Emperor Pongo lounged on the vast ice floe, devouring the squid that had been caught earlier. It was a gorgeous day, the skies a light blue with traces of wispy clouds. The sea a deep aqua color, cresting to foam, as it surged against the ice floe. The air was a cool -6 degrees Celsius with little wind and the water a delightful 4 degrees Celsius. In the water splashed a few of the Emperor’s comitatus.

It was truly a perfect day. The floe had moved slightly away from land, the 28-inches thick floe of ice carried along by the waves towards the Grand Floe where the majority of the penguins had gathered.

As Pongo slurped down another squid, a shadow crossed him, glancing up at the penguin that had waddled into his sun.

“Yes?”

“Mi’laird. Someone approaches. A human comes to the see you.”

Twitching his head a moment then standing, Pongo reached his full height of four-feet tall. The messenger lifted a wing and pointed towards the leeward side of the floe. Turning, the great Emperor penguin made clicking sounds of mild displeasure.

“Well I suppose if he is foolish enough to come to see me, I might as well entertain him.” Pongo muttered as he crafted a large ice throne beneath him. As he rose in height he tapped the arm of the throne impatiently waiting for the human to reach him.

Seeing that Pongo had taken the ice throne, the comitatus hastily clambered out of the water and made their way towards the Emperor.
By the time the human arrived, the comitatus had formed into two ranks of 12 on either side of the ice throne.

The penguin that had informed the Emperor stepped before the human, blocking his path.

“Who wishes to see the lord of the Southern Floes, and master of the frigid key?”

Two weeks, two weeks of traveling throughout a tundra after his body numbing race up a frigid mountain against the gigantic mountain goat, Havardr. He still hated the cold, and this wasn't making his appreciation for it grow any faster than before. In fact, it accelerated his disdain for the crippling cold all the more great. It licked at his healed, but still pained arm, but did little to sap the energy he had nestled within him.

He had passed out after his run, and awoke to a healed body - probably his father, judging by the pain he still felt - and a whispering message in his head. 'We need to talk.' Kei'taro contemplated disregarding the message but decided against it, why not see what the old man had to say.

But that meant going to Pikatok, and by extension, through her. She guarded the closest gate.

So here he was, a six foot three, solidly built Beast King, trekking across the tundra to a village that offered boat rides from one side of the water to the other.

Sigh.

He gathered into a brisk jog, feeling he was near the Ukitani Village of the Ice People. As he arrived, he took stock of his surroundings. The village was for all intents and purposes gone.

Why?

The Ukitani people were a migratory race of ice masters, and they often traveled. In other words, Kei'taro had come to the wrong spot.

He headed westward, and after thirty minutes, he began to hear the tell-tale sounds of Penguins. Emperor Penguins.

He hadn't closed too much when the creatures noticed him, and one rushed off. Peculiar.

He walked towards the penguins, acknowledging them as he passed until he saw the giant floe, and something remarkable. What could only be the Emperor, er, Emperor Penguin, rose high on the floe in a throne. His tattoos brightened and then dimmed. A key.

He hoped across the small gap that separated land from floe, and was stopped by the informant Penguin. He gazed around and noticed the marshalled and lined penguins.

'Who wishes to see the lord of the Southern Floes, and master of the frigid Key?'

Kei'taro looked down at the speaker, and then back to the throne riding Emperor.

"Kei'taro, the Hunter of Bestial Keys, and simple traveler. I come here, as if by accident. I was looking for the Ukitani to commission a boat, but Fate has conspired to bring me to you, instead, mi'lord. If you are the master of the frigid Key, then it is you who I have ultimately come to see."

He tipped his hat, then looked towards the penguin once more. What sort of challenge would this creature of the cold bring. Perhaps something peaceful. Of course, capturing this key would lead to something much more dangerous. If ancient texts held, the Penguin key, as many others, being captured released stronger versions in some instances. In this case, the Polar Bear would be allowed to roam free.

Having heard the words spoken by the man, Pongo hopped down from the ice throne, his majestic waddle carried with it all the regal pomp that defied the otherwise humorous sight.

“Hmm. Key seeker you are?” Pongo murmured as he made his way around the human called Kei’taro, eyeballing the questing man.

“You have keys already. Why do you need the frigid key? Do you know what the key unlocks?"

Stopping in front of Kei’Taro, Pongo looked up at him with a wizened and knowing gaze.

“Young you are. This I can see. I also see you are fatigued. Are you sure you are ready for the test for this key?”

Kei’taro would surly notice that the ice floe had become a deep aqua-marine color, and that the temperature had dropped down subtly. Nothing drastic, but very noticeable, every breath the human took from this point forward would be accompanied by condensation of breathe.

“Regardless if you are ready or not, you have come here, requesting the challenge of the key. Thus I am obligated to test your worthiness to possess the key.”

Cocking an eye at Kei’taro he contimued, “Can you swim? I hope so because your challenge is simple. Look.” With that Pongo swept his right wing towards a vast floe of ice nearly a mile away.

“That is the Grand Floe. We shall swim to it. It is a mile away. Half way to the floe is a spot of warm water. At that point we shall dive down nearly 600 feet to obtain a squid from around the vents that push warm water and air into the sea. You must capture a single squid and replace the warming stone with one from the vents. Swim to the surface and onward to the floe.”

Pongo turned around and stared at the seas, “Of course it is not as simple as that you know. There are enemies of the Pengu in the water as well. You must avoid them; the Leopard seals shall see you as an enemy, striving to remove the squid from your grasp. There is also a pod of Orcas somewhere out there; they will also work to hinder you as they will try to hinder me.”

Turning back to Kei’taro, Pongo pointed towards a small glowing stone beside the ice throne, “That is a warming stone. Place it on your tongue; it shall help keep your body temperature stable. But remember you must find another at the vent at the middle point or you shall freeze in the waters. Do you understand?”

Waiting a moment longer, Pongo said solemnly, “When you are ready, you can begin the race by picking up the stone.”

The lord of the Southern Floes, and master of the frigid key was certainly a talkative creature. Kei'taro followed the pointing of the penguin, as well as his movements. He did like to hear himself talk, but the bird was right. He was fatigued, and his arm annoyed him to no end.

Still the bird went on. Something caught his gaze, his breath was visible, and beneath his feet and that of the gathered animals, the floe had begun to change colors. Kei'taro forced his focus back to the creature who was now explaining the dangers of the waters ahead. Leopard seals and orcas, enemies of the penguin, but ones he felt he could tame to a degree. He was, after all, a Beast King.

Pongo pointed towards the halfway point, and Kei'taro registered what he said. Six hundred feet down, he was to grab a squid, and a new warming stone, which Pongo informed him was by the throne. The challenge, on the surface, seemed simple. Swim, grab a squid, a new warming stone, and finally continue on towards what was dubbed 'The Grand Floe'.

Kei'taro eyed the stone, and then one of the creatures on the Floe. "Master of the frigid Key, do you mind?" He asked, motioning towards one the animals. After a moment, he handed his sword, and his pack to one and motioned towards the Grand Floe, he would gather his stuff there.

He turned back to the Emperor, and asked a final question; "I assume I am to do this without the aid of the rest of my keys?' He was reminded of Havardr. After a moment, he bent at the waist and gripped the stone. In a swift motion, he placed it on his tongue, feeling the warmth through his body. It had an effective range, he assumed of three thousand, two hundred and forty feet; not much over half a mile.

"I am honored, my lord." He said, before removing his shirt and tying it around his waist. With a nod, he leapt into the water, and immediately felt the contrast in temperature. He almost preferred the mountain. Almost.

With a powerful kick, he shot into a swift swim in the cold waters. The Beast King was an adept swimmer, proven by his victory for the Swimming Bass key. His arm hindered him only a little, and he hoped that wouldn't make much of a difference, especially when dealing with the pod of orcas, or the seals, whom he would be swiping food from.

Pongo watched impassionedly as the man stripped down and leapt into the water. Flopping on his belly Pongo slid towards the water, building up a great deal of speed until he hit a small berm and was launched into the air. A second later the majestic penguin dove into the water with nary a splash.

In several powerful strokes he was moving at a good clip. Bass are high in burst speed but are generally slower swimmers overall. However a Bass was faster than a penguin. But Pongo wasn’t worried about speed, he knew he had to go down 600 feet, and his body was designed for diving relatively deep, over a thousand feet. As soon as he hit the water he was diving at a slow angle, even as fast as the human appeared to be, diving deep would be the issue as would be returning to the surface.

That was the insidious trap of the challenge, should the human contend with the Leopard seals he would rise fast . . . rise too fast and he would get the bends. Rise too slow and he would strain his oxygen and fatigue levels in the deeps.

And then there was the matter of seeing the Orcas in the gloom at 600 feet. Even Pongo was limited but he was more adept at seeing at that depth than the human. Or was he? Only time would tell as he continued a steady pace at a down angle towards the thermal vents.

The cold water splashed and swam around him as powerful strokes propelled him forward. He dipped down, slightly turning his head and saw that instead of swimming in a straight line, Pongo had elected to take the diagonal route.

Well shit.

It was far though, Kei'taro, no matter what manner of beasts he hung out with was still based in human physiology. He was more durable, stronger, magical, and could communicate with animals he came across, but he was still effectively human. And that meant, well, he couldn't exactly dive as deep or as fast as an Emperor Penguin. He had to rely on short, steady, but powerful bursts to keep the race close. And if possible, he had to rely on his wits.

Presumably, he could communicate with the leopard seals and the orcas, perhaps get them on his side to help win the challenge. He had learned from the race up a mountain, a contrast to diving deep in the water, that one had to incorporate more than speed and strength to win a race in an animals natural habitat.

With that, he kicked off and propelled himself in a slightly diagonal manner. He didn't sacrifice much speed, but continued to regulate his breathing as he dove downward. His eyes danced from left to rignt, up and down, occasionally, looking for one of the animals in which to assist him.

Either would do, and as it so happened, down below a pack of leopard seals swam gracefully - as if unaware of the participants above. Keeping station, he headed towards them and the pack of squids halfway between the floes.

Pongo darted downward, ever downward when suddenly a dark shadow moved below him. In an instant the water went from calm to a threshing, roiling chaos. Pongo dipped below the lunging sea lion, using his downward momentum to avoid the sudden attack.

As the sea lion banked a turn, Pongo was spiraling downward towards the thermal vents, the grey spotted sea lion behind him. It was a decidedly deadly game, one that Pongo had managed to win for nearly a thousand years as keeper of the frost key. Spotting a gathering of squid, Pongo drew his right fin in and stroked mightily with his left, yanking him around and towards them.

In a flash he was among them, grasping one in his beak he continued downward, the other squid scattering behind him as the sea lion, like a torpedo, followed him towards the thermal vents. As the heavier animal gained ground, Pongo in a quick movement arced upward, avoiding the scalding water and toxic fumes being released into the water. The sea lion was unable to change direction in time and soared through the column.

The sudden warm water, coupled with the toxic gasses, forced the sea lion to gasp, releasing some of his precious oxygen. Instinctively the sea lion inhaled the toxic fumes. The sea lion blanched, and raced towards the surface to bring in clean air.

Pongo, whirled down, heading for a pile of slightly glowing stones at the base of the vents. Tapping them with his squid filled beak, the key guardian began his swim upwards towards the island.

Kei'taro watched, from a far distance, the descent of his adversary, into the depths of the water they were tasked with exploring and gatehring from. The Penguin, clever as the Mountain Goat, had chosen a match that greatly benefited him when it counted. Come to think of it, all the animals had.

Here he was, making his way to the bottom with a Leopard Seal hot on his tail, when something astounding caught his eye. Pongo was fighting off several of the creatures of the deep, masterfully swimming and dodging, gracefully attacking the creatures. Kei'taro himself wasn't too far off now, and turned just before the Seal had grabbed him. He expertly swam around the creature as it turned, but it too was reaching the depths of it's underwater capabilities.

Kei'taro spied this, and something further on. More creatures were gathering, and preparing to strike, and they too noticed the suffering seal - a fitting meal. Kei'taro, forsaking the match as it were, darted beneath the Seal just as it were about to dive too deep to return. As he pushed the Seal upward, the Orcas shot past him with a vigor he had not seen since the falling snow of an avalanche.

The seal was nearly captured, but Kei'taro pushed upward and forced the lead Orca upward, taking the attention of them all.

This was probably a mistake, as the orca pushed back and began nosing Kei'taro into the depths. The rest joined the hunt, and in their famous rolling wave formation, they began helping the lead orca take their new prey down into the clear depths.

Something amazing then did happen, even underwater the sound of a angry seal pierced the crystal waters and Orca were sent scattering. The seal, once hunting Kei'taro and perhaps still inclined to do so, burst into the circle, risking life and fin to help his savior. One Orca was bludgeoned to death by the immense weight, and another lost a flipper. Kei'taro could only watch as the Seal bravely fought off the orcas.

A tear in his eye, he sent positive vibes to the Seal, and turned. He was at the bottom now, and a squid happened to swim past him. He lashed out with incredible reflexes and grabbed the creature. Twisting about, he saw the warming stones and quickly approached them, taking one in his mouth and depositing the other.

Now settled on the bottom, he pushed off with both legs, angling himself towards the half mile out giant floe that was the finish line. Just as he settled into his pace, something impossibly large, black and white shot past him - headed for Pongo, the Emperor Penguin and King of the Southern Floes.

It took Kei'taro all he had to grasp the large dorsal fin and catch the ride. His breathing was being challenged, and the tell-tale signs of the bends were coming. His joints ached from more than just exertion. A lesser man might have felt the full brunt, but Kei'taro had been submerged before. His breathing slowed, the excruciating exhale.

Uthur, the aforementioned gigantic Orca, barely noticed the human upon his fin, but his immortal nemesis and the holder of the Frost Key, the only key in the Southern Floes aside from the legendary High Powered Ice Key, held by Koke-Kain, the Polar Bear, to avoid the Key of the underwater depths. Today, he would have his revenge.

Pongo swam with an elegant grace that belied his penguin form. A glance towards the human, the brave, perhaps the foolish was all that the Emperor Penguin needed. Several rapid blinks and a spiral move that would arc him around and down at speeds dazzling for a penguin.

Uthur was rising from the depths, a large bulbous bodied Orca. Oh, how they battled over the millennia, the two across the frigid waters of the South Pole. And now the buffoon was assisting the human Kei'taro. Whipping around as the large beast pursued him, Pongo raced towards the underside of an iceberg. The green-blue ice approached rapidly, and then in a move only capable by the small penguins, he zipped down and hugged the underside of the iceberg. Pongo was racing along the jagged underside, dipping and dodging, all the while knowing that the Orca would pursue him.

Uthur accelerated, he had spotted Pongo while the penguin was nosing about like the little bastard he was. He had lurked in the deeper waters, just at the range where the shelf fell away into the deep, dark ocean. The realm of Uthur was a realm of giants, and yet for all his size and speed, the smaller Pongo managed to escape him several times. Not today. Not today Pongo.

Racing towards the iceberg, Uthur was wise to this trick. He would not slam into the iceberg like he had the last time. Arching his massive body a moment he darted down so he would be under the iceberg and racing along its underside. The Orca was gaining speed, his prey ahead of him hugging the bottom of the iceberg.

Pongo twirled a barrel roll as he checked to see if Uthur followed him. Along the bottom of the berg Pongo saw what he wanted. The ice was diminishing, becoming a little thinner. The further along he swam the ice berg began to flatten out. It was now a decidedly deadly race between Pongo and Uthur.

This was an unexpected, and quite frankly perturbing experience for Kei'taro. Sure, he was already underwater, losing air at a slightly frightening rate, and had been submerged by a gigantic World Tortoise, but neither compared to be dragged along at his current pace by an unexpected Key Beast.

The disconcerting travel took him just beneath an iceberg, as the creature pursued Pongo. This would look bad, it would look as though a Key Beast was assisting in another challenge, and this clearly was not the case. He had to put a stop to it.

Slowly, he began crawling along the back of Uthur attempting to get a good grip on the cold, wet upper fin of the mammoth creature. With his grip adjusted, he pressed up onto the beast until he stood. With as much power as his aching body could muster, he began to pull backwards on the fin, attempting to lift the creature off course.

But oh, was it a struggle. Not only were his joints aching, but the creature was traveling at a fairly high speed, even though his grace betrayed that. And he was heavy. Yet, Kei'taro would not stop trying, and eventually his pulling paid off. The ice was thinning, so the damage wouldn't be much, if anything at all, but it would potentially save Pongo, even if it cost Kei'taro the challenge.

Uthur, on the other hand, would not be happy. His head was suddenly wrenched up - not by much, but enough. He slammed nose first into an errant downward iceberg face, breaking the ice but causing himself great discomfort. Kei'taro braced himself and with a push, rocketed off the back of Uthur, causing his joints more pain. He pushed through it, however, and noted he was close to the surface, thanks to the path that Uthur had taken.

He spun on his horizontal axis and caught sight of Uthur, and boy was the creature angry. And most notably, swells were coming - underwater swells. And teeth. Sharp, angry looking teeth.

If possible, Kei'taro's feet kicked even faster.

Pongo was a sleek black and white torpedo racing though the water. A quick glance told him that the human had mad Uthur angry. A quick chuckle escaped the penguin as he project a thought to the human. Hopefully he was not so panicked that he would miss it.

“Swim as I swim. Close to the iceberg. Swim fast. Swim as I swim human if you want to live.”

Then Pongo spiraled, picking up speed as the object he was looking for appeared ahead of him. Darting down quickly and expelling the air in his body, creating a stream of bubbles around him he rose at an amazing speed straight for the bottom of the iceberg then suddenly vanished.

Pongo had propelled himself through a hole in the ice, flying nearly 5 feet into air, out of the water and onto the ice floe. Landing on his belly he slid a few feet before popping to his feet. Shaking his feathers and body of the sea water he turned towards the hole. Hopefully the human would find it. Uthur, once under speed would strike the ice if he didn’t recognize what the man was doing. It would be hilarious and another story Pongo would regal his people with.

Now he waited to see if the human was worthy of the key he possessed.

There are several things that go through a person's mind when they are not only swimming through the water, and even more when there is a gigantic swell closing in on you from behind. Not to mention Uthur, a Key Holder, coming after him with sick vengeance. Many of those things are dwarfed by one, the thought of survival.

What Kei'taro didn't expect was to hear a familiar voice. He nearly missed it all, "...as I swim human if you want to live.”. He caught the last one, and was still nearly to slow to put it into action.

Mimicking the actions of King Pongo, he darted downwards and then powered upward, using long strokes of his feet and body to propel himself upward. The hole loomed before him, and Pongo shot out of it like a cannon, or rather a penguin.

Kei'taro didn't dare risk a look back, instead he pushed forward - his joints aflame with pain. With a mighty push, he rocketed towards the hole and gripped the edge, and pushed himself out.

The sensation of the cold air touching his body knocked most of the air out of his body, but he wasn't cold. The warming stone saw to that, but man was it painful. Just as he touched the ground half of the dipped into the water, only for the other half of the ice to slam back into the surface of the water. A visible crack was on the surface of the ice.

Kei'taro turned to look at Pongo, and off in the distance saw Uthur rearing his head over the water, what a swift beast. He would look forward to earning a key from him. He turned his attention back to Pongo, and pointed towards the Floe they were aiming to get to. A quarter mile away, more or less.

"Whatever shall we do," he asked, speaking around the warming stone.

Pongo chortled as hundreds of penguins surrounded them. Several of the larger ones tottered along the edge of the ice berg looking at the large, angry killer whale.

“What we shall do human is simple. My tests are always a test of vanity and pride. Most humans are too prideful to listen to me when I tell them to follow me.”

Taking a moment to feed a pengu chick after which he spoke solemnly, the other penguins lowered their heads.

“Hear me Bearers of the Keys, this man; this Kei’Tero has completed the test of pride. Putting aside his own ego and listening to a penguin.”

Turning to the man, Pongo nodded his head, “You have the key you have sought from me. Be safe in your travels human.”

With that the massed penguins gathered around Kei’Tero for a moment before moving off to hear their leader tell of how he bested the mighty Ulthur again. “So there I was. . . swimming along when the big oaf of a whale began chasing. . . “

Kei'taro opened his palm and deposited the warming stone in his mouth, into his hand. He could feel the heat traveling along his palm. He had earned the key, even though he hadn't won the race. The animals always had some other test that they never saw fit to reveal until the end.

Bowing at the waist, he left Pongo to his story. He didn't need to thank him, he was almost certain the bird wouldn't have heard him. He turned in the opposite direction, somewhat, and headed out - dipping back into the water for a swim that was probably dangerous.

He didn't stop to think that the usual spectacle of energy swirling and tattoo imprinting hadn't happened. He was exhausted, and had another objective. When he was passed out from battling Havardr, his father had come into his dreams and summoned him to him. As soon as possible. Honestly, it was the only reason he had chosen this direction in the first place, and had he not, he may not have met Pongo, or Uthur.

Yet, he knew what lay at the end of this trip, Pikatok - and the Gate of the South. One of the only paths he could take this time, as his father hadn't seemed interested in using his substantial powers to bring him to the Spirit World