You form small groups to see who can come up with the best way to get into the walled city in front of you in order to rescue Ben, Tony, Drew, and Cori. Since many of you have been arguing the entire time, there seems to be little desire to work together, and you basically see it as a challenge to see who can execute their plan first.

Adam and Ryan W. get going quickly by starting to build a Trojan horse out of the yo yo, rope, and duct tape. Unfortunately, without wood or other structural devices, it resembles the character development in the film Avatar (mushy, flat, useless, and unsuccessful). Perhaps it's a Trojan tortoise, but still only big enough to fit the two of them, so they climb in and wait (surrounded by duct tape).

Catie, George, and Cassandra all develop plans to destroy the lock on the door, employing George's gun to the lock method, Catie's crow bar to the lock method, or Cassandra's gun/land mine/pen/crow bar method. Of course, the best laid plans of mice and men often amount to nothing, and since the only lock to any decent walled city exists on the INSIDE, their plans only work once someone gets in.

Ashley, Haley (spelled Halee), and Matt decide to chop down the wooden wall, one 30” diameter tree trunk at a time, using the machete. While fun to watch and a wonderful workout, they get absolutely nowhere fast, and probably have called attention to the attempted invasion by the time other plans are enacted.

Jalen, Justin, and Victoria forget that there's an assignment at hand and never come up with any plans, so they stand around and wonder what's going on. But they do have an interesting conversation about the biological implications and the space time continuum in relation to the dinosaur they saw in the forest.

Whitney and Mark decide to use the land mine to break the door, so they set it up next to the door and wait, and wait, and wait. Then they start chucking pebbles at it. Then they're both a little too paranoid to go back and check to see if it's really activated.

With the land mine sitting in front of the door, Ryan R. (channeling the possible thoughts of captive Ben “Watch this” Burns) sets the wall on fire, hoping the land mine will kill anyone who leaves. Unfortunately, the wood is difficult to light, and very smokey when finally lit.

Laura, who has decided to climb the wall using a rope, is overcome by the smoke, and drops back down to the ground a mere seconds before reaching the top.

Minutes later, a large amount of water from the other side of the wall puts out Ryan's fire, and everyone is left without a plan. Except for the Trojan tortoise.

But nothing else happens for a long time, and without texting or video games, everyone is quickly bored and annoyed.

Kiersten and Katie (wanting to rescue Cori), but who didn't want to be involved in any activity, along with Becky, Austin, and Jake decide knock on the door, which opens up immediately. Adam and Ryan W. emerge painfully from the taped tortoise to join the group.

Everyone rushes into the doorway in order to protect their classmates and see what's inside. No one is disappointed, as the city, nestled in this valley between mountains, is an absolute paradise: thousands of varieties of flowers, bright blue water, and all kinds of scantily-clad young people who look like models are greeting the classmates with smiles and offerings of food and drink.

Then they see Mr. Jaeger, who is by no means a model, but seems younger somehow than when he stood in front of the class and talked nonsense just a few days before. “Hello, my children,” said Mr. Jaeger. “You are welcome here in Shangri-La, the city of perpetual youth that all of us seek and none of us leave.”

“Whatever! Where are Ben, Tony, Drew, and Cori?” demands Adam. “And why are you even alive?”

“I have found the philosopher's stone. And I was wearing a parachute. As for your friends, they have joined us. Won't you do the same?” asks Mr. Jaeger. Before anyone notices, the doors are shut behind the group, and everyone is escorted by armed guards to the large fountain in the middle of the city.

Emerging from the fountain in 90s beer commercial style, are Ben, Tony, Drew, and Cori, all appering to be perfectly healthy, except for a slightly distant look in their eyes.

“This story's finally over, and I feel absolutely perfect” Cori says. “Won't you join us?”

“Forever,” Tony adds.