It was half past noon by the time Cole's watch began to ring.
"Hello?" Cole's voice was still hoarse from sleep.
"Wait, were you still asleep?" it was Bam's voice on the other end.
"Yea I had a really long night" Cole responded.
"Oh really? Who's the lucky lady?" Bam asked.
"Not that kind of long night, two idiots decided to break into my house in the middle of the night" Cole said.
"Well anyways, the reason I was calling is because the boss just assigned us to a massive heist, meet us at the bar for the details" Bam said before hanging up. Cole groaned as he drug himself out of bed.
"Well Orange, I guess we have to get up now" Cole said. She stretched and yawned. He got dressed and headed to the bar. He saw a table where Bap Bam and Pow sat. with them were their cats. He joined them.
"So what is this heist?" Cole asked.
"So we are heading to a place called Hot Sands Gulch, it's a small town way out in the desert, in two days time there will be a train going through there, that train will be carrying tons of gold, and the boss has charged us with robbing that train of all it's gold" Bam explained.
"Sounds exciting" Cole said.
"It will be, and it will be fun to work with you, if you pull this off the boss will be so impressed, well you better get packed we leave later this afternoon" Bam said.
"Ok" Cole said as he went back to the apartment, he grabbed a bag and packed three days worth of clothes and cat food and Orange's bowls, and some cat toys. Then he met Bap Bam and Pow at the train station. They boarded the train.
"Ok, so the boss knows a ranch owner out there and that's where we'll be staying for the time being" Bap said as a black and white cat jumped into his lap.
"So does everyone who's a part of the gang have to own a cat?" Cole asked.
"Oh yea, the boss LOVES cats, he owns thirty of his own and requires that every member own one too, so it was lucky that you already owned one" Bap said.
"I personally don't like cats" Pow said as his white cat hissed at him.
"They aren't so bad, isn't that right Candy" Bam said as he stroked a tortoiseshell cat. Cole leaned his head against the window and watched the world go by. Before long he dozed off as he was still tired from being kept up so late last night. He had a particularly disturbing dream. About something bad happening to his fellow ninja and Ninjago. Some new threat came to Ninjago while he was in the desert and he wasn't there to help. He awoke with a start. He quickly realized it was only a dream, but still he had a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. Maybe he should call Wu just to make sure everything was ok.
"I'm going to find the bathroom" Cole said as he stood up and started towards the back of the car they were in. Orange followed right beside him. He went into the next car and called Wu on his Borgwatch.
"Hello?" came his master's voice.
"Hey sensei, is everything ok?" Cole asked.
"Yea, everything is fine, why?" Wu replied.
"I was just wondering, oh yea I forgot to tell you that I'm on my way to the desert, apparently we are supposed to rob a train full of gold" Cole said.
"Really? Well you'd better do a good job" Wu said.
"Sensei, how am I supposed to rob a train of all its gold? It seems so wrong, and what if there are people on the train and they want me to kill someone?" Cole asked.
"I'm sure you'll figure it out and it will all work out ok" Wu said.
"Thank you for the advice sensei, so wise…..so helpful" Cole grumbled sarcastically under his breath. After they hung up, Cole sighed heavily. His sensei had been very unhelpful throughout this whole endeavor. Despite this whole thing being his idea he never has anything helpful or useful to say. He always says "You'll figure it out" so unhelpful! Cole felt a pang of resentment. He walked back to his seat. His talk with Wu did very little to ease his anxiety. He was running his fingers through Orange's soft fur to soothe both his uneasiness and his frustration with Wu.
"What's up with you? You've been antsy ever since you came back from the bathroom." Bam said.
"Oh, I'm just really eager to do this train robbery" Cole lied.
It was well into the night by the time they arrived at Hot Sands Gulch. Cole stepped off the train and was shocked at how hot it still was even though it was nighttime. A middle aged man with a beard approached them on a horse drawn carriage.
"Y'all must be the boys I was told about, My name is Clayton and I'll be hostin y'all for the time being, hop on" he said with a thick accent. They climbed on the carriage and he took them to his ranch. Cole thought it was a very nice place. There were livestock everywhere. He took them to a rather large log cabin.
"Come on in, you boys must be starving, my daughter just finished makin a good ol' shepherd's pie, Marlene get these boys some supper!" the ranch owner called. Cole sat at the dining room table.
"Yes Pa" Cole heard a woman's voice from the kitchen. A young woman wearing a pink dress with a blue floral pattern, her blonde hair was tied into pigtails with blue ribbons on each pigtail. She was also wearing a pink apron that reminded Cole of the one Zane used to wear. She came into the room carrying a tray full of food. She carefully sat a plate of food in front of them. He was starving so he scarfed it down. It was delicious, warm and filling. You really can't beat home cooked meals.
"In this town there ain't no cars, so I will be lendin you boys some horses, I hope you know how to ride" he said. Cole had never ridden a horse before in fact he'd never really even seen one up close.
"Well I imagine you boys are tuckered out from y'all's trip here, Marlene will show you to your room" Clayton said. She led them to some spare bedrooms. Two of them were in one and two were in another. Cole had to share a room with Bap.
"I hope y'all enjoy yer stay, if y'all need anything just holler" she said before leaving.
Cole set his bag down and got changed into some pjs. He climbed into the bed; it was slightly more comfortable than the one at the apartment. But still not as comfortable as his bed back at home. After Bap got in his bed Cole turned off the lamp. He just laid there staring at the empty blackness. It was too dark to see the ceiling. He thought he would pass out as soon as he hit the pillow given how tired he was, but now he felt restless, he couldn't get that dream out of his head. What if something did happen in his absence? He reminded himself that the ninja would handle it. After all they had Lloyd so they didn't need him. But he had to admit that part of him hated being away from the other ninja because he was worried something would happen and he couldn't step in and fight alongside them. Just then his train of thought was interrupted by a loud snore from Bap. He supposed he couldn't complain because his fellow ninja claimed that he snores really loud. He finally managed to fall asleep after tossing and turning a bit.
When Cole woke up it was still dark. He checked his Borgwatch to see what time it was. It read 5:13 am. Good enough he decided, it's not like he gets much sleep these days anyways. Plus Cole liked to get up early, maybe not this early but early. He got out of bed and stumbled in the darkness towards the conjoining bathroom. He closed the door and felt around for the light switch. With a click he flipped it on, squinting against the harsh light. He did his business and washed his hands. He needed to get dressed but he didn't want to turn the light on in the room and disturb Bap who was still snoring his head off. He just left the bathroom light on and left the door cracked to provide him enough light to get his bag and take it into the bathroom. Since it was most likely going to be hours before anyone else woke up he decided to go for an early morning run. He got dressed in some gym shorts and a tank top.
Quietly as he could he left the room. It was pitch black in the entire cabin so he had to use a flashlight so he wouldn't run into something. He went out the front door into the hot dry morning air. He was stunned by the heat, if it was this hot already he couldn't imagine how hot it must be in the heat of the day. He saw the faintest hint of dawn in the sky. Since it was still dark and this was an unfamiliar place he ran along the fenceline so he wouldn't get lost. When he got quite a distance away from the cabin he stopped and watched the sunrise. The desert sure had pretty sunrises. And sand lots of sand, he saw nothing but the gritty irritating stuff for as far as the eye could see, even though Cole was the master of earth he still despised sand, it was irritating and got everywhere and he means everywhere. As the daylight strengthened he figured he'd better head back. Surely the others were starting to rise by now. As he headed back the desert seemed to be offended by his dislike for sand as the wind picked up and began to pelt him with it. Since he was sweaty the sand stuck to him and made him feel gritty and dirty.
As Cole entered the cabin he smelled something amazing. His stomach growled excitedly in response to the amazing aroma. He followed the mouth watering smell to the kitchen and saw Marlene cooking. She turned to stir what seemed like some kind of porridge and noticed him, she smiled.
"Mornin! By golly you must have rose mighty early, I see you've been busy already" she chuckled at his dirty appearance.
"Well you can get all washed up, breakfast will be ready soon" she went back to cooking. Cole wanted nothing more than to shower right now. So he went back to the room and saw that Bap was still knocked out. The sunlight peering in through the window didn't seem to disturb him one bit.
"Lazy as the day is long" Cole shook his head as he gathered up his clothes and toiletries. He got into the shower and watched as the brown water ran off him. For a moment he was worried that the sand would clog the drain. It felt so good getting all the sand and dust off his skin. He had to wash his hair a couple of times before he got it all out of his hair. Then he took his time drying and brushing his hair. He heard an angry knock on the door.
"Rocky hurry up! You've been in there for like forty five minutes!" came Bap's angry voice.
"Hold your dragons I'm almost done!" Cole yelled back. Sheesh, some people. He supposed he couldn't expect these scrubs to understand the importance of proper hair grooming. He took a little longer than necessary to annoy Bap. Then he finally exited the bathroom. Bap grumbled angrily as he went in. After all that Cole was ravenous so he went to the dining room. The others were already eating. He took his seat and began piling food onto a plate he wanted some of everything. Bap joined them a while later. He glared at Cole.
"Why do you have to wake up so early" he said grumpily.
"Well unlike you I'm not a bum, besides I was quiet as a mouse I didn't disturb you" Cole said.
"I think you sometimes forget how heavy footed you are Rocky" Bap said.
"Oh right" Cole did sometimes underestimate his weight, all muscle of course. Cole finished stuffing his face, sat back in his chair and gave a sigh of content.
"Well if you boys are done eatin, Marlene is waiting at the stable to show y'all the horses you'll be ridin, see you boys later, oh and make sure y'all are back in time for supper, Marlene is makin meat stew, trust me you do not want to miss that" Clayton said. They headed to the stable.
"Howdy fellas! I got your horses right here, Rocky you'll be ridin Blondie" Marlene said as she motioned towards a palomino mare with white spots.
"Don't you worry none, she's nice and sweet and quiet, she won't be no trouble at all, ain't that right girl" she patted the horse.
"Bap, you'll be ridin Red here" she pointed to a chestnut gelding.
"Bam, you'll get Stormy" she pointed to the gray mare.
"And Pow, you get Jet" she motioned to a black gelding.
"Since this is y'all's first time ridin, I picked our four quietest horses, I took the liberty of getting them all tacked for ya, all y'all gotta do is mount up and giddy on up!" Marlene said as she drug a mounting block out.
"This will help y'all get on, have fun boys!" she said as she got busy cleaning the stalls. Cole approached Blondie. Ok he's conquered dragon riding so how hard could horse riding be.
"Ok, easy now, just hold still while I get on" Cole said as he attempted to mount the horse. She just stood there patiently waiting. Finally after several failed attempts he managed to get up on the horse.
"Ha! I got it!" he cheered. He saw the others were just getting on their horses too. So he wasn't the only newbie here; it made him feel much better. Once everyone was on their horses they started towards town.