"That's gotta be the place," Zap whispered to himself as he looked a few feet away from what he presumed was the mayor's estate, "So how am I gonna get in?"

Zap mumbled something to himself as he looked over the base of the hill which the mayor's fancy-looking mansion rested on. The gates were locked up with all sorts of locks and chains, and tons of pirates were stationed in front of it. It would take him a while to take them all down—unless he did it all at once! Zap smiled as he opened his mouth and felt static crackle at his throat, the same kind of static that he always felt as he got ready to shoot off his lightning.

He got ready to shoot, but something swept the pirate guards off their feet, literally! The earth underneath them seemed to have exploded as they all fell onto their backs. Wait, Zap recognized that technique…

"Terrafin!" Zap exclaimed as a familiar sharklike figure jump out of the earth and landed on his feet.

Zap narrowed his eyes as Terrafin went on to punch out the pirates' lights. There was no way he was gonna let Terrafin steal the show just like that! So, he fired off a round of lightning bolts and dashed forwards! While the pirates were distracted by the sudden noise, Zap slammed straight into one smaller guard and sent him flying!

"There you are!" Terrafin remarked as he made a playful smirk at Zap. "Thought you weren't gonna show!"

"What, did you think I was gonna miss the party?" Zap gurgled as he cast a smug look at Terrafin. "No way, dude!" Zap smiled as he gazed over the pirates that had them surrounded. "Bet I can beat more of these dudes than you can!"

"Is that so?"

Terrafin stretched his muscular arms, shot forward, and punched a surly-looking guard dude right in the mouth! While the guard stumbled back, Terrafin turned around and shot another rapid-fire barrage of punches at another group of seadogs who tried to take him on. Zap forced a smile smile and twitched his tail as he watched Terrafin suplex another pirate. With a mischievous grin, Zap whipped around and shot off a storm of lightning bolts towards the nearby pirates!

Zap shot a look at Terrafin as the pirates fell down to the ground with singed fur. "Think you can top that?" Zap asked, an aura of smugness to his words.

"Oh, you bet I can!"

Terrafin wound up his arm and punched through a whole line of tough-looking buccaneers!

Zap's jaw dropped in surprise, but he quickly covered it up as he shook his head. "That's nothing, I could do that in my sleep!" Zap leaned down as if he prepared a charge. "Heck, I'll show you!"

Zap coated himself in slime, shot a bolt of lightning at his paws, and shot forward like a greased cheetah! Before any of their swashbuckling enemies could react, Zap crashed into them and sent them flying like bowling pins!

As Terrafin watched, he only scoffed and crossed his arms. "Eh, that's alright, kid," Terrafin remarked as he cracked his knuckles, "but that's nothing compared to this!"

Terrafin dove underground, so far underground that nobody could see him! As the pirates frantically searched for him, he popped out moments later with such force that it tossed all the pirates in the air! While they struggled to regain their composure, Terrafin hit them with punches so mighty that it sent them all crashing back down as if they were baseballs! When he finally landed, Terrafin only smirked.

"That's cool, I guess." Zap stretched out and scanned the area around. "But I can do WAYYYY bett—huh?"

Both Zap and Terrafin frowned as they looked around, and found that all the pirates they were facing fell unconscious!

Terrafin shrugged and smiled. "Guess we knocked them all out."

"I did most of the beating down, I'm sure."

Zap slid over to the gate as Terrafin rolled his eyes and frowned.

"This place is supposed to be where that mayor guy is, but—" Zap poked an eye into the keyhole then withdrew his head "—where's the key, dude?"

"Beats me." Terrafin shrugged and looked down at the pirates. "Maybe one of these guys has it."

The two of them popped all around the battlefield's site as they dug through pirate pockets and jackets, but no luck. There wasn't a key in sight!

"Where could that key be?" Terrafin asked as he scratched his chin.

Zap shrugged, or at least made the best shrug he could with his body type, and then smirked. "Hey, bet'cha I can find—" Zap stopped short as something shot out in front of him "—the key first?"

The two of them whipped their heads around and stared at the gate, which were unlocked and pushed open by…

"A playing card?"

Zap skidded over and looked down at the ground, where a queen of hearts now rested on the grass. "Didn't I see one of those when—" Zap shook his head and gazed at the open gate "—eh, whatever."

Zap zipped up the hill with not a care in the world and Terrafin close behind. Surprisingly, the whole area seemed pretty quiet until they reached the top! There, a bunch of bulky-looking pirates hauled treasure out of a rich-looking mansion and into endless treasure chests! To their side, a pirate sat behind a wooden table decked in playing cards, while a mabu man in fancy-looking blue and gold clothes sat inside a silver cage.

"Ye must be the Skylandees, aren't ye?" the pirate behind the table asked as he softly chuckled. "I'll tell ye what, when I heard from old Cannon-Face that ye came here, I almost couldn't believe it!"

"Let that dude go and get outta here, dude!" Zap demanded as he slid up to the table pirate and slammed a paw on the table. "This isn't your turf to mess with!"

"I'm afraid I can't do that, lad." The stall pirate merely shuffled a deck of cards as he spoke. "This man here is the mayor, and we'd surely get a mighty fine ransom from his capture!" The pirate's eyes narrowed in an almost confident sort of way. "But if ye can beat me at Pirate Cards, I might make an exception."

Terrafin and Zap both smiled before Terrafin waltzed up to the table.

"Well, buddy, I'll—" Terrafin was cut off by Zap pushing him back.

"You're on, dude!"

Before anything more could be said, however, Terrafin pulled Zap back with a frown. "Zap, let me handle this!" Terrafin insisted. "I've dealt with these guys and their weird game before. I know what tricks they've got up their sleeves, you don't!"

"It can't be that hard, can it?" Zap remarked as he brushed Terrafin's hand off of his shoulder. "It's just a card game!" Zap smugly smiled as he looked down Terrafin. "Or maybe you're just worried I'll be better at it than you are!"

Terrafin's tone turned more serious and scolding. "Seriously, Zap! You're being too careless about this! I'm tryin' to keep you from getting yourself in hot water!"

"Oh, what's the harm in the lad playing a round?" the stall pirate interrupted as he leaned back in his chair. "Let him have a go!"

Zap only smirked up at Terrafin, and zoomed back up to the table as the stall pirate set his clock. The clock was set and rested on the table, and Terrafin drew forward and gazed over Zap's shoulder.

"Listen, you've gotta be careful," Terrafin warned as he gazed back at Zap. "These decks always have a trick to 'em. You get a match wrong, and it'll—"

"I'll be fine, Terrafin!" Zap shot back as he pushed Terrafin away. "You bugging me isn't gonna make me win any faster!"

Terrafin growled just a little as he furrowed his brow. "I'm just trying to help, Zap!"

"Ah ah ah," the stall pirate uttered as he waved his finger, "the rules say no outside help allowed, sharkie," the pirate whistled as his pirate guards zoomed to his side. "Guards, take care of this!"

As the guards surrounded Terrafin, Terrafin growled and warmed himself up for a fight. "I'm pretty sure you're not playing by the rules either, buddy!" Terrafin shot back as he glared at the pirate.

The pirate only leaned further back and laid his legs on the table. "It doesn't count if I make the rules!"

Terrafin crackled his knuckles and launched himself forward. "That doesn't sound fair, but whatever. IT'S FEEDIN' TIME!"

Zap fixed his gaze on the cards and frowned while Terrafin duked it out with the surly guards behind them,. After a few short moments of contemplation, he flipped over a card that depicted a ship on its side.

"Schooner!" The table pirate proclaimed.

Zap flipped over an adjacent card, which revealed a picture of a map!

"Map!" The stall pirate only watched with a smug grin as the cards flipped back over.

Zap grimaced a bit, and flipped over the schooner card once more.

"Schooner!" The stall pirate announced.

"Do you have to do that, dude?" Zap asked as he looked at the stall pirate, who only nodded in response. Zap groaned, and flipped a card a few spaces down which depicted a picture of a pirate's hat.

"Hat!"

Zap growled as the cards flipped themselves over once again. His teeth and ambitions bared, Zap continued to flip over the cards but with no more success than before.

"Schooner!"

"Blackbeard!"

"Schooner!"

"Booty!"

"Schooner!"

"Map!"

This continued on and on for the next several minutes, much to Terrafin's displeasure. With a twitch of his eyebrow and an irritated growl, Terrafin socked a guard in the stomach, watched as he reeled back, and slid leftwards as another guard swung towards him. As he narrowly avoided the guard's attack, his eyes gazed back to Zap.

"Zap!" Terrafin shouted. "The other map card's—"

"DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO, TERRAFIN!" Zap shouted as he looked back at Terrafin and shot him a glare. "I'm doing fine without your help, dude!"

Terrafin scowled before another guard punched him in the chest and sent him flying! He slid down the lawn with a groan, staggered up and body slammed right into the guard's chest! Terrafin smirked and wiped the dirt off his brawny hands as the guard fell down with a loud pound, but a shadow or two cast over him and he looked up. There, the remaining guards growled as they loomed over him, and the shadows they cast only an added factor to their intimidation.

However, Terrafin clearly wasn't concerned; he merely dove underground and swam under their legs! As they shouted and looked about, Terrafin leaped out from the ground and well over them, and body-slammed them into the dirt! While they staggered up with dizzy heads, Terrafin jumped back and slid into an intense punch that sent them both hurtling into the mansion's walls!

Though Terrafin fought some more in the background, Zap's own fight wasn't going very well. Half his time passed, and he still hadn't made a match!

"C'mon, c'mon, gotta find something," Zap whispered as he flipped over a card to the far left.

The card's background was a bright red rather than the parchment yellow of the others, and it depicted an image of Kaos in a pirate captain's hat. It seemed almost, cursed, really. Zap frowned as he hung his head and trembled, yet looked up at the stall pirate, who only sneered.

Meanwhile, Terrafin stood up as the pirate guards he fought got up from their spot of rest, and his arms drooped slightly. He seemed tired, almost, as if the heat of the fight finally got to him. Terrafin stepped forward and went to punch the guards once more, but they were far faster! The first of the few jumped forward and punched Terrafin right in the gut!

"Terrafin!" Zap shouted as he looked back and watch Terrafin soar through the skies.

Zap frowned as he glazed over the cards once more while his heart throbbed in his throat. While he gazed, he let out a tired groan and stumbled a bit on his feet, as if he was drained of life. With a shake of his head, he forced a tired gaze over the cards. They all were no less identical than usual, save for one that seemed to have some kind of strange glow to it.

"What about this one?" Zap asked himself.

He flipped over the card with the strange aura to reveal a match! It was completely identical to the strange red card he had flipped over earlier!

"Finally!" Zap lazily pumped a fist into the stratosphere. "I matched one! You're in for it now, dude!"

"I wouldn't be so certain, lad," the pirate replied as he crossed his arms and smirked.

"What're you talking about?"

Zap eyed the cards, and gasped as the ones he matched evaporated into a cloud of purple smoke. Before Zap could react further, the smoke slammed straight into him! With a tired groan, Zap stumbled about before he finally lost all his strength and fell onto the grassy floor, completely asleep.

"Zap!" Terrafin exclaimed

He went over for Zap, but got smacked straight in the face with the another puff of smoke! The moment it made contact, Terrafin's eyelids drooped over his eyes and he fell face-first onto the ground. All was silent as the pirates who once fought Terrafin and Zap now gazed at their comatose bodies, which laid cold and asleep on the wreckage of what was once a beautiful lawn. The battle was over, and the Skylanders decidedly lost.

"Heh," the stall pirate scoffed as he looked over Terrafin and Zap's comatose bodies. "Nobody excepts me trump card, the pirate curse! Ye match it, and ye immediately lose."

The pirate hopped away from the table, walked over to Terrafin, and gently flicked him on the nose. When Terrafin didn't respond in the slightest, he moved on to Zap and did the same thing with similar results.

"They're completely asleep, boys!" The stall pirate placed his hands on his hips. "Haul 'em off! We'll get a mighty fine ransom from these two!"

"Aye aye!" The burly pirates responded as they picked up Terrafin and Zap and dragged them away alongside heavy loads of treasure.

But, as the two of them were carried away, nobody noticed a figure as they watched from the shadows and gasped.

"I need to find him, fast!" The figure whispered as they ran into the shadows and disappeared under the cover of darkness.