"Yow!" Haiba exclaimed as he was sent rolling down a long hill, bumping and bouncing all over the place, until he stopped at the bottom. "What the heck is wrong with these lionesses? They may be cute, but they're certainly not friendly!" he shouted, panting as he pulled himself to his paws. "Now what am I going to do?"

Haiba had to admit that he was totally clueless on this. It was rare that he ever got himself into a deadly situation. In fact, the closest he'd ever got to deadly when his mother had set him up for a date with Princess Inatisha. Now that was deadly! Never had he met a more scary cub…

But this was something else. It wasn't just one cub – it was a whole pride! Using the Uchoyo Diamond, Simba had successfully hypnotised the entire pride into doing whatever he wanted. There was no way to break the hypnotic hold over them without destroying the diamond itself. Haiba knew that was going to be tricky. How could he get to the diamond when the whole pride would do everything they could to stop him?

"Come on, Haiba," he said to himself, hitting the side of his head. "You can think of something. You've got to. Otherwise it'll be too late… and the pride will stay hypnotised for ever!"

Haiba knew that the Uchoyo Diamond never lost its hypnotic effect, unless it was destroyed. However, if someone stayed hypnotised for a long period of time, then they would stay that way for ever, whether or not it was destroyed. If Haiba couldn't do something to stop Simba, then the Pride Landers would remain his loyal servants, captivated by the mystical power of the diamond.

"So…" Haiba paced back and forth around the section of the Outlands the lionesses had thrown him into, trying to think of something quickly. He didn't have much time. Maybe an hour at the most. The Uchoyo diamond was that powerful. "I have to stop Simba, but I can't stop Simba. Well, this isn't looking too good right now, is it?" He groaned, looking up at the sky. "Why me?"

Normally, Haiba would have left this kind of heroic business to Simba. He was good at dealing with this sort of thing. But there was just one problem: he was the cause of the trouble! He would have asked Nala for help, but she had been hypnotised, too! It wasn't looking good for him at all…

Sometimes I really wish I wasn't me, Haiba thought, tugging at the fur on top of his head. He couldn't think of anything.

His mind had drawn a total blank. He just didn't have any smart ideas! It was tough to think when the freedom of a whole pride was at stake.

Haiba shrugged, turning away from the hill he had been thrown down. "I could always run away," he suggested to himself. "Simba's not exactly going to come after me. I could go back home – to the Grand Lands. Mom wouldn't exactly mind…" He considered the idea for a moment, and then shook his head. "No," he decided. "That would be something a coward would do. And I am not a coward!"

Haiba closed his eyes as tight as he could, straining to come up with some kind of plan. "Come on…" he willed, hoping he would have a sudden brainwave. But, sadly, he didn't. "Darn it!" he exclaimed, opening his eyes. "How the heck am I supposed to save the kingdom if I don't have a plan?"

Haiba looked down at the ground, and a smile spread across his face when he saw a rock right below him. "Hmm…" he said, his smile widening. "Maybe I can use that rock to knock some sense into me!" Laughing, he picked up the rock, before bringing it crashing down on top of his head. "Ow!" he cried, dropping the rock, his paws clasped firmly against his head. "Okay… Okay, that was stupid… Ow…"

Haiba stumbled about the place, before – as luck would have it – an idea popped into his head. "Wait…" he thought, as the idea began to take shape. "I've got it!" he cried, grinning. He then winced. It hurt to smile… "If I can't stop Simba, then I'll just… surrender to him."

Haiba chuckled, before making his way up the hill. To his very surprise, Haiba had suddenly come up with a heroic plan.

A plan that just might work, if it was executed in a smart and clever way.

But that was the hardest part. Haiba wasn't exactly the most intelligent cub around, so this was going to be difficult. Very difficult indeed.

So, I have to get to Simba, steal the Uchoyo Diamond from him, and then destroy it b efore I'm slaughtered by the mesmerised pride. He laughed nervously. Simple.

"I hope they got rid of him," Simba said as he lay on the edge of Pride Rock, watching over all of the land that belonged to him. Everything the light touches. And pretty soon, everything the light didn't touch would belong to him as well. "I won't be very happy if I see him crawling around here again…" He gritted his teeth. Anyone who failed to obey him would be eliminated. The whole world would bow down before him!

"Simba…" Nala was still snuggled up to him. It was just like any other day – except that Nala no longer had her free will, of course. All she wanted now was to serve her new King. Simba was her eternal master. "What is your next command? I will do anything for you… Anything…"

"We'll move to the next pride," Simba replied, holding the Uchoyo Diamond up to his face. It sparkled with magic, and Simba's eyes sparkled in response. He wanted more control. So much more… "And we'll hypnotise them. Then the next pride, and the next, and the next, until everything is in my control!" An evil, greedy grin spread across his face.

"Everything…" He stroked the diamond. "Then it'll just be you and me, Shiny Thing. You and me for ever…"

"Yes, master…" Nala said, nodding. "We will control everything… everything…"

Before long, the entire world would be under Simba's control. And with the Uchoyo Diamond in his possession, no one would be able to stop him. All it took was one look. One look and they were in Simba's power.

But one question Simba was neglecting to ask was this. Was Simba controlling the diamond, or was the diamond controlling Simba?

All he could think about was how much he loved the diamond. He wanted to take care of it. He wanted to look after it. He wanted to love it. He did love it. And all the while his mind was slowly being drained. It was being drained until Simba was nothing more than one of his victims – a loyal servant to the Uchoyo Diamond. It pulled in everything around it. The diamond was the true ringleader of this hypnotic plot. Simba was just one of its servants.

And time was ticking down. It wouldn't be very long before Simba lost his free will also, and everyone would just be zombies. Of course, they would have nothing to do, since the Uchoyo Diamond wasn't a living being. But it still had power, and it wouldn't be long before another person found it, and the whole thing started all over again. It would go on and on and on for all eternity, never stopping, never faltering, and never fading.

It would control everything.

Haiba cautiously ducked behind a bush, his eyes focused on Pride Rock. That was where Simba was. Looking left and right, Haiba couldn't see anyone guarding the area. Everyone was at Pride Rock, all serving their master. King Simba. Not if I can help it, Haiba thought, before slowly walking over to Pride Rock, ready to put his plan into action.

He was going up against his own friend. But Haiba knew that it wasn't really Simba's fault. The Uchoyo Diamond had chosen Simba. It was influencing his actions, his decisions. It had a low level psychic ability, which was rare for an inanimate object. Haiba thought that it would have taken someone truly evil to create such a thing. Nothing that complicated came about just by chance. Someone must have invented it…

But the mysteries surrounding the diamond could wait for now. Haiba had a job to do. He had to stop Simba before he himself fell victim to the power of the diamond, along with everyone else. They would all be reduced to zombies if he couldn't destroy the diamond in time.

Haiba glanced up at the edge of Pride Rock, and could make out Simba, lying on the edge. He could see the sparkling Uchoyo Diamond just next to him, glinting with control. He was just lucky that his mind was a little odd, otherwise he would have fallen prey to its hypnotic power.

Okay, Haiba thought, taking a deep breath. Let's do this.

"Simba…" Sarabi called. "We have an intruder…"

"What?" Simba yelled, walking down Pride Rock, an angry look on his face. "What do you mean, an intruder? That's impossible! Everyone is supposed to be totally under my…" He trailed off when he saw two lionesses dragging Haiba towards him. "Control."

"Hello again," said Haiba, grinning at Simba. "Surprised to see me, Simba? Well, so am I, but there's actually a very good reason for—"

"Execute him!" Simba ordered. The lionesses extended their claws, grabbing Haiba violently, ready to kill him.

"Wait, wait!" Haiba cried, holding his paws up. "You've got it all wrong, Simba! Just listen to me!"

"You have disgraced the name of the Shiny Thing," Simba replied, brandishing the Uchoyo Diamond. "Anyone who does so needs to be punished in a suitable way. And the only suitable way I can see is death."

"But y-you d-don't understand!" Haiba sputtered, an innocent smile on his face. "I'm surrendering! I want you to be my master! I want to serve you, Simba! After all, you are the King!"

Simba stroked his chin, a thoughtful look on his face. "Hmm… controlling you would be the best option, but how do I know that it'll even work on you? I thought your mind was too messed up already."

"I can let it control me," Haiba explained, taking a step towards Simba. "I can give myself to it. I will surrender myself to the… Shiny Thing."

Simba looked down at the diamond in his paw. "Well…" He looked a little apprehensive. "Okay."

He walked over to Haiba, holding the Uchoyo Diamond up to his face. Haiba stared into it, and Simba was sure that it wouldn't be long before Haiba was under his control. "You want it, don't you?" Simba said, smiling. "Pretty, pretty, shiny, shiny…"

As Haiba stared at the sparkling diamond, he realised that it was trying to invade his mind. It wad trying to make him surrender to it. It made him like it. It made him love it. It made him want to lose himself in it.

Not today, Haiba thought, before snatching the diamond out of Simba's paw, catching him by surprise. "Back!" Haiba shouted, backing away from Simba, the diamond raised. "Get back!"

Simba hissed at him. "The Shiny Thing!" he cried, his eyes wide. "Give it back!" he ordered. "Give it back right now!"

"No way," Haiba replied, shaking his head, backing further away from Simba. "I'm ending this right now."

"But I want it!" Simba declared. "I need it!" He was desperate to get his precious Shiny Thing back. He loved it more than anything else in the world! It hurt to not have it in his possession!

"I'm going to destroy it!" Haiba announced, ready to smash the Uchoyo Diamond on the ground, ending its hypnotic reign for ever. "It's never going to cause trouble ever again!"

"He's going to destroy the Shiny Thing!" Sarafina cried, pointing to it, a worried look on her face. "Get him!"

Haiba's eyes widened. "Uh-oh," he said, before he was pounced on by all of the lionesses.

"Kill him!"

"Get the Shiny Thing!"

"We must save it!"

They were all trying to grab the diamond from Haiba, who was struggling to keep them at bay. They easily outnumbered him, and that made it hard for him to escape. I can't let them get it, he thought, keeping the Uchoyo Diamond as far away from them as possible. Otherwise this is never going to end!

Using all of his strength, Haiba escaped from the lionesses, quickly jumping to his paws and running into the den, still clutching the diamond.

He got ready to destroy it when Simba pounced on him, pinning Haiba to the ground. "Give me the Shiny Thing!" he ordered. "It must be protected… It must be loved…"

"Simba, snap out of it!" Haiba cried. "You think you're controlling it, but it's not! It's controlling you!"

"Shut up!" Simba roared. "I won't have anyone speaking about my precious Shiny Thing like that! I'm going to kill you! You've betrayed me, and you've betrayed the Shiny Thing! Now you must die!"

Simba grabbed Haiba by the throat. Haiba tried to push him away, but accidentally let go of the Uchoyo Diamond. It flew across the air, and hit the den wall, where it smashed into a thousand pieces.

The result was instantaneous. The spirals in the lionesses' eyes all faded away, and they blinked several times, back to normal. They all looked around confusedly, muttering to themselves.

Haiba smiled. "Yes!" he cried. "I did it! I actually did it! Now that just leaves…" He turned his head to the side to look at Simba, who stood next to him. He now had spirals in his eyes, and a dopey smile on his face.

"Pretty, pretty, shiny, shiny…" Simba said, looking completely mesmerised.

"What the…?" Haiba had no time to think about this, as Nala came storming over to him, a confused look on his face.

"Haiba!" she called. "What have I been doing all day? I can't remember a thing!"

"Well…" Haiba pointed to Simba. "I think you should take a look at Simba. He'd tell you all about it, but he's kind of… busy."

"Pretty, pretty, shiny, shiny…"

"What's happened to him?" Nala asked, starting at Simba with wide eyes.

"He's been hypnotised," Haiba explained. "You see, he found this diamond – an Uchoyo Diamond – and he used it to hypnotise the entire pride, because it has magical powers. He hypnotised you, too."

Nala gave Haiba a funny look. Right… "So if the hypnosis worked on us, then why didn't it work on him?" Nala wondered, a curious look on her face.

"It did," Haiba told her. "It has low level psychic abilities. It must have locked on to the most emotional person around at the time, and that was Simba. It must have drawn him in until he found it. So it controlled him, instead of him controlling it. If I didn't stop him in time then you all would have been zombies for ever."

"So what did you do with the diamond?" Nala asked.

"I smashed it," Haiba replied. "Into a thousand pieces. It won't be causing any more trouble."

"But…" She stared at Simba, confused. "If you destroyed it, then why does Simba look so spaced out?"

"Pretty, pretty, shiny, shiny…" Simba said, still hypnotised.

Haiba narrowed his eyes. "I think… it's some kind of side effect. He was controlling you, so when you all regained your free will, it must have… backfired. So now Simba's completely hypnotised, instead of the other way around."

"Will he stay like that for ever?" Nala looked worried.

Haiba shook his head. "No. I destroyed the diamond, so the hypnosis should only last a few days or so."

"A few days?" Nala cried, her eyes growing wide. "Just what the heck are we supposed to do with him until then?"

"Pretty, pretty, shiny, shiny…"

"Hmm…" A sly smile spread across Haiba's face. "I can think of a few ideas…"

"Would you like anything else, master?" Simba asked Haiba, as he and Nala lay by the side of the water hole.

"Well… I think you could hunt me some dinner," Haiba said with a grin. Simba was still hypnotised, but Nala and Haiba had decided to put him to work. He made a very obedient little servant… "I'm very hungry."

"Me, too," said Nala, smiling.

"Yes… I will obey…" Simba strode off, willing to do anything for his new masters.

"Do you think he'll be all right?" Nala asked, turning to Haiba.

"Of course he will," Haiba replied. He then smiled. "But I'm in no hurry…"