Spirit searched for a good few minutes throughout the flora of the area, looking in bushes, behind trees, in burrows, and in all sorts of other places--but, as he would find, he didn't even need to look. Shortly, a young Qilin screeched from right behind him, and Spirit spun around to see the thing jumping right at him. Immediately, he slammed his fist into his other palm. "6-Point Technique: Shield of Light!" he shouted, as quickly as he could say it, and a hexagon of ice manifested between him and the Qilin just in time. It bounced right off, the jagged surface doing a considerable amount of damage.

This damage, however, instead of manifesting as physical cuts and bruises--a very undesirable result for Spirit's purposes--directly weakened the creature, to practically the same effect, but much less truly dangerous for the baby. "A young warrior, trying to defend his clan, huh? Sorry, but I have a job to do, and it'll end up a lot better for you in the long run."

Canon flew over as soon as he heard Spirit's shout, and arrived just in time to hear his friend's quip. "Seriously? You're *talking* to a baby... thing?"

"Um. Maybe?" Bad idea to talk. The distraction Canon caused gave the now reoriented Qilin to jump at him again and rake its claws against his arm. They weren't too sharp, but the incisions were enough for Spirit to wince. "Look what you did, Canon. This could have been easy." He jumped to the side to avoid another attack from the Qilin and performed the Ice-Make motion again. "2-Point Technique: Rod of Scales!"

A jagged rod of ice manifested in his hand and he swung it at the once again jumping Qilin. This time, the creature tried to block with a claw, and it mostly succeeded, except that the sharpness of the weapon still managed to dig in and weaken it a bit more. The Qilin scuttled away into the bushes, and Canon cheered.

"You do know that we still have to capture it, right?" Canon's face fell and he flew after it, looking around the bushes. He absent-mindedly noted that the bushes the Qilin had jumped into extended behind Spirit. Then, however, he noticed a rustling in those very same bushes, and he realised just barely too late.

"Wait, Spirit!" he cried, and the Qilin jumped right out, claws bared as it slammed into Spirit and knocked him forward. Spirit stumbled, but caught himself on his arms and immediately rolled over so that his back was to the ground. As the Qilin sailed forward to attack him once more, Spirit locked fist and palm. "1-Point Technique: Ice Ball!" Just as the name implied, a small ball of ice manifested in front of Spirit and shot into the Qilin's chest, stopping it mid-flight and winding it heavily. It fell to the ground, tired, but alive. Spirit grinned. "Ice-Make: Cage!" A cage of ice formed around the creature, emitting a cold aura which lulled it gently into unconsciousness.

"One down, some number to go," Canon said. "Let's see if we can find where it came from." And so they began searching anew.
***
Eventually, they noticed a ways away the mother Qilin sleeping soundly. Her other baby seemed only half-asleep. "Hey, Canon, can you lift me up so we can go and get them quietly? I don't want to wake them up and have to deal with them, too." Canon nodded and picked Spirit up, and they floated over the ground until they were very near the two, just out of line of sight of the youngling.

Slowly, quietly, Spirit performed the Ice Make motion. "Ice-Make: Cage," he whispered, and a cage started to form around the creature.

Unfortunately, it noticed. It screeched and broke through the cage--though not before it had been weakened by the aura of cold--and then looked up to see the floating perpetrators. Quickly, Spirit waved his hand and an aura of cold appeared around the mother as it stirred. He did *not* need her to wake up.

But in this minor distraction, the Qilin found an opportunity, jumping up and raking its claws across one of Spirit's ankles. It was not a terribly effective move, and Spirit quickly moved to retaliate. "1-Point Technique: Ice Ball," he said, still quietly, and another small ball of ice formed and knocked the Qilin into the ground. *Bah. It just isn't the same as shouting it.*