"I just don't understand it." Sarafina shook her head in confusion. "Where do they go? It's been days—how is the kingdom supposed to sustain itself?"

She was becoming increasingly concerned about the sanity of the King and Queen. Her best friend was Sarabi, and she hardly even spoke anymore. Just what had happened? In just a few months, they had become completely different animals. Far different from the kind rulers that she had once known.

Recently, King Mufasa and Queen Sarabi had disappeared. The pride knew nothing of where they had gone, or what they were doing. But Sarafina, deep down, knew that they were up to no good. Something bad—something evil—had happened to them. They were up to something that would most likely result in the total destruction of the kingdom.

To any normal lion, that would sound absolutely absurd. But the Pride Lands had been put through so much in recent times that it was practically second nature now. How had things managed to become so dangerous in what was once a peaceful kingdom?

"You still worrying, Mom?" her daughter Nala asked from beside her. She was stood at the edge of Pride Rock, hoping in vain that the King and Queen would return.

"No," Sarafina replied, a little too quickly than she would have liked. "It's not that there hasn't been a king or queen in the Pride Lands for two hundred years or anything. I'm just fine."

Shoot. That sounded sarcastic, Sarafina thought to herself. Can you b e any stupider?

"That sounded sarcastic," Nala told her mother. "And what do you mean, there hasn't been a King or Queen for two hundred years?"

"Don't you know anything about the history of the kingdom?" Sarafina replied, turning to look at her daughter.

Nala shrugged sheepishly. "Not really. A know a lot about the recent history—it hasn't been that nice."

"Well, there was a time two hundred years ago when there was no active king or queen," Sarafina explained to her cub.

"The whole pride more or less shared it all between themselves. It was sort of… equal."

"Hmm…" Nala narrowed her eyes. That doesn't actually sound so b ad, she thought to herself. I mean, Simb a's parents pretty much suck as rulers. I don't think they've done anything good for months. And now they've disappeared. It's not looking good for them.

"But, as I said, it hasn't been that way for hundreds of years," Sarafina said. She sighed. "Looks like it'll be going back that way if Mufasa and Sarabi don't return."

"Wait—me and Simba don't get to rule the kingdom?" Nala exclaimed in surprise. "That's not fair!"

"Only the current King and Queen have the power to forfeit their right to the throne," Sarafina retorted. "And they're not here."

Nala frowned. "You're pulling my leg. You just don't think two cubs are up to the job—and we've done a lot for this pride, you know."

"I wouldn't ever lie to you, Nala," Sarafina assured her daughter. "And I know you've done a lot—certainly more than Simba's parents."

"We'll find out what's going on with them," she said. "They've been acting like this for months. Looks like their evil plan is finally being put into place."

"What makes you think they have an evil plan?" Sarafina asked curiously.

Nala shot her a look. "Mom, everyone who acts weird has an evil plan. Especially around here. You should know that by now." She looked around. "And speaking of weird, where is Simba?"

"I don't know why I let you trick me into this," Simba said, a frown on his face as his claws dug into the branch he was clinging to. "You're an idiot, Haiba. A first class idiot."

"When I said, 'let's go for a swim,' I didn't mean this," Haiba retorted with a disappointed sigh. "It wasn't like I planned for it to happen."

Simba and Haiba were in quite a predicament. They were both clinging to small branch, and were being washed away by a ferociously strong current in one of the rivers around the outskirts of the Pride Lands. Simba made a mental note to stick to the waterhole from now on. He wasn't going to make a mistake like this ever again.

"Well, we can't just let ourselves drown or fall down a random waterfall," Simba protested. "We need to get out of here!"

"Okay, genius, so how do we do that?" Haiba asked. "Let go of this branch and the current will pull us under. We won't ever resurface. I know all about drowning—I once dated a river, actually."

"I have to ask you something," Simba said. "Do you just want to kiss everything that you see?"

"I'm one with the world," Haiba told him. "I have a respect for all creatures—however lifeless they may seem. You should try it sometime—it's very enlightening."

"Maybe later," Simba said, "once we stop ourselves from drowning."

"Oh," Haiba said. "I forgot about that."

Simba rolled his eyes, and groped for the edge of the river with one paw. He strained as hard as he could, but safety was just out of reach. "No!"

"Hey, did I mention there's a random waterfall just up ahead?" Haiba suddenly asked.

"Oh, come on!" Simba exclaimed, getting a strange sense of déjà vu. He'd been through this once before—a long while ago with Nala—and seemingly it had come back to haunt him. Did every day of his life have to involve some kind of crazy disaster?

"All right, I have an idea," Haiba said. "You're gonna have to trust me, though."

"I don't really have much of a choice," Simba said flatly.

"Okay—I'm going to climb onto the branch," Haiba explained.

Simba stared at the branch. It was hardly thick enough for him to stand on. "You're kidding me, right? You'll never get on it!"

"I said to trust me," Haiba said. "It's either that or drown."

Simba frowned. "Just do it!"

Haiba nodded with a grin, and then slowly began to hobble up onto the branch. Simba watched with a tense feeling in his stomach.

As Haiba stood on the left side of the branch, the right side began to rise into the air. "Whoa!" Simba cried as he was lifted upwards. "How is this supposed to work?"

Haiba wobbled as he tried to keep his balance on the branch. "You can jump onto dry land!" he told him. "Do it!"

With a grunt, Simba leapt from the raised edge of the branch and tumbled onto the safety of dry land. "Oof!"

Haiba leapt as well, landing on the opposite side of the river. "I told you to trust me," he said. "See? We're safe and sound."

The two watch as the branch sailed over the edge of the waterfall and tumbled into the wet depths below.

"That was close," Simba sighed, panting from exhaustion. "Too close."

"It's not starting out to be a very good day, is it?" Haiba asked. "I was hoping for something a little more… quiet."

"Well, we can't always have what we want," Simba retorted, getting to his paws. "Come on. We'd better get back to Pride Rock. Nala's probably wondering where we are."

"Ha-ha-ha!"

Shocker's cackles could be heard echoing across the jungle. He was stood in a clearing with the Interceptor, staring a variety of colourful plants surrounding them.

"It's just plants," the Interceptor said. "Not exactly worth an evil laugh."

"Do not let your eyes deceive you," Shocker replied. "For these plants are among the most deadly in the world."

"What do you mean?" the Interceptor asked.

"Well, just look." Shocker walked over to a thin, icy-looking blue plant. "This plant will freeze you for ten years if you eat one of its leaves. And this one…" he indicated a purple plant nearby, "will make you feel like you're being tickled for all eternity. As I said—these plants are more than meets the eye."

"Great. Cool, so…" The Interceptor looked at the variety of colourful—and dangerous—plants. "Which one do we use?"

"Well…" Shocker wandered over to a red, thorny plant. "This one could be the most deadly of all. Slow, painful death to all that drink the juices it secretes."

The Interceptor chuckled. "I like it!"

"But it's probably not," Shocker suddenly said, turning away from the plant.

"Huh?" The Interceptor's face fell.

"Appearances can be deceiving," Shocker said, turning to a bright pink plant with very pretty leaves. "Now this is a deadly plant. It looks so innocent—yet possesses a power that none of us can comprehend."

"You sure?" the Interceptor asked, sounding doubtful. "It seems a little… girly to me."

"Nonsense," Shocker said. "This is our key to success. No one will be able to stop us with this plant."

However, Shocker didn't know that this plant possessed a very different kind of power, and that it would be far from his key to success…