Sure enough, there was a bag with supplies at home. Enough clothes to last him a little while, some money, and surprisingly enough, some new trainer supplies: potions and Pokéballs and such. Blake was left feeling somewhat resentful. He felt like he was the only one that didn't know anything anymore.
"I don't know why I should do any of this. This is ridiculous. I'm not a trainer. I don't even know why I have a Pokémon.. No offense." He looked up at the floating Drifloon, bobbing against the ceiling again. Blink. Blink. Drifloon didn't seem to have much thought on the topic. "What do you think." The same shrugging motion as before, if it could be called that.
Blake went back to his thoughts. It wouldn't be all bad. He had thought about becoming a trainer. Still, he was a little old. And new trainers usually had some idea of what they wanted to do. He had never studied battling techniques, or contests, or breeding. There were no gyms on the small island he lived; there were only a handful of cities. The professor had only moved there around the time Blake was born, in fact. The training of Pokémon was usually left to people from the mainland. Eventually, Blake made up his mind.
"I guess.. I guess I could give it a try. I mean, I have enough money here to get a ticket back home if I need to. I have supplies. It's like a vacation. Yeah. I think I can handle this." He checked his watch to see how much time he had left. Time was running low. He grabbed a pen and a loose sheet of paper to scrawl a quick note to his family, a basic goodbye. Running up to his room, he grabbed the rest of his important belongings and packed them in his school bag. It wasn't particularly designed for trainers, but then again, he never had been the organized type. Going back down the stairs, he grabbed his bags, and looked up at Drifloon.
"You ready to go?" he asked. Drifloon made no response, but floated down the door and wrapped an arm around the knob. Even without arms, he managed to turn it and open the door. Blake's eyebrows raised, but he followed, closing the door behind himself.
Before he left, Blake wanted to stop by the professor's lab. He jogged over, not wanting to waste time; it would take a minute or two just for the locks to be undone. It seemed, however, that the professor was waiting for him.
"Your bus gets here in five minutes. You'd better get to the stop." It seemed the professor knew the decision Blake would make even before he had made it. "Here's my number if you need to contact me. In fact, you should probably call when you make it to Olivine." He handed over a slip of paper. Blake pocketed it and nodded.
"Thanks. I will. And, uh, thanks for the opportunity." The professor nodded back and headed back indoors. Blake turned and jogged towards the bus stop.
The port city, one of the bigger cities on the island, was only twenty minutes away. Blake was lost in thought and narrowly avoided missing his stop. Thankfully Drifloon was paying attention. As he stepped off the bus, he noticed that all eyes were on the two. Many people had not seen Pokémon, especially the younger children. A few pointed, but Blake took no offense. They were curious, and they had the right to be. He might have done the same thing a few days before, in a more subtle way.
He stepped off the bus into the crowded city, or crowded in comparison to his home town. He set his bag down and pulled the directions he had been provided out from a side pocket. Finding the location of his harbor, he pocketed the paper and headed towards it, feeling in the other pocket for his ticket. The building was only a few blocks away, and he reached it shortly, but something caught his eye in an alley off to the side.
"Just leave me alone. I didn't do anything to you!" The speaker was a girl, probably close to Blake's age. Her face was obscured by the distance and her long blond hair, reaching to her shoulders. The apparent assailant was an older guy, maybe a few years older than Blake was.
"Look, I warned you, and you didn't listen. You had to follow me, and I could do a lot worse. Just give me your money and I won't hurt you." That was all Blake had to hear. He dropped his bag at the entrance to the alley and headed down.
"Leave her alone," he started, "or else." Even standing as tall as he could manage, the older boy was a few inches taller. He looked into Blake's eyes with a steely gaze, made even more chilling by the icy blue color.
"Oh look, kiddo wants to play the hero. I'm not afraid of you, kid. I could take you alone, but unfortunately for you, I'm not alone." The kid pulled a Pokéball off his belt and released the Pokémon inside. The Pokémon floated above the ground, similarly to Blake's Drifloon, but the similarities stopped there. It looked like a spherical ball of ice with horns, and indeed it gave off a chill, misting the area around it, even in the warm weather. Blake glanced over at the girl, whose eyes appeared to widen for a second, before looking at him, in almost a worried sort of way.
"This is your only chance, kiddo. Head on out now, and I'll forget all about you." The icy Pokémon glared at Blake, breathing out with a small gust of cold wind, just enough to make his arm hair stand on end.
"No." Drifloon floated down to put itself in between Blake and the Pokémon. The other boy just laughed.
"Kiddo's got a friend too? Still, I don't think this little runt can handle Glalie. Give them a taste of Powder Snow to start off with." Glalie took in a sharp breath, then exhaled, with an even stronger gust of chilled wind, complete with small ice crystals. Blake turned to cover his face, but Drifloon had another idea. Small he may have been, but fast as well. Drifloon moved around the Glalie, directly towards the trainer, looping his small arms through the belt loop and then took off. Even a small Pokémon packs power, and Drifloon was able to pull the boy off of the ground, and didn't stop until they reached a good distance. Facing the ground, the boy flailed, causing a drop of a few inches, which only made things worse.
"Drifloon, what do you think? Let him hang around? Or should we just let him get out of here?" Blake asked. Drifloon gave his signature shrug, which caused the boy in his arms to bounce a little. A second later, Drifloon dropped him and the boy fell a couple of feet and crashed onto the ground.
"Alright! We've had our fun. Don't think we're done here, kiddo. I can guarantee we'll meet again." The boy flashed a smirk at Blake, before walking past him, making sure to bump him, shoulder to shoulder. As soon as he had departed, Blake turned to the girl, who had been silent the whole time. She looked up at him.
"Thanks. Troublemakers, huh?" She smiled at him. Blake blinked, trying to think of a good response.
"Uh, no need to thank me, ma'am." he stammered, turning a little red as she gave a short laugh. "I mean, my Drifloon did most of the work. I didn't even think of that." She reached up and pet Drifloon, who seemed to be genuinely happy, the first emotion it had ever shown.
"It's okay, even the sidekick deserves some credit. I'm Jordan. Jordan Caldwell." She offered a hand. Blake held his out and they shook.
"Blake Faraday." She smiled again. "Nice to meet you."
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but you're here for the boat, right? I'm on the same boat. We should probably go now. It leaves soon." She picked up a small bag at her feet, and threw it over a shoulder.
"Uh, yeah." He grabbed his, but she was already waiting at the entrance to the alleyway. She winked at him, and he felt his face go red again. He was pretty sure she had noticed, too, because she gave another laugh.
"Come on then." He followed her towards the dock, where they presented their tickets and stepped aboard. Once they had found their rooms, they met back on the deck, where the questions began.
"So what takes you to Johto?" Blake started.
"I'm actually from Olivine. I'm only here to pick someone up."
"Really? Who is that? You look like you're alone to me."
"I'm not alone though. I've already picked up my target." He pondered this for a second before it hit him.
"Me? We just met though!" She gave her short laugh again and nodded.
"I believe that the good professor has arranged for you to meet a friend of his? That would be me." she said.
"I was just expecting someone a little older, that's all." he replied, trying to save himself. Still, he wasn't too disappointed. Being picked up by a cute girl was definitely not the worst that could happen. She stuck her tongue out at him.
"I'm plenty old. I'll have you know, I'm a higher ranked trainer than you are right now, Mr. Faraday. I could have handled myself back there, but you looked so gallant, I thought I'd let you give it a try. Don't worry, you weren't ever in any danger. I was there to protect you." She winked at him again and turned to walk the deck.
"Now, wait just a minute…" Blake chased after her. The voyage would be an overnighter and would give him a chance to learn what he could, providing he could keep up with her. She looked back at him over her shoulder.
"Let's walk and talk."