nala said nothing. Hago smiled, thinking this was conclusive.

"I thought so," Hago said, satisfied he had made his point. "Now shut up, because if you talk again I'll cut off your legs."

Nala gulped. The way Hago said that made her believe he would actually do such a despicable thing. It wasn't beyond his boundaries, that was for sure. That is, if he even had any boundaries.

"Hago, what exactly is the procedure for when the little brat gets here?" Scar asked his accomplice.

"It's simple, Scar," Hago replied simply. He pointed at Nala. "We stick her in an empty area, hide somewhere and wait for the Prince to arrive. Then once he arrives, we just need to jump right out at him and kill the two of them. It really couldn't be simpler."

"Hmm…" Scar said thoughtfully. "Good plan, but what if we made it a little more… interesting?" Scar asked, an evil look in his eyes.

"Interesting, eh?" Hago repeated, liking where Scar was going with this.

"It's not really fair that we're going to kill them straight away, is it?" said Scar, smirking sinisterly. "That's more like amercy killing. What we should do is capture them both and give them a slow, painful, agonising death. They deserve it for putting us through so much discomfort. Don't you agree?"

Hago chuckled. "What a… delicious idea, Scar. I like the way you think."

"Likewise," said Scar, smiling. "Torturing the two annoying cubs will make up for all the bother I have suffered because of them. This will be the best day of my life, Hago. If you never showed up I think I would have killed myself because of the misery."

"So you've been like this all along?" said Nala, addressing Scar. "I knew you were creepy but this is just… nasty."

"What did I tell you I would do if you spoke again?" said Hago threateningly.

Nala ignored him. "I can't believe you lied to us – lied to us all – about everything."

"It's hardly surprising," said Scar, examining his sharp claws. "If you paid attention you could figure it out easily. But that's where I succeed, you see. All of you are so stupid, after all. It was just too easy to fool you."

So Simba's Uncle had been planning stuff like this for a long while, at least ever since his brother was King. Nala had only seen Scar a few times, but she always thought there was something just plain evil about him. He always seemed to be so mysterious, like he was hiding a dark secret. He preferred to stick to the shadows, and Nala now knew why.

"So that's the plan," said Nala. "Kill me and Simba… then the King…"

"Precisely," Scar answered. "It's one of the best plans I've ever devised."

Hago cleared his throat loudly. "We. We've ever devised."

"Oh, you know what I meant," Scar said, waving him away with a paw.

"One of your best plans?" Nala exclaimed. "Just how many times have you tried to take over the Pride Lands?"

Scar put a paw to his chin and thought for a second. "Three hundred and sixty-two," he answered honestly.

Nala's eyes widened. It seemed he was quite the expert on evil plans…

"Okay, okay, enough of the chitchat," Hago interrupted, getting up. "I think it's time we put you in a more… suitable position."

Nala started to get worried again. What were they going to do to her this time?

"She's gotta be around here somewhere…" Simba said as he poked his head around a corner, peering into the Outlands.

He knew it was the Outlands as soon as he saw it. The land was barren, dusty, dying; all the trees seemed dead; the place looked very misty and the general atmosphere of the place shouted, "Evil!"

Yep, if someone was going to kidnap Nala, then this would be the place they would bring her. The perfect hideout. Why would anyone come looking around this creepy place? It's the kind of location you'd want to avoid.

Simba most certainly wasn't going to avoid it. He had a job to do. He had to save Nala and stop whatever Hago had planned for the kingdom. He wanted the Pride Lands for his own last time, and Simba had the sneaky suspicion that Hago wasn't one for giving up his lifelong dream.

The place did look empty though, and Simba thought that was kind of odd. Shouldn't it be crawling with hungry hyenas?

He knew the Outlands were where they resided, so where were they? Simba wondered if maybe Hago had finished them off too…

Simba shook his head. He was getting too worked up, and he hadn't even started yet.

He started walking, beginning his journey through the Outlands and his search for Nala.