The troop carrier was still there, Indra landed in front of it, and the boarding ramp was already down - the engineer had heard him coming. The Saiyan appeared in the entryway and inspected Indra, whose top was destroyed.
"Where have you been?" He asked.
"Fighting Frieza."
"Sure," he said sarcastically and went inside.
Indra followed him up the ramp, unbothered. He hadn't expected the man to believe it. He wouldn't have believed it either. The Shamoians found him before he finished boarding.
The elder came first, and behind him, a loose group of survivors. Indra stopped at the bottom of the ramp, and the elder reached him, took both of Indra's hands in his, and thanked him. One of the kids pushed through to the front, looking at Indra state in concern.
"Did you win?" she asked.
"Obviously."
She smiled, and Indra smiled back and said his goodbyes to the group as the ramp closed behind him.
"Nearest planet with a market," he told the engineer, dropping into the seat across from the controls. "Somewhere busy."
"That's it?"
"That's it, drop me off and go home. You've been flying me around long enough, unless you'd rather keep doing this?"
"No, I'm good."
The Saiyan started the launch sequence, and the ship lifted.
----
The ship set down on the outskirts of the planet Tatooine, and Indra walked off the ship. By the time he turned around, the ship was already gone.
"Geez, talk about being in a rush."
Indra walked towards the market as he observed planet Tatooine. The sky had a peach-like color, the clouds were pink, and they had multiple other observable planets in the sky.
"Damn, this shit is beautiful. I could almost shed a tear."
The market stretched out in front of him; it had wide sandy streets, and it was packed on both sides with stalls- produce vendors, meat shops, cloth merchants, and alien-like things he couldn't identify. The buildings behind the stalls were white and cream-colored, and had purple-leafed trees growing straight out of the rooftops.
As he walked through the market, he immediately got stares because he was shirtless and looked like someone had pulled him out of a warzone. He stopped at the first stall, which had a lanky, four-armed alien seated behind it.
"King Cold, you know the name?" Indra asked.
"No, never heard of him."
He went through multiple other vendors, and some did recognize the cold force, but none recognized Cold. As Indra stopped looking, to maybe go explore the planet, he heard a scream.
"AHHHH, HE STOLE MY TARROT, THIEF!"
A small alien was running with a stolen bundle of alien carrots tucked under each arm, weaving between shoppers, and behind him was a short man in a Galactic Patrol uniform, who was chasing after him.
'Is that Jaco?' Indra thought.
"Civilians do not fear, justice will be served!" Jaco screamed.
Indra stepped into the thief's path and chopped him across the back of the neck. The thief fell unconscious and dropped the bundles of alien carrots, which scattered across the sandy ground. Indra picked them up, walked back to the vendor's stall, and set them on the counter. The vendor thanked him with tears of joy in his eyes.
He turned around, and the Galactic Patrolman had arrived.
'It really is Jaco, he's shorter than I expected.'
"I had that," Jaco said. "I was one second away from a successful apprehension. You interfered with an active Galactic Patrol operation."
"It doesn't hurt to help," Indra said.
"I am a super elite member of the Galactic Patrol - chosen, trained, and operating with the full authority of the Galactic King himself. I don't need assistance from...uhh whatever you are."
Indra laughed. Jaco was the funniest person he'd encountered since arriving in this universe, and he wasn't even trying to be.
"Haahhh, you're killing me, but you don't say right? since your Galactic Patrol, you must have galactic intelligence then," Indra said.
"I have access to the most comprehensive threat database in the known universe, yes." Jaco snorted.
"King Cold. Where is he?"
His posture deflated. "...King...Cold."
"Frost demon, runs the Cold Force, ring any be-"
"I know who King Cold is." Jaco did a quick check of his surroundings, making sure nobody was paying attention. "Why are you asking about King Cold?"
"I want to find him."
"For what purpose?"
"To defeat him."
Jaco laughed, the hardest he ever had in a while.
'This thing wanted to defeat King Cold? Is he stupid?' Jaco thought, but as he laughed longer, he realized Indra was dead serious.
"That's - you understand what King Cold is? What is his family capable of? The Galactic Patrol itself has standing orders from the Galactic King that frost demons are not to be engaged. The last units that tried to intercept Frieza directly were-" He stopped and looked away briefly. "The Galactic Patrol does not engage frost demons for a good reason."
"I'm not the Galactic Patrol."
"Clearly. What even are you?"
Indra didn't answer and turned to go.
"Wait-" Jaco stepped in front of Indra. "I can't help you find him, officially. That would be a direct violation of standing orders, and I would never-" He stopped, turned away from Indra, and began speaking to himself at a volume Indra could clearly hear.
"I certainly don't know anything about an information broker who operates a bar on the east side of this market district. Someone named Salmina. Who definitely doesn't have connections to underworld intelligence networks that move information about figures operating outside official galactic channels. The bar is definitely not called the Cantina, and it is definitely not past the blue awning at the end of the east corridor."
Jaco turned back around, looking like he didn't just break a violation. "Anyway. I was talking to myself as I often do, but good luck with whatever completely unrelated thing you're doing."
"Thanks, man," Indra said, chuckling, and started walking east.
---
Indra arrived at the Cantina and pushed open the door. The Cantina was dim and had four tables and a long bar. Behind the bar was a fishwoman- that was the closest word he had. Her skin was that of a sockeye salmon, but the rest of her features were human-like. She was tall and was wiping down the bar. She looked up when he came in, then she smiled and set the cloth down.
"You look like you've had a day," she said.
"Tell me about it."
"Sit anywhere." She was already moving toward the taps. "What are you drinking?"
"Information."
She paused and looked back. "Jaco sent you?"
"He didn't tell me anything," Indra said. "He was talking to himself."
Salmina laughed. "That sounds like him, alright, but what kind of information?"
"King Cold location."
"Hmm, that is a strange name," she said, pondering.
"Don't act dumb, I know you know who he is."
"Hah, you caught me, can't a girl have some fun? but anways It would take me a few days to pull something specific and reliable on King Cold's location, but I can do it."
"What do you want for it?"
"A favor."
---
A/N: First chapter of the new arc, I already got it planned out, and I'm really excited to write it. How did you guys like the first arc, though?
Don't forget to drop me your powerstones