The year was 2000 I had just celebrated my 3rd birthday and i still remember the gifts i had gotten that day. some teletubbie feety pajamas, my first stack of Pokemon cards, a rubber ducky for bath time, a few rugrats toys and a pair of Pikachu house slippers but more importantly I had gotten my very first Dragon Ball z action figure of the saiyan Prince Vegeta in his super saiyan form I was blown away shocked at how cool it look blown away at the spikey haired man that i held in my hands but there was one issue...i had no idea what the hell Dragon ball z even was funnily enough all that changed one october evening when i was watching Cartoonetwork they showed a tv show i never heard of before a show called Dragon Ball and i LOVED IT the very first episode of Dragon Ball I saw was the episode where Master Roshi stopped an erupting Volcano with his power alone and ever since then i was hooked i wanted to see more of Dragon ball but i was frustrated when i was unable to watch a single episode of the show because the airing time for it was random i had all but given up hope at watching it...until one day I saw it again I was thrilled to see Goku and friends again but i noticed something was off Goku was now an adult he was glowing red and he was fighting a guy named Vegeta! that's when i ran back into my room and pulled out my action figure it was the same guy! but his hair wasn't yellow and he had no tail so i figured this guy Goku is fighting can't be Vegeta! can he? he must be Vegeta's brother! (I was 3 at the time and ironcally enough I was later proven right decades later when it was revealed Vegeta DOES have a brother) but no The narrator and even Goku kept calling this guy by his name of Vegeta so I was curious how and WHY did my Vegeta action figure have yellow hair but the Vegeta on the Tv didn't? so I kept watching luckily for me Toonami was doing a DBZ Marathon and were airing the best fights in the series from the saiyan Saga all the way to the majin buu saga i had no idea what any of those words meant at the time so my Brother and I kept watching given it was saturday and also fall break we were allowed to stay up past midnight for the first time ever (as long as we were quiet but given we were some bad kids that didn't last long!) My brother and I watched the entire marathon from 5 pm all the way to 6 am and my young mind was BLOWN! watching DBZ led me to watching Sailor Moon watching Sailor Moon led me to watching Inuyasha which led me to watching YuYu hakusho which led to watch Ruroni Kenshin! which led me into getting into Cowboy bebop and so on and so forth! DBZ Changed my life ever since i saw that first fated battle between Goku and Vegeta I knew i wanted to be just like them (before my dreams were crushed when I entered 4th grade and it all went downhill from there for me but that's a story for another day) when ever i was despressed or down i always used to imagine Goku giving me a pep talk encouraging me to get stronger and muscle through it and to not let it get me down i used to imagine learning from Piccolo and getting advice from Gohan, being best friends with Goten and trunks and begging them to teach me how to fly (which somehow led to me getting locked in my grandma's sewing room) i used to draw pictures of me going super Saiyan and fighting Frieza using play-doh to try (and fail) at making my own dragon balls because i wanted to see Shenron up close and personal THAT badly! Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball Gt, Dragon ball Super and later this year Dragon Ball Daima are all what I consider to be the very Pinnicle of Anime This franchise is the sole reason nay IS the very Reason Anime became such a huge Medium in the USA for decades and will continue to do for generations to come and i hope one day i can share that same magic I expereinced with my own children or grandchildren sometime in the future.
Dedicated to Akira Toriyama
1955-2024
"Farewell Sensei until we meet again"
*Lincoln's Training Begins!: The return of Fortuneteller baba*
Lincoln was holding on for dear Life as Nimbus and Albert flew across the ocean towards a distant island. "I think I'm gonna throw up!"
"Keep it together! We're almost there." Albert chuckled as he and Nimbus zoomed forward and landed on the sandy beach.
Lincoln let go and fell on his face, groaning as he tried to keep his lunch down. "Never again!" he groaned as Albert shook his head.
"If you get a weak stomach over flying on ol nimbus, then I hate to see what'll happen if you learn how to fly," he chuckled.
"I'll take the bus next time." Lincoln let out, pushing back on his feet and dusting the sand off.
"Hey! Baba! We're here!" Albert shouted as they stood around and waited for about ten minutes.
"So this 'Baba' person. Are they…decent?" Lincoln asked uneasily.
"Course Baba's decent; she can be a little cranky, but she's got a good heart" Albert said as Lincoln could hear an odd sound.
"Oh Cranky am I? Don't forget Albert, you're still young enough to go over my knee!"
In a sudden poof of smoke in front of the two, a short old woman appeared. She was sitting on top of a crystal ball and was half Lincoln's height with short pink hair and garbed in a witch's outfit.
"Baba! Long time no see! This is my grandson Lincoln!" Albert said as she floated over to Lincoln with a friendly smile.
"My My; I can certainly tell you really are Goku's descendant!" she spoke as Lincoln blushed.
"Uhhh thanks?" he said
"Oh yeah, he also had that same dumb look on his face as well." she chuckled.
"That's what we're here for. Lincoln here needs some help since we had a little….incident." Albert said as Baba raised her brow.
"Incident?...oh yes, I remember seeing that so the young one needs some help controlling his power eh?" She smirked as Lincoln gave a nod.
"Yes ma'am and well…I'll do anything to get it under control!" he said with a determined nod.
"Are you certain? This isn't something easy and it's not something that just anyone can do. You have to push yourself and stay on your toes. After all Goku and his friends nearly failed my tests centuries ago, what makes you so sure you'll fair any better?" she asked.
"Well….I mean how can I know if I don't try? I can't really back up and not do a thing; especially when I need to do something or else I could accidentally hurt people." Lincoln explained as Baba gave a small chuckle.
"Very well my boy we begin in one hour…I suggest you make your preparations while you can" she said as she floated back inside of her palace.
"What did she mean by that?" he questioned, looking at Albert.
"Knowing Baba, it means you're not gonna have an easy time, but then again nothing worth doing ever is" he smiled rubbing Lincoln's head. "Don't worry, I've got faith you got this hands down."
"Thanks Pop-Pop, I'm just a little nervous that's all." Lincoln spoke as Baba returned with a group of beings following her.
"Young Lincoln, I would like to introduce you to my Warriors five!" she declared with a dramatic tone, getting a loud "YEAH!" from the creatures that made Lincoln's eyes widen.
"Uh…those are just halloween costumes, right?" he asked as the werewolf gave a huff.
"Costumes? Well I never!" he said, crossing his arms.
"No Young one, these aren't costumes, they are indeed real!" Baba spoke. "This is Stinky the swamp monster!, Fuzzball the werewolf, Flapper the moth man, Spike the devil man….who I'm told is a fan favorite…and this is…" Baba spoke pointing to the tall person wrapped in a cloak which obscured them.
"Rice ... .call me Rice" they spoke in a deep yet also light tone of voice.
"Rice, their name is Rice." Baba said as Albert gave a smile. "Now then Lincoln, each one of my warriors will be putting you through a trail made to help you gain strength and prowess in your abilities...why don't we start with Flapper first?" Baba said as the Mothman stepped forward and cracked his knuckles.
"Yeah kid! Don't think I'm gonna go easy on ya!" he said, making the boy gulp and break out in a nervous sweat.
"Uh ... .times out are allowed, right?" Lincoln asked nervously as Baba gave a chuckle.
"Sorry kid, the only breaks you get are when you pass the trial!" she exclaimed as Lincoln gave a sigh.
'Crap!...well here goes nothing.' he thought as he stood his ground and breathed out a sigh. "Alright…let me have it!" he said with conviction.
"You asked for it!" Flapper smirked as he flexed his wings, spreading a massive thick cloud of green dust all around Lincoln who shielded his eyes from the dust and started to cough.
"Hey! No f-OOF!" he was cut off from a sudden force hitting him in the chest, sending him flying backwards and bouncing along the ground.
"What's wrong kid? Got dust in your eye?" Flapper mocked as he delivered a roundhouse kick into Lincoln's stomach sending him skidding across the arena.
Lincoln grunted as he went flying, grabbing at the floor and feeling his tips burn from the friction before he stopped and coughed, trying to push himself back on his feet as he rubbed the spot. 'This dust, it's making me feel…weird.' he thought as he struggled to stand.
"Feeling weak? Good! My dust is made to make my enemies weaker every time they breath it in!" he chuckled.
"Thanks for the update." Lincoln grabbed his shirt and covered his nose and mouth before he took off charging at the moth. 'I just need to keep from breathing more in and I can get him!' he thought as Flapper flew into the air and dove down with his fist drawn back and slammed down into the ground next to Lincoln sending the boy flying across the ground.
'This is gonna be harder than I thought!...wait, the dust only covers the arena that means…' Lincoln thought as he saw Flapper land next to him.
"C'mon kid, ya gotta be tougher than this!" he mocked as Lincoln stood up and quickly rushed over to him. Flapper rolled his eyes and once again took to the sky. "Seriously? You're not going to get anywhere if you dont think your moves through" Flapper said, looking down into the dust cloud.
"I did!" Lincoln exclaimed as Flapper looked down and saw that Lincoln was clinging to his leg.
"Hey! Get off!" the mothman started flying around sporadically, shaking his leg to try and get the young lad off, but he just tightened his hold.
"No way!' Lincoln shouted as Flapper swung his leg, flinging Lincoln up as the boy then landed on his head and started to pull his antenna.
"AAAAAHH! Get off you brat!" Flapper screamed as he tried to fling Lincoln off his head only to feel the kid biting down onto his head. "AHHH! I'm not a chew toy!"
"Thatta boy Lincoln!" Albert cheered as Flapper flew around trying to shake Lincoln off.
Lincoln stopped biting him and grabbed the insides of Flapper's wings as the mothman was sent flying down to the arena and crashing, dispelling the dust cloud.
"My my he's certainly resourceful isn't he?" Baba chuckled as Rice gave a nod.
"Indeed his style makes me…nostalgic" they chuckled.
Lincoln smirked as he heard Flapper groan and crossed his arms. "Ready to give?"
"Oooh…no!" the mothman quickly flung both into the air, but twisted his body around with enough force to send Lincoln off his back before his wings flapped and he blew a huge dust cloud at point blank range on the boy whose shirt had come loose, making him cough and hack as soon as he inhaled more of the dust.
Lincoln covered his face as he was pushed back to the edge of the arena and into the nearby sand. 'Is he making the dust thicker?' Lincoln thought as he dropped to his knees as he gripped the sand which gave him an idea. 'So he wants to play with dust? Well I can do that too!' Lincoln thought as started to dig a hole in the sand and made a small tunnel.
"What the?" Flapper said as he stopped spreading his dust and rushed over to the hole. "...really? You think making a hole will beat me?" he laughed as he started to flap his wings and send more dust into the hole.
"Wonder what Lincoln's plan is?" Albert muttered as while Flapper was distracted, the ground behind him started to rise. Lincoln popped his head out and jumped out while holding a huge ball of sand.
"HEY!" Lincoln shouted as Flapper turned his head and saw Lincoln slam the sandball into his eyes.
"AAAAAAGGGHHH! YOU BRAT!" he shouted trying to clear the sand out of his eyes.
"Now it's an even playing field!" Lincoln smirked. He lunged at Flapper and swung, landing a hit against his stomach; knocking some of the air out of him before Lincoln followed up with a kick to his side, making him stumble over.
"Whoa!" Flapper shouted as Lincoln ripped one of his wings and punched him directly in the face knocking him out.
"YES AHAHAHAHA! THAT'S MY BOY!" Albert cheered happily as Baba smiled.
"Well done young Lincoln…you passed round one"
"Woohoo!" he let out, throwing his arms up in the air while taking a sec to catch his breath as Flapper slowly stood up and chuckled.
"Not gonna lie kid…you're pretty tough." he said as he rejoined his comrades on Baba's side.
"Well you almost had me there, not gonna lie."
"Oh, but don't cheer too soon sonny; there's still four more challengers for you to deal with after all" Baba said as she clapped her hands and the arena and the surrounding area began to shift until Lincoln saw they were all now transported into a massive swamp.
"Now you have to face Stinky! And I warn you, he's way tougher than Flapper is." Baba said as Lincoln heard something splash in the water as massive tendrils reached up and grabbed him
"WOAH!" he let out before getting pulled down under the surface. Struggling, Lincoln managed to bite down on one of the tendrils as he swam back up to the surface and climbed onto a fallen tree.
"Hahahahahaha! Ya can't beat what you can't see!" Stinky bragged, poking his head out of the water.
Lincoln shook some of the water off and glared at him. "I can see you!" he grabbed a nearby broken branch and hurled it at Stinky like a spear.
The swamp monster casually dove back into the water as more tendrils emerged from the water and tried to grab Lincoln
Lincoln in return started climbing up the side of a tree that was bent over, trying to keep out of the tendrils' reach. 'Yeesh, this isn't gonna be easy.' he thought as more tendrils appeared behind him causing Lincoln to climb higher into the tree.
"Ya can't keep running forever kid!" Stinky shouted from his spot in the water as he summoned more tendrils that chased after Lincoln.
"I can try!" he called back before jumping from a branch and grabbed a vine, swinging over to another tree. 'I gotta do something soon!' Lincoln thought as one of the tendrils wrapped itself around his ankle and pulled him into the water. "Whoa!" Lincoln shouted as he grabbed a nearby rock and held onto it. He gritted his teeth, trying to keep a hold on the rock, but it was wet which made his fingers already start slipping.
Stinky kept on tugging before Lincoln managed to grab a branch sticking out of the water. When he let go, the force pulling him under the water gave him the chance to smash it against Stinky's face….who didn't flinch.
"Nice try." before swinging back and threw Lincoln out of the water, straight up into the air with the force behind it making Lincoln scream at how high he was going.
"WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAA!" Lincoln shouted as he fell back down towards the ground only to grab a nearby tree branch. Before he had a chance to catch his breath, he got grabbed by several tendrils and yanked back, only to end up slammed so hard into a tree it broke in two. "Not Again!" Lincoln exclaimed as he slammed into the water. 'This isn't good! I need to stop these things before they kill me!' he thought as he noticed he was still holding the broken tree branch. 'Perfect!' he thought as he stabbed one of the tendril causing it to bleed and let him go.
"YEOW! Oh you're asking for it now!" Stinky growled as he opened his mouth and fired off massive bubbles towards Lincoln who dodged each one only for him to get sucked into one of them.
"Huh? What? Hey, let me out!" he yelled, trying to push against the bubble, but it didn't pop.
"My super swamp bubbles are unpoppable; good luck trying to escape me now!" Stinky exclaimed as he summoned more tendrils and sent them after Lincoln, who shifted the bubbles direction and just barely managed to dodge the attack.
He turned around and got an idea. He started to run in place, which began to turn the bubble as a result. It floated down to meet the water's surface and began to speed off from the turning. "Whoa! Hey, this gives me a great idea!" Lincoln smiled as he slid the bubble across the water and bounced against a nearby rock and made a beeline towards Stinky who was hit by a flying kick. "HA! Who's asking for it now, huh?" Lincoln chuckled.
"Don't get too ahead of yourself Lincoln!' Albert called out as Stinky growled and began to spit massive black bubbles.
"More bubbles?" Lincoln wondered as one of the bubbles flew near him and exploded which popped the bubble he was in and sent him flying. He skipped across the water before falling against a vine and groaned.
"Let's see you handle these for size." Stinky laughed as he shout out more explosive bubbles towards Lincoln
Lincoln's eyes widened before falling into the water and started swimming around the trees, several bubbles exploding and nearly hitting him with shrapnel as Stinky laughed. Before he could get far, he got yanked back under the water from tendrils around his waist and got pulled back until he found himself in front of the swamp monster with more tendrils wrapping around him and putting a tight squeeze around his entire body.
"Let's see you squirm out of this." he chuckled before squeezing Lincoln harder.
'Can't….get….free!' Lincoln thought as he struggled to get free only to be pelted by Stinky's bubble bombs. He gritted his teeth as he tried to keep his consciousness from the onslaught all over. 'Think Lincoln! He's big, he can get you from a distance, and…wait! I keep running AWAY! I need to stay close and use his strength against him!' Lincoln thought as he saw a few more bubbles were sent towards his way only for Lincoln to move in a way so the bubbles could hit the tendrils holding him.
As soon as they made contact, they blew up and tore the tendrils apart, making Stinky roar out in pain as Lincoln fell down free and took the chance to run at the swamp monster.
'Now!' reaching down under the water, he grabbed some ruined vines and ran around Stinky's legs, the vines wrapping up around his ankles before Lincoln gave them a hard tug.
"What the!?" Stinky exclaimed as he felt himself falling over and landing face first into the ground. He moved to get up before Lincoln ran over his back, tugging more vines and started jumping around him, more and more vines getting tied around his body. "Hey! You little…" He growled as he tried to break free, but found himself unable too. "Hey, what the heck?"
"Yes!" Lincoln exclaimed as Stinky started to blow a massive bubble and shot it out into the air.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! ONCE THAT BUBBLE BOMB GOES OFF, YOU'RE FINISHED KID!" He laughed as Lincoln watched as it slowly descended onto the ground.
"No….YOU'RE finished!" Lincoln shouted as he climbed up a nearby tree and tore off one of the branches and used it to smack the bubble down towards Stinky's face.
"Uh oh.." the swamp monster whimpered as his own bubble slammed into his face and exploded; knocking him clean out.
Lincoln shielded his face from the resulting explosive wave and saw that Stinky was now unconscious.
"Well well, looks like the little guy really is tougher than he looks." Rice spoke with a sense of pride in their voice.
"Indeed. Congratulations Lincoln for passing the second trial, but how well will you do in the next one?" Baba said as she clapped her hands, turning everything back to normal.
Lincoln let out a heavy breath as he wiped the sweat from his brow. "Woo boy, that one was tricky." he chuckled as he was then met with a loud howl.
"I warn you now young Lincoln, Fuzzball here is one of the tougher monsters on my team!" Baba told Lincoln as he saw a brown furry werewolf wearing a green jacket and brown pants jumping into the arena.
"I'm gonna chew you up, and spit you out half pint." Fuzzball growled, cracking his knuckles as Lincoln took a battle stance.
"Jokes on you, I'm tough to swallow." Lincoln quipped.
"...I don't get it." Fuzzball said, confused.
"I…well I mean that if you tried to eat me you couldn't because I'm-LET'S JUST FIGHT!" Lincoln shouted as Fuzzball vanished in a blur much to Lincoln's shock as he suddenly felt a pain in his left cheek as he felt someone punching him hard. He went rolling across the concrete and jumped back on his feet, holding the spot while noting how he could feel it starting to bruise already. "Ow…ok, that's smarts."
"I'm faster than I look!' Fuzzball growled as he vanished again and started to deliver a flurry of blows all across Lincoln's body.
This made Lincoln spasm and reel back from each hit, and felt the air leave him from a punch right to his gut, making him kneel over and grab the spot. He stumbled back in a daze with Fuzzball grinning.
"And that's just with my fists." he brandished the claws from the same hand before taking a swipe, making Lincoln cry out and fell on his side with several fresh cut marks across his cheek.
Lincoln was sent tumbling to the ground as he struggled to stand.
"Ya can't win kid just give up!" Fuzzball growled as Lincoln wiped his face.
'I can't give up!...but how can I win?' he thought.
*Elsewhere*
Ronnie Anne was flying across the ocean and making her way to Baba's palace.
"I can sense Lincoln's energy! He must be getting ready to go wild!' she smirked.
'I still don't understand why you feel the need to check up on Kakarot's spawn.' a gruff spoke up to her mentally. 'You should be using this time to focus on your own training if you expect to get stronger.'
Hearing this made Ronnie Anne roll her eyes. 'You worry too much old timer; I'm plenty strong! After all, remember that Tio Carlos built me that machine?' she responded.
'The machine was a good idea, but I'm afraid it's paltry to the training I used to do when I was your age!' as Vegeta was ranting (cause let's face it you all knew this was Vegeta) Ronnie Anne just tuned him out and sped up her pace towards the palace.
*WITH LINCOLN ON THE VERGE OF DEFEAT AND RONNIE ANNE MAKING HER WAY TO BABA'S PALACE, OUR HEROES ARE ALL UNAWARE OF A DANGER THAT IS SLOWLY GROWING IN THE RUINS OF WHAT USED TO BE ORANGE STAR CITY! WILL THEY BE STRONG ENOUGH TO DEAL WITH IT WHEN IT ARRIVES? FIND OUT NEXT TIME ON ETERNAL LEGACY!*
Next Time: Wrath of the Werewolf: Lincoln vs Fuzzball!
