The Fabulous Four

and their journey to

the City of Tomorrow

Chapter -1
The Invitation

“Ralph, come and help me with the cows” said Mom. “I

can’t, I’m having a headache” replied Ralph.”If you
don’t start helping me out, then I’m gonna have to
ground you for a month” yelled Mom. “Fine I’m
coming” said Ralph.”Hey Ralph how’re doin’ said
Mark who has just came up at the door. Mark and Ralph
were besties. They were both studying at the Clifford
Tech High School then. Ralf is a ten year old kid who
had all the pleasures in life. Mark was a poor old kid
whose parents are struggling hard to pay for his school.
‘I’m doing just fine. I had some work
to deal with my mother’ ‘How’re you doin’ Mark’ said
Ralph. ‘Not fine’ said Mark miserably. My dad got
fired from his job yesterday so my Mom and Dad are
struggling to keep up with our family expenses’. Mark’s
parents are both accountants. They were both working
at New York.
‘Sorry, my mother’s calling. Would you mind helping
me?’ asked Ralph.
‘Of course. Come on let’s go.’
They both worked till late evening. The job was hard
feeding the cows, cleaning up cow dung, storing it then
milking the cows, bathing them. By the time they
reached home the sky was already blackening.
‘Good lord, look at the time’ said Mark. ‘It is already
half past seven! My parents are going to kill me. See
you at school then’. ‘Thanks for helping me out man’.
‘Night’
‘Night’
The next day Ralph woke up early in the
morning. He brushed his teeth, put on nice clothes and
then went downstairs to watch TV.
‘Ralph, eat your porridge and start getting ready for
school. Daddy is going to drop you at school today.’
said Mom.
‘All right, I’m coming down.’ said Ralph.
Ralph ate his porridge and started getting ready for
school.
‘Dad, can I wear your new watch to school? It will look
very nice. All the other kids would be so jealous of me.’
said Ralph.
‘Okay. But you must be very careful with it.’
‘Thanks Dad’ said Ralph.
Ralph hopped in to the car and they started
the journey to the school. On the way they saw Mark
and persuaded him to hop in the car. The school was six
miles away from their home so he agreed. The ride to
the school was great. The journey was through a series
of hills and valleys and on top of a steep hill was their
school. It was a glorious sight. The walls were painted
deep red and on the front was a big sign that says
‘Clifford Tech High School’. There was a big
playground on the other side of the building. There was
a tennis court, a basketball court, a football court and a
big cafeteria. There even was a big swimming pool on
the other side of the school. The boys hopped off the car
and started walking to the school.
‘Hey, did you watch ‘Baby’s Day out’ on TV last
night?’ said Ralph.
‘No, I’ didn’t’’ said Mark
‘Hey guys, how’re you doin’’ said Tim and Phil who
had just arrived at the school. Tim and Phil were
classmates of them.
‘We’re doing just fine’ said Ralph.
‘Hey Tim, could you help me with my history
homework? said Phil. It is a lot of work and history
isn’t exactly my favourite subject.’
‘Oh yeah. Sure. I’ll help you out. We must get going.
History is in third period.’
‘See you guys later then’ said Tim.
Their first period was English. Their
class teacher, Miss Morgan was their English teacher.
She was very kind but awfully strict when the children
didn’t do their homework. The children all liked her
because she was so kind.
The following day was rough. Miss
Mathews, their maths teacher gave them a lot of
homework that day. Professor Ben, their history teacher
also gave them an essay on ‘The American Revolution’
to write as homework. The only thing relaxing at that
day was the P.E period. At the end of the day the class,
tired and exhausted, happily ran home.
‘Hey’ said Ralph
‘Hey’ said Mark who has just came by.
‘Wanna spend the night at my house?’ said Ralph.
‘Yeah’ said Mark. ‘I’ll go to my house and ask
permission from Mom’.
‘Okay then.’ said Ralph. ‘I’ll see you at my house then’
‘Bye. See you there.’ said Mark.
As Ralph and Mark went their separate ways, Ralph
went to buy some toffees from the grocery. On the way
back home he came across something wrapped with
brown cover. He took it and unwrapped it. Inside the
brown cover was an envelope. It was a letter addressed
to him. He opened the envelope and started reading:
To: Ralph Henry Evans
Dear Ralph,
You have been invited by the
Nautalies Community of Technology to visit the city of
Tomorrow.
To find the city you must find the mirror of
magic. It is in your locality. Further instructions will be
provided there. Stay tuned!
 Sincerely,
The
Monit
er
Where could be the mirror of magic? And who the hell
is the moniter? Ralph mind filled with these questions.
Feeling puzzled about his recent incident, he went
home.

Chapter-2
The Message

When Mark came to his house, Ralph told him all about
the letter.
‘So you got an invitation to the city
of tomorrow from the, what?’ said Mark who was
starting to get dizzy after hearing his friend’s whole
unbelievable experience. ‘The Nautalies Community of
Technology’ said Ralph. ‘I don’t there is an
organisation ever existed. And I’m not gonna believe
you until I have proof.’ said Mark. ‘Okay, then explain
how they now my name’. said Ralph. ‘The letter was
addressed to me. It has my full name in it. Please, you
have to believe me.’
‘Okay, I believe you. But I want to read that letter.’ said
Mark. Ralph gave him the letter. After going through
the letter, Mark puts it on the table. ‘How are we gonna
find the mirror of magic’ said Mark. ‘I don’t know. The
guy who wrote this letter said that he will give further
details there.’ said Ralph. ‘So until we find the mirror of
magic, there is nothing we could do ’
‘Hey’ said Ralph when he saw Mark the next day on
school. ‘Sorry I’m late.’ exclaimed Ralph. ‘Its okay’
said Mark. ‘We need to talk seriously about this letter.
Do you think that the man who wrote this is a fraud?’.
‘I don’t know’ replied Ralph. ‘Whoever wrote this must
have been following us. Do you think we should tell
anyone about this?’
‘No, I don’t think so’ replied Mark. Besides, it is only a
letter. What could possibly happen?’
At the end of the day the school
gave the children word that the sports day is in two
week’s time. The teachers gave the children their
participation slips. Ralph took swimming and Mark
took athletics. The children were very excited when
they went home.
The day was Saturday. Saturday is a holiday so Ralph
and Mark decided to play video games with his new
video game console that Ralph’s dad bought him. Both
of them liked playing video games very much. Ralph’s
mother however, sent them out. She told them that
video games aren’t ‘educational’ and told them to do
something in the real world. ‘I’ll go buy some ice cream
for us.’ said Ralph. ‘Okay’ said Mark. So Ralph
scurried to the shop.
‘Two sundaes please.’ said Ralph.
‘With pleasure’ said the shopkeeper.
As Ralph looked around the shop he saw a mirror. One
moment he saw his reflection the next moment he saw
his reflection disappeared. Words began to appear in the
mirror:
To Ralph Henry Evans,
You need to come to the city of tomorrow at
once! To reach there, take a left from here and then
walk straight. Keep walking until you see a maze. Take
the third lane then a left and then follow the course of
the path until you see another maze. Now take the fifth
one and take two rights. After that, keep walking until
you see a series of caves. Find the one that is black and
has a letter in it. .
Sincerely,
The
Moniter
Ralph tried to remember the routine but he couldn’t
remember it all. So he took a photo of it.
‘Did you see that?’ asked Ralph.
‘What?’ asked the shopkeeper alarmed.
‘The mirror.’ said Ralph
‘It’s perfect and normal as ever.’ answered a puzzled
shopkeeper.
Ralph looked at the mirror but all he saw was his
reflection. He rubbed his eyes and looked again but he
saw only reflection.
‘Sorry for that.’ said Ralph.
‘That’ll be five dollars’ said the shopkeeper.
‘Here. Thank you’ said Ralph, taking out a five-dollar
bill out of his wallet. He gave it to the shopkeeper who
gave him the ice creams.
Ralph was very puzzled by his latest encounter. Who is
the Moniter? And why is he insisting him to go to the
City of Tomorrow? With all these thoughts in his mind,
Ralph went home.
Ralph reached his home where Mark was waiting. He
gave one of his ice creams to him and told him about
the mirror.
‘So you saw the words written in the mirror but the
shopkeeper didn’t. What makes you so sure that it is
real?’ asked Mark.
‘Take a look.’ said Ralph giving his phone to him. ‘It
even has my name on it.’
‘Do you think we should tell anyone about this?’ asked
Mark.
‘Yes’ answered Ralph immediately. ‘We should
definitely tell anyone about this.’ Mark became
stunned.
‘But to whom will we tell about this? I mean, it’s not
like anyone would believe us even though we showed
them the letter and the photo. They’ll think that we are
making this whole stuff up’ said Mark.
‘Our parents would never believe us. I know! We can
tell our friends! They’ll believe us.’ exclaimed Ralph.
‘Great idea’ said Mark.

Chapter -3
The Four Amigos

‘Hey’ said Ralph when he saw Mark walking to school

the next day. ‘Whom should we tell about this?’
‘I don’t know. You’re the one who came up with it.’
said Mark. ‘How about Tim and Phil? They are the
closest to us, aren’t they?’
‘Okay. Let’s try. See if they believe us.’
After that, they went straight to school without saying
anything to each other. No sooner they reached the
school than they had a problem with their hands.
‘Hello Ralph and Mark’ said Max, the school bully.
Max was a senior of theirs. He was very unkind and
loves to play tricks with his sidekicks, Sam and Ronald.
Max was their worst enemy in school.
‘So Ralph, you still walk with Mark. Hey Mark, I heard
that your parents got fired from their jobs again. Do all
of you eat in the same plate? I suppose you would have
to save penny by penny in order to pay for it’ teased
Max.
Mark’s ears went pink. His was swirling with rage from
head to toe. He tried to hit Max but Ralph stopped him.
‘Don’t pay attention to him. He is just messing with
you.’ Sam and Ronald stood up their arms
threateningly. ‘I’ll send a bag of rice for you. See if you
can stay a few days without starving.’ said Max.
This was too much for Mark. He leapt at Max, knocking
him off his feet. Max, even though much larger than
Mark was taken by surprise and had fallen on to the
ground. They both started fighting ferociously while
Ralph, Sam and Ronald trying to prise them apart. Mark
got a wound on the head while Max got a bleeding
nose. They were both sent to the health room where the
nurse gave them the necessary treatment.
‘How’re you doing?’ said Ralph in the health room.
‘I’m doing fine’ replied Mark. ‘Nurse Allen said I had a
wound on the head. I’ll have to wear a bandage for a
few days and I’ll be fine. It’s just that I hate Max so
much. If he utters one more word about my family and
I’m gonna kill him.’
‘So, we have to talk about this Moniter thing.’ said
Ralph
‘Right’ said Mark. ‘About that. Where is Phil and Tim
by the way?’
‘Hey Ralph, how’re doing?’ said Phil as he came in.
‘Oh, hey Mark how’re you doing?’
‘Just in the nick of time.’ said Mark ‘I’m all right
thanks for asking.’
‘We heard that you’ve been in a fight with Max lately
so we came to check on you.’ said Tim.
‘Can we talk for a minute with you guys?’ asked Ralph.
‘Sure’ answered Phil.
They told all about Ralph’s recent events, how he first
got an invitation to the City of Tomorrow and how he
saw the mysterious mirror and all that. When they
finished, Tim and Phil looked unconvinced.
‘An invitation to the City of Tomorrow! Who would
miss it? I think you should go’ said Tim.
‘I don’t believe you. I think you are making it all up.’
said Phil.
‘Okay, see this for yourself’’ said Ralph him showing
the photo of the mirror.
‘Now I believe you. But I still don’t trust this guy. I
mean he could be a fraud trying to kidnap children.’
said Phil.
‘Then we go together. You said that this guy must be a
fraud, right? If we go together the chances of us getting
kidnapped are pretty much low, right?’ said Ralph.
‘Okay’ said Mark. ‘I’m in. Are you?’
‘I’m in.’ said Ralph.
‘Yeah, I’m in.’ said Phil.
‘I’m in too’ said Tim.
The rest of the day was pretty intense. Miss Morgan
gave them an essay about ‘Great poets’ to write as
homework. Professor Ben gave them a poem about
‘Great 90s’ to write as homework. After that they had
P.E. which was the most fun period of the day. At
recess the four of them gathered around at the lunch
table.
‘So where do we start?’ asked Phil as he sat on a chair.
‘At the shop where I bought ice cream that day.’ said
Ralph.
‘Do you know where it is?’ asked Mark.
‘Yes but it is out of town. I can identify it if I see it but I
don’t know the exact way. Every other shop did not
have ice cream that day.’ said Ralph.
‘Well, I guess we would have to go out and find out.’
said Tim.
‘Yeah, I guess we do.’ said Mark.
‘Hold on’ said Phil. ‘We haven’t decided when would
we start. How about this Saturday? I’m free and there
would be no school.’
‘Okay. This Saturday. Any regrets?’ said Ralph.
No one spoke.
‘Great. Then it is confirmed. See you later.’ said Ralph.
‘Oh I forgot!’ exclaimed Ralph. ‘We should come up
with a team name. Any suggestions?’
‘How about ‘The Fabulous Four’’ said Tim.
‘Yeah it’s a cool name. Any other suggestions?’ said
Mark looking around.
No one spoke.
‘Great. Then it is settled. We’ll meet at 8:30am in front
of the school. See you then.’ said Mark.
‘Hey’ said Mark on the way from school. ‘Are you
scared of doing this in the first place?’
‘Scared? Why would I be scared? I need to find this
guy. I have been having nightmares recently.’ answered
Ralph.
‘What sort of nightmares?’ asked Mark.
‘About the city of tomorrow. I am really excited about
it. I mean how would the future be? We can actually see
the future? This is like time travel.’ said Ralph
excitingly.
‘I do believe you but I don’t believe the Moniter. This
guy, I think he is a fraud. Are we foolish enough to
believe in something he said? I mean, there is no proof
to what he said.’ said Mark.
‘Come on man. What’s the worst that could happen?’
said Ralph.

Chapter -4
The days seem to take forever for Ralph. Ralph was all
excited about this trip. He has been waiting for this for
so long. Even his parents were surprised to see him so
happy.
‘What has happened to our Ralph? He seem so happy. I
never seen him so happy in ages.’ said Mom.
When Saturday finally came up Ralph woke up early in
the morning. He put on his best pair of trousers and a
shirt and went down to have breakfast.
‘Where are you going?’ asked Dad. ‘I uh, am going to a
trip with my friends.’ answered Ralph.
‘Where?’ asked Dad. ‘I’m going out of town. I’m going
to the Times Square.’
‘Okay. But be home before dark.’ said Dad.
‘Sure’ said Ralph.
After breakfast, Ralph went straight to school. On the
way he met Mark.
‘Hey’ said Mark when they met. ‘Are you ready for our
trip?’
‘As ready as I can be.’ replied Ralph.
‘Great. Then let’s get going.’ said Mark.

‘Hey’ said Phil when they met at school. ‘Are you

ready? I mean I’ve been looking forward to this trip and
I’m really excited about it.’
‘We are’ said Ralph.
‘So, do you know where the shop is?’ asked Tim.
‘Yes.’ answered Ralph. ‘I mean, I don’t know the exact
route but I can recognise it’
‘So let’s look for it’ said Phil.
They started looking throughout the town for this
mysterious shop. They searched and searched but to no
luck. There seems no such shop matching to what Ralph
said. At last they stopped to a haul at the shade of a tree.
‘There seems no such shop as you said there was.’ said
Mark. ‘Do you remember anything else about the shop.’
‘Well, the shop had a lot of plants around it’ said Ralph.
‘Then let’s look for it. Come on.’ said Mark.
‘Hold on.’ said Tim. ‘I need a drink.’
‘I’ve been dreading all day, but so do I.’ said Phil.
‘Hey, look!’ exclaimed Ralph. ‘It’s that shop! I see it! I
see it guys! Come on.’
The gang scurried to the shop. It was a completely
normal shop except it was surrounded by plants.
‘This is it. This is the shop. Now we have to find out
how to get to the cave.’ said Ralph
‘Take out your phone.’ said Mark.
‘Sorry.’ said Ralph taking out his phone and looking at
the photo. ‘It says that we have to take a left from here
and then walk straight. Keep walking until you see a
maze. Take the third lane then a left and then follow the
course of the path until you see another maze. Now take
the fifth one and take two rights. After that, keep
walking until you see a series of caves. Find the one
that is black and has a letter in it.’
‘Slow down! Slow down.’ said Phil ‘You were talking
way too fast. Let’s take it one step at a time, okay?’
‘Okay. Fine. First take a left.’ said Ralph
They took a left.
‘Then?’
‘Walk straight until you see a maze’
They walked and walked until they saw a maze.
‘Which way?’
‘Third one and take a left.’
They walked and took a left at the end of the lane. They
were getting far out of town. The way became more and
more difficult to walk.
‘Now where?’
‘Follow the course of the road until you see a maze.’
The weather was getting colder by now. The winds
became more and more violent. The sun was hardly
seen through the thick, grey clouds.
‘Which way?’
‘The fifth one. After that take two rights.’
The place was becoming scarier and scarier as they
went. They are far from town now. By the time they
reached, they were already tired.
‘I think we should reach it by now’ said Ralph after
taking the last right.
‘Hey guys! There it is!’ exclaimed Phil pointing over a
clearing.
Pushing the bushes aside they saw a clearing. When
they reached it, they were stunned. The caves were
filled with gold and diamonds and other precious jewels
to the brim. The children started dancing knowing how
rich they will be come when they get the jewels.
‘I’ll buy a Lamborghini.’ shouted Tim.
‘I’ll buy the whole Apple company.’ yelled Mark.
‘I’ll buy a private plane’ yelled Ralph.
‘I’ll build a castle.’ shouted Phil.
Then the four boys surrounded and chanted ‘Money!
Money! Money!’
‘I’ll start packing’ said Phil. ‘I can already feel my
richness.’
But to his huge disappointment the jewel soon turned to
ash when he touched it. Pretty soon all the jewels
started to wither before their very eyes and nothing was
left much except some blackened ash. The children
looked each other in disappointment as their dreams
perished before their very eyes.
‘There!’ said Phil. ‘Just as we thought we were having
the time of our lives! Now everything is gone!’
‘Hang on’ said Ralph He moved forward through the
mountains of ash. In the middle of the ash was an
envelope. Ralph tore it open and start reading:
To Ralph Henry Evans
Dear Ralph,
You are welcome on behalf of
the Nautalies Community of Technology to visit the
City of Tomorrow. I see that you have brought a bunch
of your friends. A very good decision indeed! To get to
the city, you must prove you are worth of it. Use the
Quantum Reactor on the back of this letter and throw it
in the air. It will open a portal to the Village of the
Ravagers. Keep the Quantum Reactor with you. It will
be helpful to you throughout the journey. Once you are
there, find the letter. Further instructions will be given
in that letter. Good Luck!
Sincerely,
The Moniter
‘I’m gonna go back. I feel terrified about the whole
thing! Let’s go back.’ said Tim