Meanwhile Fahl had his own problems to combat. Eyes screwed nearly shut against the churning water's foam and fury, limbs desperate in their flailing to shove back its persistent force, he'd been carried away like a flimsy piece of driftwood, subject to the turbulent whims of the bay. He knew no clever way to escape his predicament; most that could be done was to keep a clenched jaw, maintain an undying determination, and power through.

Tail held steady as possible, he leaned into the chaos, the waves' roaring assault taken headfirst. His legs had already begun to grow weary. Pressure threatened to peel his eyelids open. Regardless, all discomfort was weathered through, and when the opposition weakened into gentle ripples, his efforts proved successful. With a final kick, he burst free, zooming along at a decent clip. Not the most impressive speed, overtaking Pelt would be impossible, but bringing him within close range of her might be achievable. That is if no other complications were to arise.

@Pelt

It was inconvenient and would probably slow her down to turn her head and glance back, but it was rankling her not to know how far away Fahl was. Pelt had to give in to the urge to check--and to her displeasure, the iguana was catching up a little too quickly.

Agility was the strength of smaller animals, but Pelt knew she had to try something new if she wanted to improve her position. Even plain diving as she was would let Fahl close the distance with her tired state. Besides, it was better to figure out what worked and didn't work now than to find out the hardest way, by getting eaten by a sea spider or something equally as horrifying.

Pelt twisted, her bulk moving through the water in a clumsier turn than she would have liked, flailing her tail to agitate the water nearby. With luck, the turbulence created would be enough to disorient Fahl and allow her to evade him a moment longer.

@Fahl do you want to exit after the next tag?

One moment a tail had been in plain sight, growing closer with every kick of his legs, and the next, his face had collided with a shimmering wall which forced him away from his quarry. Rocking waves that'd been overcome before now renewed their assault upon him. The sight of Pelt's turn blurred, her entire being rendered as a gray blotch against a blue background. His eyes stung as pressure thrust against them, and their rims would've watered over if not for his current state of submersion.

Fahl was not impeded much though. So soon out of the earlier and similar predicament, this instance did not faze him as much as it ought to have otherwise. As a result, while slowed by a second or two, his pursuance of the seal went without pause as he continued to tail her, braving the disturbance by leaning fully into its wrath. Apparently it would take more than that to shake him off.

@Pelt
((Yeah, that sounds reasonable.))

A little was quickly becoming a lot, and Pelt muttered a curse as she saw Fahl now within tagging range. So, the manufactured turbulence hadn't been very effective. Without the spare time to try another newfangled strategy, Pelt resorted to the old trick of simply jerking away any body parts that came too close.

She wasn't moving fast enough to stretch out the distance between them, though, giving Fahl the opportunity to try to tag her again. Pelt would have to try harder, swim faster, in order to get away.

@Fahl

Seeing Pelt withdraw flippers to streamline and remove potential targets from reach, bubbles flew from the corners of his mouth. She might be larger, but clearly trickiness was not completely foreign to her, even without the agility advantage in this chase. If that could be kept up, a test of speed could become one of endurance instead, and Fahl did not hold absolute confidence that his would be greater despite his size. He needed a conclusion, and soon.

Call it repetitive, but he relied on what approach worked the best: pulling his legs in close to his body and winding them up like the coil of a spring. Tension released, they lashed out with tremendous force, hurtling him to meet his mark, claws curled inward for a harmless thwack against rubbery skin.

@Pelt