The Gold Retrievers

Long ago, as the Americas lie untouched

and unblemished, travelers from afar boarded grand vessels

and crossed choppy waters.

A merciless army of warriors plundered the new world

and great ancient civilizations.

They were known as the conquistadors.

Proudly shipping their stolen treasure back to their queen,

they were heralded as heroes of Spain.

But greed knows no bounds.

A small group of conquistadors decided

to steal the gold for themselves.

They sailed up the coast to what is now California.

But mother nature had her own plans.

Only one soul survived that torturous night,

a shrewd and cunning conquistador named

Don Antonio Miguel Torres.

Aided by the natives, he hid the fortune deep within a cave

in an uncharted mountain forest.

Even today, few are willing to brave

this treacherous terrain,

fraught with natural and unnatural pitfalls.

To help him find his way upon his return,

Don Miguel made two maps,

one of parchment and one a medallion.

It told of the way through the forest

and warned of booby-traps and curses.

Years later, he returned to claim the riches.

Don Miguel was never heard or seen again.

Time and again, brave souls have searched

the cursed forest for the treasure,

none known to come out alive,

even as the town of Santa Rosarita grew up from nothing,

prospered, and then fell victim to economic hard times,

and all the while, the fortune of gold lay hidden

in the woods beyond.

Woo.

Whoa.

Whoa. Oh, oh, hey.

Whoa!

Oh, sorry!

Hey! Hey!

You darn kid!

You nearly scraped the paint!

What are you doing?

He nearly scraped the paint! We gotta try to act natural.

We gotta try to fit in here, okay?

Okay, okay. Be one of the locals.

Okay, okay. You get me?

Okay. Okay.

Come on.

Whoa!

Are you okay?

I think I'll live.

You should watch where you're going with that thing.

You new in town?

I just moved in this week.

Look who we've got here.

What you got there, Peters?

More junk that mutt dug up?

None of your business what it is.

This kid's forever digging up junk, him and that dog.

You'd think it'd be worth something,

the way he hordes around old rocks and sticks.

But you know what, Peters?

It's not, just like you.

Just our local nobody!

Yeah, a local nobody.

Lost cause, just like that mangy mutt!

Really?

You're in town less than a week

and you already hang out with Rachel?

Skip it, Peters!

You're a loser.

Always gonna be a loser.

And you're the last thing a girl

like that's gonna take a look at.

Right, Ana?

I said, right?

I don't know him well enough to make a judgment like that.

I'll take that!

Thank you.

What a loser.

So is that new girl.

Mr. Peters, I think you got it all wrong.

No, Sir, you do.

Okay, a big mega center like Ultra-Mart comes to town,

the first thing that happens is all

the local businesses die.

The town dies, Mr. James.

The town is already dying.

I'm trying to save it.

I'm not trying to destroy anything here,

that's why I think I'm making a very generous offer.

Right, to buy me out.

Changes my slow death to murder, wouldn't you say?

How many other towns have you killed, Mr. James?

I'm gonna need your answer by the end of the week,

so I just, do me a favor and be smart about it, all right?

My answer's no.

Think about it. Hey!

Who loves ya!

All right.

Hey bud.

Ultra-Mart guy again?

Yep.

The store this guy wants to build is gonna kill this town.

He thinks buying me out is gonna fix everything.

Well, wouldn't it?

Wouldn't even cover what I owe on a small business loan.

Listen, Josh, if we're gonna stand our ground,

gonna need to cut back on a few things, okay?

Your mum's over at your grandmother's.

She talked about us moving in with her for a while,

just until we get back on our feet.

But Grandma lives in a condo.

They don't allow pets.

We are gonna make some sacrifices, right?

Hm?

Come on, Bosco.

I won't let anything happen to you.

You'll be okay.

I promise.

Say, you fellas wouldn't happen to have

a hammer I could borrow, would ya?

Stay calm, act natural.

No, no, sorry, Officer, we got no hammer!

Oh, no, wait a minute.

We got a hammer right here!

Thank you.

Yeah.

What?

Hey, hold up, boys.

I'll get this hammer back to you right quick.

Oh, no, no, no, we don't need it!

We don't need it, okay?

We got so many hammers!

Come on, Bosco, let's go.

Let's get outta here.

Bosco, just quit it.

What's the use anyways?

What's this?

Couldn't be.

Did you see that?

Oh my.

Boy, I think you finally found something!

Let's go show Dad, come on!

Look, things are just a little bit tough right now.

I'm doing the best that I can.

I'm not asking you for anything.

I'm asking for a couple more days.

I understand. Dad, look what Bosco found!

Dad!

Listen, listen, my son just walked in, I need to go.

I'll take care of the money, don't worry.

Dad, look, look!

You guys are all riled up, huh?

What's going on?

Well, I was out with Bosco

and he started digging up some stuff.

Digging up?

Digging up where?

Mrs. Vandiver's?

No, no, no, no. No?

The Ultra-Mart construction site.

Okay.

And so he dug up this thing.

It's really cool.

Let's see it.

It's pretty cool. Cool?

Dad, I think this might be the conquistador's medallion.

You remember, I did a report on it last year.

The legend is that a conquistador named Don Michael,

or something like that, he made a medallion out of gold.

Maybe this is our chance to save our house,

the town, and then I can keep Bosco.

Come here, let me take a closer look at it.

What do you think? What do you think?

I don't think this is it, Josh, I'm sorry.

Look, it's made of tin.

Okay, this isn't gold.

It's probably some kid's old toy he threw away.

It's pretty cool-looking though.

Dad, you don't think that maybe,

anyway possible it's..

Josh.

Come on.

It isn't fair.

I know.

I know.

Now look, when you grow up,

you'll learn that there's a heck of a lot of things

in this world that aren't fair,

and you can't dwell on those things that you can't control.

Right?

Stay focused on the future.

Sometimes, that means you take a step backwards

before you can take two steps forwards.

You understand?

And Bosco, he needs you to stay strong right now, right?

Nobody needs to see their best friend all sad.