Lloyd had never felt that there was anything special about him. His life was normal, he was just an average teenager. Sometimes he wished something would happen, something exciting or even a little scary, to spice things up. Nothing ever did. Now here he was, sitting on a public transit bus, heading out of the city. He was going to visit his uncle. He sighed, ran a hand through his pale blond hair, and looked out the window.

Someone came and sat down beside him. A boy about his age, with chestnut-brown hair and blue eyes. He had a netbook computer under his arm, and a bag of tools. "Hi, mind if I sit here?" He asked.

Lloyd shook his head. "No, it's fine."

The boy sat down and smiled at Lloyd. "I'm Jay." He said. "I'm 17, and I like inventing things."

"Lloyd," He introduced himself. "16. Nice to meet you."

"So where are you headed?" Jay asked.

"Visiting my uncle, Wu." Lloyd said. "You?"

"Visiting my parents," Jay said. "I moved out recently, got my own place in the city, but I'm going back to see them for a bit. They're inventors, and it's kind of my dream to be one, too."

Lloyd smiled. "Good luck," He said.

"Thanks." Jay smiled. "You have a dream?"

"Not really." Lloyd said. "I haven't thought very much about my future."

Before either of them could say another word, the bus swerved and someone yelled, "THE DRIVER'S DEAD!"

Jay leapt up and ran to the front, but didn't get there in time to stop the crash.

—

When Lloyd woke up, he was surrounded by dead bodies. He scrambled to get out of the wrecked bus. "Oh, God." He gasped.

"L-Lloyd?" Jay coughed, stumbling over to him. "You survived… looks like only a few people did."

Lloyd looked at where Jay was pointing. There were four other people; a girl in red with short dark hair, a boy in red with messy brown hair, a boy in black with well-groomed black hair, and a pale boy in white. "Only the six of us?" The boy in black asked.

"Yeah, I think so." Jay said. "Oh, by the way, this is Lloyd, guys."

"Hi," The other four said as one.

"I'm Kai. This is my sister, Nya." The messy-haired boy said.

"Cole," The black-haired boy said.

"I am Zane." The pale one said.

"We need to find a shelter until we're rescued," Jay said.

"I already salvaged everything from the bus." Cole said. "Food, supplies, anything that might come in handy."

"You stole all that?" Nya asked.

"It's not stealing, they're dead. They won't be using it, and we might need it to survive." Cole pointed out.

"He's right." Zane said.

"And I found a cave we can stay in," Kai said.

"Great!" Nya said.

The six of them grabbed their things and headed for the cave. It was small, but at least it would provide some shelter. They settled into it and sat down. "So..." Lloyd tried to start up a conversation, "Where were you going?"

Cole blinked. "Me? I... I was running away from home." He said. "My dad wants me to follow in his footsteps, you know, and become a singer. I'd rather not. So I'm leaving for a while, or... I was, anyway."

"I was heading to the Birchwood Forest." Zane said.

"Kai and I were heading to Jamanakai Village." Nya said.

Lloyd nodded. "So if it weren't for this crash, and all of us being on that bus leaving the city... we probably would never have met," He said. "We should team up. If we all work together, we might have a chance at survival."

Everyone nodded. "Yeah, we may be an unlikely team, but we're all in this situation together, so teaming up is probably best," Kai said.

"Then we're a team now," Cole said.