Characters created by: Rebecca Sugar
Chapter 4: The Pacific Gold Rush
[*]
State Of Golden, 1852
"Gold!"
Steven had stars in his eyes. He picked up the tiny nuggets in his hand. He examined them with delight.
"Wow, Gold!"
He looked up and gasped.
"Wait! Am I…"
Steven once again looked to the sign that said "San Francisco". He followed the dirt path beside the sign.
Outskirts Of San Francisco-Thirty Minutes Later
The more Steven walked down the dirt path, the more civilization he came across. By now he was passing by people and horse-drawn wagons every few seconds. Steven noticed the people and their attire.
"I must be in the Pacific Gold Rush. No doubt."
A white-bearded man passed him. Steven tapped the man's shoulder.
"Um, excuse me. What year is this?"
The man smiled and spoke with a thick Southern accent.
"Why, you're in 1852!"
"Knew it." Steven thought.
"Thank you, sir." he said as he continued his walk.
Steven soon saw the city of San Francisco from the path. It was densely populated for its time because of the mass migration of people coming to Golden to acquire its gold.
"So this is San Francisco in 1852. It's so, old-timey. Hmm, I know that there were people here who take gold in exchange for money in 1852."
Steven walked through the bustling streets, gazing at the names of different buildings.
"That's a Tailor… That's a Bar…"
Steven then saw a building which read "We take gold, you get money!".
"Aha!"
Steven opened the door, which pushed a bell.
*Ding*
A man at the counter turned to Steven.
"Ah, hello! How much you got today?"
Steven reached into his pocket and took out the gold nuggets.
"How much will this give?"
He dropped them onto the counter. The man examined the nuggets. After a few seconds, the man erupted in a fit of laughter. Steven was confused.
"Wh- Why are you laughing?"
The man spoke.
"You found Fool's Gold, my friend! This ain't worth nothin'!"
Steven looked down in disappointment.
"Oh…"
He turned back and opened the door. He was now back out in the street.
"Hmmm…."
Steven saw a nearby paper on the side of a building. He stepped over to it and read it.
"Hmm. Phineas Caine offering reward of hundreds of dollars worth of gold nuggets for the stopping of monster near property. Monster?"
Steven walked up to a nearby man and spoke.
"Excuse me, sir, do you know where I can find the home of Phineas Caine?"
The man spoke.
"Just go straight up the path out the city, then take a right into the forest, the first house you see is it."
"Alright, thanks."
Steven started his journey.
Ten Minutes Later
Following the directions the man said, Steven was walking through a forest. He emerged from a bush to see a big house, with a farm nearby, with pigs, cows, chickens, and farm hands working. He walked forward, seeing that from the property, there was a great view of the city. He walked up to the door and saw a rope hanging beside him. He pulled on the rope, and many bells could be heard. Soon, a brown-haired man opened the door.
"How can I help you?"
Steven spoke.
"Yes, I'm here about the monster problem."
"So, you wish to talk to Phineas Caine?"
Steven nodded.
"Yes."
"I shall go get him. Please, come in."
Steven stepped in and looked around. The house was very fancy, like a mansion. The brown-haired man spoke again.
"Stay right here while I get him."
"Yeah."
The man walked up a staircase, leaving Steven to himself. He looked at the fancy house, with very clean walls, and paintings of San Francisco and the Golden landscape.
Soon, Steven heard footsteps. He looked up to the staircase. He saw a cane tapping the hard wooden frame of the staircase. He saw a shiny boot emerge, then a second. Soon, the figure revealed itself.
The man had brown hair, in a messy style, no facial hair. He wore a black suit with a bowtie, black suit pants, and his boots were of a very shiny black. He walked with a cane.
The man spoke with a mild Southern accent.
"Hello there."
Steven smiled.
"You must be Phineas Caine?"
"Indeed I am." said the man, as he walked up closer to Steven, "And you are?"
"Steven Universe."
"What a name."
Steven softly laughed.
"I get that a lot. So, this is a nice place you have. You must be really rich."
Phineas laughed.
"Quite rich. You see, back in '49, I was just a poor farmer in Bluegrass, until I heard about everyone heading to Golden, they said that prosperity and a happy life was here. Naturally, I was interested. I came here to find that new happy life. Soon, I found gold, lots of it. Everywhere I went, I was panning gold faster than anyone else. They all called me "The Golden Boy". Soon enough, I became the richest man in San Francisco. I started my own shoemaking business, now my company's the wealthiest shoe company in all the Pacific coast."
Phineas noticed Steven's sandals. He seem perplexed.
"Your shoes are very peculiar. I've never seen anyone wear those. What do you call them?"
Steven looked down on his sandals and answered.
"Oh, they're sandals."
Phineas stroked his chin.
"Hmm, sandals… Anyways."
Phineas walked over to a window and looked down on the city.
"My property's been recently threatened by a hideous monster. It's been killing my animals and scaring my farm hands into quitting. I've put up a reward for anyone willing enough to stop it. My farmhands say that it looks like a giant blue crystal rock, then legs made of the same rock emerge, then up to six red eyes. Basically, it is some kind of giant blue crystal arachnid."
Steven spoke.
"I will stop the monster from threatening your property anymore."
Phineas turned to him.
"Be warned, it's dangerous. I've already had five volunteers for the reward in critical condition. You might need a gun."
The other brown-haired man from before handed Steven a musket. Steven gave the gun back to the man.
"I won't need that. I can stop the thing with my bare hands."
"If you say so."
A Few Hours Later
It was night, and Steven was keeping an eye out for the monster. Beside him, resting on a hair, with musket laid beside him, was the man who answered the door.
Steven asked a question.
"So, how many times has this monster attacked?"
"Five times."
Then, screaming could be heard. The man rose from the chair and grabbed the musket.
"Must be in the back this time."
Him and Steven ran over to the farm. The farm hands were backing off from the crystal spider that Phineas described. One of the farm hands yelled.
"Lenny, get the goddamn gun!"
One of the other farm hands grabbed a musket and aimed at the spider. The spider leaped forward and landed on the musket, breaking it to pieces. The farm hands ran and hid in a wagon. Steven leaped over to the monster. He summoned his shield. The spider turned, and from its rear launched silky webs. The front of Steven's shield was covered in web.
"Ew."
The spider leaped onto his shield. He thrust his shield forward, throwing the spider off. He leaped and threw his shield, flying the spider back into a tree. The spider attempted to regain itself, but Steven punched it again, causing it to poof. Steven picked up the blue gem, bubbled it, and warped it to the temple. The farm hands all clapped.
"He saved us!"
Just then, Phineas Caine walked over.
"Ah! You got rid of that damned monster! Very good!"
Steven smiled.
"It's what I do."
Phineas reached into his pocket.
"For your valiant service."
He opened his hand to reveal many gold nuggets. He handed them to Steven.
"Up to two hundred dollars worth of gold nuggets."
Steven held the gold nuggets in his hands.
"Wow, thanks! There's so many nuggets. Do you have a sack I can use for these?"
"Absolutely!" answered Phineas.
One of the farm hands gave Steven a large brown sack that can be held on a person's back. Steven dropped the gold nuggets into the sack.
"Well, thank you. I better go now."
Phineas and the others waved to him goodbye. He waved back.
"Goodbye!" said Phineas, "Take care! Thank you for your service!"
Steven disappeared behind a tree and took the hourglass out of his pocket.
"Let me guess you're gonna take me to another time per-"
Steven now found himself in the middle of another "Old-Timey" city. There were people and horse-drawn carriages around.
"Now which city is this?"
He saw another sign.
Philadelphia