It was almost daybreak, when Laxus came out of his tent. He made some stretches, before turning to Lucy's tent and called her, while agitating the tent a little:

"Hey, Lucy! It's time to wake up!"

He went to prepare some coffee for him and Lucy, lighting up a fire before putting a teapot with coffee over it. He could heard Lucy moving inside the tent, with her starting to get up. Laxus tried to clear his head over the fact he was hearing the girl he liked getting ready. When he did that, he could feel the morning breeze... which was quite strong and cold, considering they were at a quite the high altitude.

It was then that he felt something... He could hear movement not that far away, somewhere between the pine tree branches. That caused him to worry a little. Laxus was ready to get up to see what it was, when he heard a flapping noise and a bird came out. Laxus only watched it for a few moments, but he was able to recognize it as being an owl. He was ready to dismiss it, when he noticed something strange about that owl...

"Those feathers... they look... metallic..." Laxus whispered.

"What did you say?" he heard a voice asking.

It was Lucy that had come out of the tent, already dressed on her warm clothes.

"Nothing..." Laxus lied, as he wasn't even sure of what he had seen. "Let's hurry and get breakfast, so we can continue."

"So soon..." Lucy said, as she went to sit by the fire. "But the sun hasn't come up yet..."

"Crossing the mountain will get harder the higher we get" Laxus explained, as he went to get some of their provisions. "If we want to get to Acer before sunset, we need to get going as soon as possible. To travel without sunlight in this region is very dangerous."

"I see..." Lucy replied.

They went to take their breakfast, but while they were eating, Laxus couldn't help but wondering about he saw. And then remembered the possibility of a wizard being behind the spirit that was attacking Acer.

"Lucy... I have a question for you" he said. "About spirits..."

Lucy got surprised for that. She never imagined that Laxus, of all people, would be curious about celestial spirits, as he never seemed the type of getting interested on something like that.

"Sure..."

"Do you know about all type ofcelestial spirits?" Laxus asked.

"Well... not personally" she replied. "There are many of them... And their keys are spread throughout the entire world."

"But you have knowledge about the type of celestial spirits that exist, right?" he asked.

"Sure... Celestial spirits are the embodiment of the constellations" she told. "Without counting the Celestial Spirit King, there are eighty-eight types of celestial spirits. Twelve of them are the Zodiac... Well, thirteen, if you count Ophiuchus... And they are all unique, while there are many spirits for the other constellations. When I and the others went to the Spirit World, we saw a lot of other Nikora like Plue..."

"Any owls?" Laxus asked, interrupting Lucy.

Lucy got a little upset for him to rudely interrupt her, but she let it go and the replied:

"Well... No... There's no owl spirit, as far as I know... But then again... there's nothing that prevents a celestial spirit to look like an owl. I mean... Pyxis is a compass, but he looks like a bird."

"I see..." Laxus said, more at ease, thinking that maybe he was just overthinking things.

"Why do you ask?"

"For no reason... Just curiosity..."

Lucy found that answer strange, however Laxus had always been a mystery for her (just like many of her crazy guildmates). But then, a thought came to her, causing her to say suddenly:

"However... No... Forget it..."

"What?"

Lucy made a pause, uncertain if she should tell Laxus that. But then she decided to do it.

"Well... it's just... After the Edolas incident, I got curious about the existence of other worlds besides Earthland and Edolas. Especially if there were other celestial wizards there. So... I asked grandpa Crux about them. He said he couldn't go into much detail about it, but... apparently, there are many other celestial spirits besides the ones that are known in Earthland. I tried to convince him to tell me about them, but... Well, he said it was for the best for me not to know."

That made Laxus' realize he may not be as paranoic as he thought it was. The strange feeling he was having of being watched... the nature of their job... and now that strange looking owl... It only caused him to adopt a more cautious attitude.

"We should be more careful, from this point on..." he said. "And I am not talking just about the mountain."

"You think... that this spirit is possible from another world?" Lucy asked. "It would explain why grandpa Crux was very much worried..."

"He said this spirit does not comply to the rules of the Celestial Spirit King" Laxus reminded.

"And any celestial spirit would be bound by the celestial law... no matter the world they live in" Lucy realized. "I get it... But... why were you asking about other types of celestial spirits, then?"

It took a moment, but then Laxus told:

"I have a feeling we are being watched. When I woke up, I think I saw a strange looking owl... If we are dealing with a wizard, they could very well have other spirits helping him."

"I see..." Lucy replied, understanding now why Laxus was more serious and why he was curious about celestial spirits.

"Take extra care when we resume our passage through the mountain" Laxus warned. "Who knows when we may be ambushed."

Lucy nodded with her head.

Soon after, they had already finished eating and taken down the camp, only to resume their journey through the mountain to reach Acer. Like Laxus had said, the path ahead of them only became more dangerous. It was not just the path itself that got dangerous the more upper mountain they went, but the weather also got colder, with the winds getting stronger and snow starting to fall. Even Laxus had traded his coat for a winter one.

As they were reaching the top of the mountain, Laxus stopped, causing Lucy, who was close by, to bump into him.

"Why did you stop?" Lucy asked, confused.

"Something's off..." he said, while looking around. "Stay close."

Lucy did just that, as both her and Laxus sharpened their senses the best they could. It was then that a beam of light came out of nowhere and almost hit Lucy, but Laxus was able to block it.

"What was that?!" Lucy asked.

"That would be me..." a voice said.

And someone landed at some distance from them. It was a weird-looking man possessing a long cloak that covered all of his body and was wearing a sun-like mask with what appeared to be a sundial at his forehead.

"It would appear I need to be aware of you..." he said to Laxus. "Clearly my sunbeam is not as effective on you."

"Then that should be a clue for you to not mess with us, mask freak" he replied, already covering his body in lightningto prepare to attack.

The mysterious man just chuckled and replied:

"Perhaps... but that would only be true, if the situation was totally against my chances."

Lucy suddenly felt something approaching quickly and shouted:

"Laxus, look out!"

Both wizards were quick to react, by jumping away from one another on different directions (with Laxus on the direction of the mysterious guy) in time of averting a big impact.

"Oh... and I was hoping in making a much bigger im-paw-ct" a female voice.

"What was that just now?" Lucy asked.

"Don't know... but it comes along with the most awful pun ever" Laxus replied.

"Meow, that's just rude" the female said, as the snow and the smoke cleared. "I think my pun was quite a-mew-sing, if I say so myself."

That person was a woman that had the most bizarre appearance, having brown cat years (literal cat ears), whiskers and somewhat of a cat muzzle with a hair that was long and braided in something similar to a cat tail and that was acting like one. She was wearing a long coat with a spotted pattern, a short light brown top and orange shorts and both her hands and feet were like cat paws.

"Don't listen to him, my dear Felis" the masked man said. "I think your puns are lovely."

"Oh, thank you, Solarium" Felis replied. "You always know meow to bright up the day of this little kitty..."

"Oh, great, that's exactly what we needed... more weirdos" Laxus said. "Well, you chose the wrong wizards to mess with."

Laxus was preparing to launch one of his attacks. Lucy kept her attention on her opponents, but then she noticed the place they were and something that could represent a big danger for all of them.

"Laxus, wait!" she exclaimed. "Don't use your magic!"

"What?!" he said, turning to her.

"Your lightning can cause an avalanche!" Lucy exclaimed. "We may be far enough for close combat, but if you use your lightning..."

"I can wipe usdown the mountain by a devastating wave of snow..." he ended, as he stopped his attack.

That caused Felis to release a laugh and then say:

"Poor little wizards... afraid of a little snow... Too bad for you!"

And she then pounced to attack Lucy.

"Lucy!" Laxus preparing to go help her.

But he could sense the other guy casting another beam from the sundial on his masks, forcing Laxus to react to that and defend himself.

"Sorry, big guy, but you need to wait your turn" the masked man replied.

Lucy also reacted the best way she could, trying to dodge Felis' attacks, but it was quite hard as she was quite fast. She needed to summon a spirit to help her, but, with those fast attacks, it was an almost impossible task to do.

"Could... you... stop... moving?!" Felis asked, while attacking. "I have a job to do!"

Hearing that, Lucy realized that those two were most likely sent to prevent her and Laxus from reaching Acer, meaning they were connected to the one that was using the spirit to attack the town. If so... then they needed to wrap that as fast as possible.

Reaching for the Fleuve d'étoiles, she used the whip to grab one of Felis' hands and then toss her. Despite she was caught off guard, she got rid of the hold, grunting:

"You little..."

She prepared for another attack, but Lucy was able to reach one of her keys.

"Open, Gate of the Lion... Loke!" she summoned.

There was a light and Loke appeared... right on time to stop one of Felis' attacks.

"Hello, beautiful" he greeted his summoner with the usual flirtatious greeting. "Need help from your prince ch..."

But then he noticed who he was fighting with.

"Felis?!"

"Look who he is..." Felis said, while trying to break through Loke's block. "The leader of the clawfully annoying Zodiac... I was hoping to be able to crash into you here..."

"You know her, Loke?" Lucy asked.

"Unfortunately..." he replied.

"Typical of a Zodiac... always looking down on spirits like us, right, Solarium?" Felis asked.

"Solarium is here, too?" Loke asked, noticing them the masked man holding Laxus on the spot with his light beam. "Great..."

Using his strength, Loke was able to push Felis back, while grabbing Lucy and bringing her near Laxus who managed to push back the beam and force Solarium to cease it.

"Only you to know freaks like these two, Loke" Laxus commented.

"Who are they?" Lucy asked.

"They are celestial spirits..." Loke told, while attentive of their opponents who were circling them. "Felis, the Cat... and Solarium, the Sundial..."

"I never heard of them" Lucy told.

"That's because their keys are not meant to be used on this world" Loke told.

"And yet, here we are..." Felis replied, scornfully. "Ready to take you out!"

"I am sorry, Sir Leo..." Solarium told, as his sundial started to charge up energy. "Unfortunately, I have no other choice, but to carry out my orders."

There was a pause and then Loke turned to Laxus and asked:

"Can't you just zap them? I'm pretty sure you can vaporize them."

"I could do that... and also cause a big avalanche" he replied.

"Yeah... I think the alternative is not that much favorable either..." Loke replied.

They could hear Felis purring, as she prepared her claws for another attack.

"Oh, this is going to feline good..." she said.

She prepared to attack, with Laxus and Loke ready to counter her. It was then that, suddenly, an energy arrow came through the air and hit her in the chest.

"What the..." she started, while struggling with the pain. "This does not really feline good..."

And she disappeared.

"Felis!" Solarium exclaimed, while charging his sundial.

But then another energy arrow came around and hit him right on his sundial, causing him to moan in pain. As he disappeared, he ended up casting a beam that went up and hit the mountain above them.

"The hell...?" Laxus asked. "What just happened?"

"Did someone... just attack them?" Lucy asked.

"I don't know... but we have a more concerning problem right now" Loke told.

He was right, as Solarium's attack caused an avalanche to start coming down their way...