Summer, summer was great; especially in the north, where it never really stopped being cold. Lumi, a teenager from a nearby village, had other reasons to enjoy the summer as well. It was one of the few times when she was free to do what she wanted. The winters were harsh and her special ability allowed her to be the village's protector – even though she was just a teenager.

She couldn't even quite recall how it all started; it was a bit of a blur in her memory, but ever since, she had been seen as a protector by the villagers, even a goddess by a select few. She of course disagreed a lot with this title, seeing herself as a mere friend or neighbour, but her ability had a tendency to be somewhat overwhelming to some.

The Sneasel however wasn't thinking of any of that right now. No duty, no worshippers, no goddess. She was focused on accelerating down the steep hill on her skis, as fast as she could down the steep snowy hills. A small cry of joy escaped her lips as she narrowly missed a branch, "That was close!".

Her heart was pumping, the wind was rushing past... Yeah, she could see why so many people did this in their free time! Of course, she was still a beginner, but being almost invincible sometimes made you go down the “death and despair” path instead of the “nice and cozy” route. Especially when you are a teenager with a summer night off.

She was just about to head into one of the slalom parts of the course when her ears twitched. Was that a voice she heard there in the distance? “... umi!” - Yeah, totally, that was a voi... she couldn't quite finish that thought because her distraction caused her to overlook one of the roots in her way. With a loud “Eeek!” she felt herself being propelled forwards and landing face-first in to the snow.

“M... Mistress Lumi!” A voice behind her called out. Uff. The “Mistress” part was concerning, but she thought she knew that voice from the village. She turned her head to look at him and flopped onto her back. Yeah, it was him – a small snow bunny – maybe a year younger than she was. He was standing in front of her, blushing a little and stepping from paw to paw nervously. When she got back to her feet, she noticed he seemed a bit smaller than usual, even.

“I... I am so sorry mistress...” The bunny continued as Lumi checked her suit. A large tear was visible at the side. That would explain why he seemed to have shrunken by a head in comparison to her. The bunny was looking up nervously still and she gave him a little smile. He was kind of cute, she had to admit.

“It's okay, don't worry too much about it, Snowball. Is something wrong? Did something happen at the village?” She inquired. It was summer, yes, but that didn't mean she wasn't needed anyway every once in a while.

The bunny looked suspiciously guilty as he poked his fingers together, glancing up at her like a cat that knows it just knocked down its owners favourite coffee cup.

“I uh... I... It's not really that ehm... I eh... W... Well, I wanted to... Meet you and uhm... S... Say hello? M... Maybe?”

Lumi blinked. Well, that was unexpected. A lot of people were afraid to approach her – others thought she was dangerous and then there were some that thought of her as a goddess – no matter how hard she tried to discourage that.

“Oh! Ehh... Sure! Uh... Hello ehm... What was your name again?” She said, now blushing a tiny bit herself.

The bunny, staring at his footpaw, gave a short “C... Caramel” in reply.

Lumi raised a brow, looking at his snow white coat.

“... I... I was a lot more... Ehm... Beige when I was born...” The white bunny offered as an explanation.

Lumi chuckled and reached down to ruffle his hair. “Nice to meet you then, Caramel. You probably know my name, right?”

The bunny nodded nervously. “O... Of course! E... Everyone knows about the goddess of these islands – Lumimyrsky!”

Lumi sighed a little. “Okay, first of, I am not a goddess. And secondly... Call me Lumi. It's shorter and I like it a lot more when friends call me that!”

The bunny blushed more, which was very visible through his shiny white coat.

“Oh... Okay... Misst... Eh... Lumi.” He quickly corrected himself.

Lumi sighed and shook her head. The poor guy was just so fidgety and nervous! She reached her hand out to him, which he looked at almost as if it was about to bite him.

“Let's get you back to the village, okay? It's not safe for you out here, and I don't want you to get lost.” The bunny seemed a little disappointed – he probably wanted to spend more time with her – but he nodded and reached his hand out, placing it in hers. It was quite warm, she noticed – that fluffy fur seemed to be doing its job for the rabbit.

She smirked a bit at his hesitation to touch her. He probably still thought of her as some kind of goddess; granted, she sometimes was big enough to place the entire village into her paw, but that really didn't mean she was all that special, in her mind at least.

The rabbit on the other hand felt like his heart was about to explode out of his chest; there he was, talking and even touching the goddess Lumimyrsky! Well... Lumi, of course! It was hard for him to think of her as anything other than the amazing looming face that he saw that night she saved the village. He was fidgety and blushing madly, but followed her closely.

As they moved on, the bunny started to talk again, feeling a little awkward to follow in silence.

“So... Uh... What were you doing out here?” Was the best he could come up with. Lumi smirked to herself.

“I was just enjoying the summer night! It's so rare I get some time off, so I have to use it as best as I can, don't you think?”

The bunny again stared at his feet. “I... I'm sorry...” He mumbled, feeling a little bad about having distracted her from her “vacation”.

She smiled brightly back to him. “It's fine, I am happy to help!”

The bunny's ears were still hanging down, which the Sneasel found somewhat endearing. While watching him pad after her, her eyes opened wide as she saw something big and lumbering move in the snow-covered bushes. A bear! And it was coming for her little companion! As she saw it lift a claw-equipped paw behind the oblivious bunny, she jumped forwards, pushing him out of the way.

“Look out!” Lumi shouted, pushing the bunny into the snow before she herself was hit and sent into the cold snow by the powerful bear's swing. The bear itself was so surprised by the Sneasel's intervention that he turned around with a growl and galloped off.

The bunny, still startled by the recent events got back to his feet and blinked surprised, looking over the blindingly white snow. His eyes fell on Lumi on the ground and he gasped, running over.

“M... Mis... Miss... Lumi!” He said helplessly, sitting down on the felled Sneasel and dong his best to shake her awake with his paws.

Lumi on the other hand was knocked out cold for a few seconds at least and as she was regaining consciousness, she could hear a very distant voice call out her name. She could feel the cold sinking into her body, the swipe probably having damaged her suit further. She let out a sigh as she relaxed for a moment or two, letting events unfold while she was slowly awaking.

The bunny was happy to see that his idol was waking up again. She always seemed so invulnerable and seeing her knocked to the ground really shocked him. What surprised him next was that her body was starting to swell underneath him. He could feel her breath flow into her and her size increase more and more, lifting him up into the air. She was already at least twice as tall as before as he called out helplessly, trying to get her to wake up fully.

“M... Mistress!” He cried out helplessly, wiggling on top of her and banging his little fists on her shoulder as he was lifted into the air.

Lumi finally snapped back to reality and blinked, sitting up. She heard a little squeak and poof sound as she sat up and looked around. She could still feel herself expand and grow and despite her skiing plans, it was quite hard to stop it - it just felt really nice.

A small snow pile next to the growing Lumi was wiggling helplessly before producing a bunny that wobbled a little on his paws and staggered a little as he freed himself. His eyes fell on an enormous paw that was right in front of him. His eyes went up... and up... and up... and then he flopped back into the snow, falling onto his back.

Lumi blinked as she heard a loud “Whooow” from somewhere near her paws and looked in that direction, still sitting in the snow. It took her a lot of willpower to stop the growth and look into the direction of the noise. She saw the white bunny again, but he could now comfortably fit into her hand. He was blushing crimson red and wobbled nervously. She smirked lightly and sat forwards, her legs placed on either side of the bunny and her giant smile looming over him.

“Ehm...” She said, trying to find the right words for a situation like this. “Y... You okay?” She was pretty sure he was, judging from the stare he was giving her. He seemed utterly amazed and enchanted by the look of it.

“Bwah?” The bunny said, utterly amazed by the vista. He mumbled nervously and his ears twitched a little as she let out a sigh and a giggle and put her hands into the snow. He squeaked again as the ground underneath his feet started to move and crumble and he found himself inside her open hands, her smiling face filling his field of vision.

“Okay, Romeo, we're getting back to the village now before you burn up down there.” She giggled again and moved her legs again. By now, her steps made the ground rumble a little, the snow bouncing on the ground and her feet leaving big imprints in the snow.

When they reached the village, the Sneasel lowered her hands to the ground, opening them lightly. The bunny looked up to her, smiling nervously.

“Come on then, hop off!” She said encouragingly. The bunny nodded, then walked over to one of her fingers and gave it a hug. “Th... Thank you. Lumi...” He whispered and she blushed a little. “I... It's fine. Just call me next time you want to go out of the village.”

He smiled happily. “Y... You got it!” He said cheerfully and bounced off to his home. It was still the middle of the night, so he was probably sneaking back into his bed. She smiled a little to herself and shook her head. Somehow, she was actually looking forwards to that call.

Her thundering steps were still heard by the bunny as he slowly drifted off to sleep.