Bleah… I know this sounds odd, but I hope some people read the last chapter and didn't review.. I spent hours and got two reviews. Seriously, if you don't like it, tell me and I'll work on it. Ri2 and Blizwolf both rock.

Anyway, in the second chapter, it becomes exceedingly clear that when I was little, I was nowhere near as good at Pokémon as I am now. Thus, some things in here are technically incorrect. I've tried to correct as many as possible, but there are some things that I have to keep in for plot reasons. So a quick notice: I know Lanturn do not abide in Mt. Mortar. I will eat the first person to point this out to me. Call it artistic license. Call it taking liberties. Call it Dannichu being a lazy blob. I just don't care anymore.

Chapter 2: Help From Lanturn (light blue)

Their journey toward Mahogany Town passed without any further incidents. They needed to duck down on occasions, but were always given long warning due to Ritzo, flying above their heads and keeping lookout, and Gabzy with his excellent hearing. Mostly they talked, telling each other stories and so on, making the time pass quickly. They kept up as fast a pace as Sarol's small legs and Freezachu's low endurance would allow, as there was no time to waste. As they neared the small town, it grew dark, though not before turning the sky magnificent shades of pink, orange and red. The Pokémon stopped to watch the sunset for a few minutes, every one of them awestruck with is beauty. Though after the sun had finished its duty for the day and disappeared from all sight, there was only a cold sliver of the moon and a few faint pinpricks of stars to guide them to Mahogany.

While the cold and dark was nothing out of the ordinary, they had spent their lives in temperatures three times colder and the same amount of light, the darkness gave them an increasing sense of vulnerability. Eventually, over the tops of the coniferous trees under whose shelter they had spent the day traveling, they saw the silhouettes of old houses; smoke rising from their chimneys.

"So that's a human town?" Sarol asked.

"Yup." Gabzy said, "See those houses over there? That's what they live in."

"Why do they need so many?" asked Ritzo.

"Well..." said Gabzy, "I think they have only one or two people per house. And there are quite a few people living here."

"So why are there none out and about?"

"They're all sleeping."

"Oh."

"Erm…" wondered Sarielle, "Now we're here… where do we go? It's probably best to travel at night, since there won't be any humans around. But which way now?"

Gabzy considered. "If what I learned as a kid is right, then Mount Mortar is around here somewhere. That would probably be the best."

"Mortar?" Sarol echoed, scared. "But… we can't go up a mountain at night! What if a fog starts rolling in, or if predatory Pokémon come out?"

Gabzy rolled his eyes. "You dimwit. We're not going to go over it. We're going through it."

"Of course!" Ritzo said, "the Mount Mortar tunnels! I heard about those!"

Freezachu looked a bit scared. "Isn't it supposed to be a bit… dangerous, though?"

Of course, with its fast-flowing waters, pitch-black depths, twisting paths, unstable tunnels and wild Pokémon, Mount Mortar was rumored to be exceeding dangerous. But Gabzy wasn't about to tell Freezachu that.

"That would be the Dark Cave by Violet, leading to Blackthorn." He confirmed, "Totally different. Sure, Mortar is a bit dark, but not any moreso than the Path."

"Is that it?" Ritzo asked, pointing to a large mountain to the west of Mahogany.

"I don't know." Gabzy admitted, "I know it's around here somewhere."

"But so are lots of mountains." Sarielle murmured, looking around them, seeing huge hills covered in pine trees on every side.

"Mortar is the biggest. It's the second-biggest in all of Johto." Gabzy confirmed, looking around for it, moving away from Mahogany and towards a rather thin route with fir trees on either side.

Freezachu picked up a pine cone. "Wow!" he exclaimed. "What's this?"

Ritzo looked at it. "It's a seed from one of those trees."

"Cool! What does it do?"

"It'll grow into a tree one day." Sarielle exclaimed.

"So it's like an egg?"

"Yeah, that's about right." Ritzo explained, flying overhead to keep a lookout for late-night travelers who might spot them, "only it doesn't hatch."

"Yeah, I figured that." Freezachu said, staring at the cone in awe. "But even so, growing into something that big… it's like a Magikarp into a Gyrados."

"That's it! That one there!" Gabzy shouted, silencing the conversations that the other Pokémon were having. They all stopped and looked up. Gabzy was pointing to a gigantic mountain that stood out magnificently from the others. It was impossible to see the top, as it was above the faint nighttime clouds. The Pokémon stood in awe.

"Wow…" Sarol breathed. "We have to go in there?"

"Yeah." Gabzy said, "But it won't be too bad. We've just got to all stick together, since it's apparently very easy to get lost."

"Erm…" Sarol said, "How exactly do you get inside a mountain?"

All eyes were on Gabzy. "Sheesh, you lot are useless, aren't you?" he said, walking toward a small tunnel leading into the mountain, "Aren't you glad I came?"

After stumbling around for what seemed like days but was probably no more than a few hours, the group rested. They were all accustomed to the lack of light, but still knew that they were going around in circles. It was incredibly hard to navigate, as the unpredictable twists and turns, coupled with the high walls of rocks that were impossible for Freezachu, Sarol or even Gabzy to scale, made it nearly impossible to find a way that would lead them in the direction that they wanted.

"Where are we?" Sarol said, sounding scared.

"Somewhere in Mortar" Sarielle replied, perched on a slimy rock.

Gabzy decided to be honest. "I have no idea where we are and we've all forgotten how to get back to the entrance. We need to get out as quickly as we can, or else we can forget about Stalegeon altogether."

Freezachu nearly burst into tears and Sarol did her best to comfort him.

"What's that?" Ritzo asked, straining his eyes to see something in the distance.

"What's what?" Sarol asked.

"That yellow thing…"

"Let's go check." Gabzy suggested. He leaped off the rock he had been sitting on and dashed off to find the source of the yellow pinprick in the distance. Everyone followed. As they drew nearer, they began to hear the roar of water; they had come across to find one of Mortar's notorious rivers. Trying not to slip in, they drew nearer and nearer to what was now identifiable as a light. It seemed to be moving away from them, however, and they had to speed up in order to prevent it from vanishing from their sight completely. Freezachu raced ahead, intent on catching up with the elusive light. There was a squelching sound, then a yell, then a splash. Straining their eyes to see ahead, the group of Pokémon realized: Freezachu had fallen into the water.

"Freezachu!" Sarol and Sarielle screamed, but it was no good; the current had swept him away. Hurrying over to the bank of the underground river, Sarol found something; Freezachu's plastic bag, complete with a bottle of melted Stalegeon.

Gasping for air and trying desperately to keep his head above the water, Freezachu struggled frantically against the harsh current that was threatening to drag him under the cold and unforgiving waters. He was repeatedly smashed into rocks in the water, worn smooth by the fierce current, but painful nonetheless. After walking so far in one day; further than he would normally walk in a week, coupled with the bruises from the rocks, he felt fatigue overcome him. He couldn't continue make his little arms flail around, keeping his head above water. He couldn't yell for help. All he could do was to let the dark water claim him… let the current drag him down into a watery grave…

Freezachu woke up groggily. Twitching painfully, he felt his whole body ache. "Where am I?" he muttered incoherently. He felt the cold, sharp ground underneath him, so different to the Path's comforting smooth ice.

"Freezachu? He's awake!" he heard a distant voice call. He opened his eyes slowly but scrunched them shut as he was blinded by an intense yellow illumination.

"Are you okay?" he heard a voice ask. The voice mingled with the nearby rushing of water and made the Icicle Mouse's head spin.

"He's awake. That's something." he heard another voice say.

"I thought he wouldn't wake up!"

"Freezachu? If you hear me, blink."

Using a lot of strength, Freezachu struggled his eyes open. He had to blink quite a bit to allow his irises to focus against the bright light, but when he could see properly, he found himself lying on the ground of the interior of Mortar. Standing around him were his new friends; Sarol, Sarielle, Gabzy and Ritzo. He felt a wave of relief wash over him when he saw that Ritzo was clutching the bag with Stalegeon in. He also saw that he was lying by a river, presumably the river he fell in, and in the fast-flowing water as a large fishlike Pokémon. It was blue with a yellow facemask and a dorsal fin that was emitting a bright glow. He assumed in his semi-conscious state that the light from the Pokémon was what he had been following earlier.

"Are you all right?" Sarielle asked, concerned.

"Y-yeah." Freezachu breathed, trying to move his battered body. Ritzo saw that he was trying to get up and fluttered over to help him up.

"This guy saved you." Sarol said after Freezachu was standing unsteadily on his feet. Freezachu turned his head to look at the Lanturn.

"My friends call me Raisin". The Lanturn corrected.

"Thanks." Freezachu said, bowing his head slightly to show his appreciation.

"Pah." Daigree muttered. "He was the one that made him fall in in the first place."

"He's also offered to show us a way out." Ritzo interrupted, scared that the Lanturn would take offence and renounce his offer.

"Really?" Freezachu said, his eyes lighting up.

"Sure." Said Raisin, smiling. "Your friends told me that you're going to the Seafoam Islands. I'd be more than happy to help out. Heck, I'd probably come with you if I wasn't water-bound." He gave a loud laugh.

"You don't mind?" Freezachu said, unable to believe it.

"Not at all; we never have visitors here in Mortar. It's certainly more exciting than hunting for food. Come on; if you're okay to walk now, we can start now. Just follow me. You'll have to careful though; there are some waterfalls and whirlpools in this area that even I can't handle. And if you get tired," he looked over at Freezachu, "just say, and we can rest for a bit. Okay?"

Everyone nodded, and they set off. Mortar was much less intimidating when they had a guide who knew his way. The light coming from his dorsal fin was comforting too; they saw the shadows of wild Pokémon shy away from the light when they approached, so they were undisturbed. The fact they had to walk along paths right next to the water, and occasionally leap onto Raisin's back for a ride across the water to reach a new path, it felt like they were making much more progress than they had been doing so before.

They followed Raisin's light for miles, as he swam in the interconnected rivers that flowed underneath he mighty Mount Mortar. Over that time they stopped at irregular intervals, mostly to allow Freezachu to have a breather, but the others were getting exhausted too. After all, an average day for them in the Ice Path consisted of eating, sleeping and playing – they were not used to walking miles on the inside of a dark mountain.

They passed deep into the caverns of the mountain, some places where, if they didn't have Raisin's light to guide them, they would have been nearly unable to see though the pitch-black darkness. Finally, Raisin stopped, turned around and smiled at them. "We're here!"

"Where's 'here'?" Sarol asked, looking for an exit.

"Okay. You go over those rocks there and around a few stalactites. Keep going and you'll find the exit. I'd show you, but the rivers don't go that far."

"Really?" Freezachu said, hardly able to believe it.

"Yes – at least I think so. I've never seen it, but that's what I was told."

"Thank you." Sarielle said, "You've been such a great help."

"Yeah, thanks." Ritzo said, nodding.

Freezachu bowed his head. "Thank you so much!"

The Lanturn grinned. "You're welcome. Now you go and find Articuno. I'll try and keep an eye out for you on the way back – it would be great to hear how it went. Anyway, good luck."

"Thanks!" Sarol, Freezachu and Ritzo chorused, going towards the exit of the mountain. Ritzo waved one last time before disappearing behind a huge pile of boulders that obscured the group from view. Raisin dived deep underwater, smiling to himself.

It's much shorter than the first chapter, but I figured maybe the length put some people off reading... I dunno. I'm desperate here people; just let me know what you think, okay?