Authors Note: This is the chapter that introduces one of the many sidequests that will be embarked on during this lenghty main quest. The big surprise Samos metioned will be revealed here, which has a lot to do with tournaments and fighting. Enjoy!

Sidequest 1: The Haven City Spirit

When landing in Haven City, the group were completely surprised to see that it was completely different from when they left it. It was now a bustling metropolis, with people constantly walking through the street while vehicles piloted in the air.

"My adoring public has returned to me!" Daxter said in excitement.

"They didn't waste anytime in fixing this place up!" Brandon commented.

"I don't even recognize this place!" Tails joked with a smile.

Daxter took a step forward, cleared his throat and announced, "Attention, Haven City! You're savior Daxter has returned to you in all his god-like glory! Now if males form a line to my left for autographs while all the women form a line to right of me for giving me their phone number!"

The people just stood there for a second looking at him and continued doing what they usual do, upsetting Daxter.

"You don't know what you people are missing!" Daxter yelled to the crowd.

"Then I guess you won't mind getting my phone number?" A seductive voice asked, making Daxter turn to see Tess, who immediately wrapped Daxter in a hug.

"You just can't keep me out of your clutches, huh toots?" Daxter questioned seductively.

"I'd knew you couldn't stay away from me for long." Tess sighed. "I hope these boys kept you safe from harm since your absence?"

"Actaully, I had to keep them out of harms way for the most part." Daxter lied, making Brandon a bit fumed. "So anyway, the reason we came here was to see what Samos was talking about, well except for me."

"That's right! He wanted all of you to come to the Racing Coliseum, since we made major readjustments to it." Tess realized, heading of in that direction.

"So we wasted our time to come all the way back here just to partcipate in kart racing?" Brandon questioned in disappointment.

"Racing?" Tess giggled. "We don't really use that term around here anymore."

Eager to know what that even means, the crew followed Tess. Meanwhile in another part of the metropolis, Samos was standing outside of a gigantic stadium while Pecker was trying to put a banner on top of it.

"You're doing it all wrong you cracker-obsessed primate!" Samos scolded to Pecker from his position. "It needs to go a little more to the right!"

"If you're so smart old-timer, than why don't you, arrrk, do it yourself?" Pecker questioned angrily from above.

"Don't tempt me to turn you into a stink weed!" Samos threatened.

"That old age starting to get to you Samos?" Jak joked, as he came up to him with Keira.

"I can't help it you two." Samos argued. "I want everything to be in tip-top shape when they arrive."

"You shouldn't be doing this all by yourself daddy." Keira said in concern. "It can't be good for your back."

"I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself sweetpea." Samos assured to his one and only daughter. "I'm down here where its perfectly safe while Polly up there does all the work for me."

"Aren't I the lucky one." Pecker mumbled to himself sarcastically.

Tess came running up to the area with the boys not to far behind as she exclaimed, "Ta-da!"

They all looked up to notice the sign as Tess introduced, "I give you the Haven City Battle Arena!"

"Don't really notice much of a difference, expect of course that obvious sign at the top." Daxter noticed.

"You know what they say, it's not whats on the outside, but whats on the inside that matters." Tess pointed out.

"The only thing that matters to me is you, my little dumpling." Daxter said seductively as he leaned her over for a kiss, much to the doubtfulness of the others.

"Right on schedule, boys." Samos smiled while coming up to the four. "Hope I didn't detere you too much from your important mission."

"It's no trouble at all." Brandon assured. "After all, this arena sounds like a perfect oppurtunity to test how strong we really are!"

"Yeah! Whoever thinks they can mess with our mad skills has a death wish on their hands." Daxter exclaimed, while throwing a few fake punches. "By the way, where's Ms. Baroness, tatooed wonder, and Mr. Big n' Lean?"

"If you're talking about Ashelin, Torn, and Sig, they're all caught up with restoring this city to what it once was, so they won't be able to spectate today." Keria explained.

"So what motivated you guys to turn a racing dome into a fighting dome?" Michael inquired.

"That's quite a simple answer, mate." Kleiver said as he to came up to them. "Me and some boys in Spargus put our heads together to figure out how we can make the blokes of Haven from pantywaists into fearless wastelanders like me!"

"So by taking their suggestions into consideration, we managed to create a coliseum of our own, although I don't know if I fully support the idea." Samos added.

"So you guys wanna give it a go?" Jak asked with an arched eyebrow.

"You bet!" Brandon exclaimed with a thumbs-up. "With us four as a team, we have this tournament in the bag!"

"That's what I like ta hear!" Kleiver praised. "Just watch out for some of these nasty buggers that signed up as well, but I shouldn't be much of challenge since this happens to be the sissy cup."

As the heroes got themselves situated in the coliseum, they were greeted by a thunderous crowd of many entendees, to which Daxter proudly kissed to and waved his hands.

"Citizens of Haven City! Women and men of all ages! Welcome to the very first tier of the now dubbed Haven City Battle Arena!" Pecker announced, earning an applause. "Bones will be shattered, teeth will be spilled, and those lcuky enough to survive will win a prize worthy of their endurance! For today, we have some very special contestants participating in the Pecker Tier! Give it up for the Heroes of Heart...along with their hideous pet rat."

Upon hearing that, Daxter shouted angrily, "How 'bout you come down here right now and we can settle this with our fists!?"

"Before the mindless brutality commences, I would like to take this time to set a few ground rules for the newcomers!" Pecker explained, ignoring Daxter's threat. "If you manage to get through one round, you get to continue to the next. If the leader of the team is knocked out by the opposing team, then they're outta here! Also, the use of allies other than the ones with you right now is stricly unacceptable! Now before any of you get up to leave because of my dragging speeches...let's get ready to rumble!"

The team immediately prepared themselves for their opponent, only to be shocked to discover it was the Heartless, most of which they encounted from the worlds they've embarked to up to this point.

"Look you decided to come to the party." Daxter remarked. "To bad they'll be disappointed to see we're out of chips and dip!"

They did a fairly good job in this teir, fighting off such Heartless as Envy Esquires, Metalhead Wasps, Modest Mice, and the most recent of the bunch, Bulky Enforcers. That was until they got to the third round, where they were put up against four Frisky Felines and two floating cars that resembled a Heartless foe that was responsible for making them acquainted.

"I thought we had this ting shut down for good?" Daxter asked in surprise.

"At least its not the entire package." Tails pointed out.

"Must be undergoing some technical difficulties." Michael assumed.

The two crafts were no problem at all even with the other Heartless backing them up. After going through a couple more rounds, while actually dealing with the robot arms of the Mecha Menance, which were more of a challenge for them since it fired laser, went up against the torso and the monitor-like head of the device of the future gone wrong. But he turned out to be a pushover, and was deactivated once more by yours truly.

"There you have it folks, our first ever Haven City campions!" Pecker announced, earning such roaring cheers from the viewers as the boys watched in awe for their recognition.

"Yeah baby, I'm the king!" Daxter cheered while strinking a pose.

"Didn't know I had it in me!" Tails cheered as well.

"I feel so accomplished!" Michael added.

"And we get this neat trophy!" Brandon finished, holding what he just said high into the air for all to see.

But suddenly, a light blue orb came out of it, moving itself towards the two sepll-casters. When merged with them, the ground below them began to shake like last time. Daxter ran around to avoid possibly getting hit by another rock, but nothing seemed to happen surprisingly, as the tremor simmered down.

"Well I guess it was a..." Daxter began, but was suddenly lifted a bit from the surface by a small jet of water dropping back down all soaking wet. "Dud."

"This has got to be the most pathetic spell we've come across." Brandon complained. "The Heartless will be sure to cower at our sprinkler magic."

Back at the lobby, the gang was congradulating them on a job well done while Tess was making out with Daxter.

"You were incredible out there Daxter." Tess complimented. "The way you drove your team to victory with your strategic expertise."

"Those days in war really pay off." Daxter commented, which made the others upset for that female Ottsel still not recognizing them on their own.

"For the first go, you wallybees sure did alright." Kleiver remarked with a hard pat on Brandon's shoulder. "Just don't expect the next time around ta be a walk in the park!"

"Well at this rate, we'll be rough and tough wastelanders before you know it." Brandon assured.

"Don't be pushing yourself just yet squirt." Kleiver accused. "Being a wastelander is more than just tossing a few runts around."

"And that would be...?" Tails asked.

"That's the kind a thing you'll need to find out on your own." Kleiver replied with a smirk. "Besides, it builds character that way!"

"Catch you brave adventurers later!" Jak stated as a sign of good-bye.

They all said their good-byes as the boys boarded their ship to continue on with their long journey, but not before passing someone leaning against the wall with his eyes shut. He had shoulder-length red hair with brown fingerless gloves, a tan shirt shirt with a brown and red vest over it that had some fur to it, brown shorts, a silver belt that contained a whip and sword, many black belts coming down the belt, and brown boots with furry tips.

Author's Note: Well there's your first taste at one of the sidequest chapters. There will be more to come, either realating to more tiers, secret battles, or an optional world. And could this new figure be a new possible aid for the boy's quest or an upcoming opponent they will face in the arena. Only time will tell. Next chapter will be more involved with the main storyline, so don't be switching to another one of those complicated fan-fics, even if I do admit them to be better than mine in some aspects. Anyway, Review Away!