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, [color=00aeef]"...as I swim human if you want to live.”[/color]. 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. 

[b][color=6ecff6]"Whatever shall we do,"[/color][/b] he asked, speaking around the warming stone.