'Uugh, geez, it's days like this I wonder if it's time to update my wardrobe... This thing's really hot...' The thief recently known as 'Pinkie' thought to herself as she made her way to town.

It was a bright, sunny day, barely a cloud in the sky, and a gentle breeze in the air which kept the temperature nice and cool. For most people, it would have been a rather pleasant day. 

Pinkie was not most people. See, she was wearing a tight jet-black catsuit. That's what she wore a majority of the time, actually. It absorbed the sun's heat with incredible efficiency, and, thus, turned what would have otherwise been a wonderful day into a rather uncomfortable one.

One might ask why she would even bother wearing something like that at all, especially considering that she knew her mission would take place in broad daylight, meaning she wouldn't be able to use the cover of darkness to her advantage at all. And, even if she could, her vibrant pink bob cut hair would be antithetical to that idea.  

'Well, at least they're hot in more ways than one!' She thought to herself once again, as she hid in a convenient bush, watching the town from afar. 'I bet I could toooootally have my way with a bunch of these horny small-town boys, hehe.' Indeed, she wore them for the sole fact that they appeal to conventional ideas of attraction. And, in absolute fairness and honesty, she succeeded in that affair with flying colors. In summary, she looked good. 

'Speaking of guys, what's the deal with that dude in the massive puffy leather coat? And that big mask and those giant bug-goggles, I don't think he's got a bit of exposed flesh on his body! I'm not even certain he is a he! I mean, he certainly sounds like one, (at least, he did the one time he said anything...), but... He didn't even glance at me, dangit! He's a creep, he should be all flustered and weird, damnit! Instead he just looks off into... Nothing, really. With his hand always above his wand like someone's gonna take it from him. 

Oh well. You can't win 'em all, I suppose. And it's entirely possible he just prefers sausage with his breakfast.

Wonder why the boss wanted him so bad. Eh, he was probably just the first freak that caught his eye. After we downsized as hard as we did, I guess he just wanted to take what he could get. I dunno really, think I was asleep during that part.

Oh, shoot, did the boss want me to stick with the guy? 

. . .

Ah well, it's not my fault the guy walks like he's constantly wading through molasses. At any rate, if this was an actually important, the boss would've told us what the heck we're doing! Or he would've come himself!

Actually, come to think of it, I wonder why he didn't? Normally he's a lot more of a hands on kinda guy...

. . .

The woman found herself staring down at the shrubbery beneath her for some time.

Eventually, she shook herself awake.

'Anyways, it's probably nothing. 

Y'know, I wonder what the boss was talking about when he told me to 'do what it is I do best'? I'm good at, like, 3 things... Eh, whatever, guess I'll just steal shiny stuff. Other stuff, too, given the opportunity. Felt like doing that anyways. Guess I should do some scouting, then.'

She pulled out a pair of handy dandy binoculars, and began looking at town from her secured position within the shrubbery.

'Why the hell are they just sitting in a circle in the center of town? Well, whatever the reason, doesn't seem like I gotta worry about anyone seeing me. Still... Better safe than sorry.'

With a flourish of her hand, a gentle whisper, and a pinch of some pale blue powder, the woman's physical body began to fade away from sight and sense, and the other side of the shrubbery could be seen through her.

'Tch. One of these days I'm gonna be able to get the full thing to work.' She thought to herself. She wasn't fully invisible, but transparent. 'Well, this should suffice, anyway.' 

And, with that, she began slowly and carefully making her way towards town, swinging wide in hopes of obscuring herself behind buildings. She decided her target would be the biggest building in town, one that looked like a really fancy cabin. 

'Looks like some rich families vacation home.' She thought as she approached. 'If there's anything worth taking, it's there. If I'm lucky, security will be light, too. An easy grab.' She grabbed hold of her lockpicks as she approached. Since the townsfolk were out and about, she didn't want to cause too much of a scene or make too much noise. She'd pick through the backdoor, quickly run through, and be in an out in 5 minutes. 

Though, in the end, things didn't quite pan out like that. 

Her first complication came up immediately. To her surprise, as she approached the back door of the house, she found that there was already someone there. Not a security man or anything like that, no, from the looks of things, it was seemingly just a simple farmboy. Which would make sense, given the farm right next door. Though, he wasn't currently in the farm, he was seemingly standing guard by the back door of the cabin.  

'Another thief? No, looks too honest... Hired help? Nah, looks too green, they could probably afford better. A pervert, perhaps?

. . .

Hopefully.' She thought as she looked on from the distance in another conveniently placed bush. As she was about to step out, she saw her physical form returning to reality, as the transparency had worn off. 'Well, that's fine. Even if I was totally invisible, no way he wouldn't notice the door opening. Magic will be of no use here. Now, it's time for me to work my magic~'

She moved to exit the shrubbery, but stopped abruptly. 

'Well, maybe a bit of real magic too, actually.' She reached for a small, handheld bell, and channeled her energy into her hand that held it. After a short moment, the bell began to suspend itself in the air, and began making a ringing motion all on its own, though no noise came out from it. As the bell rang its first time, a dull, gray blast of energy briefly shot out, creating a small dome in the area behind the cabin, before fading away entirely.

The farmboy, who was half asleep before this, was startled by the sudden burst of energy coming from the bush. He cartoonishly gulped down his fear, as he grabbed his nearby pitchfork with both hands and began wearily and slowly making his way towards the bush. At the time, he didn't notice that his footsteps crinkling against the grass didn't make a sound. 

'Ok, now it's time for my magic~! Yeah, doesn't really work as well the second time.'

Regardless, she exited the shrubbery, causing the farmboy to almost fall backwards in surprise. The woman strutted sexily up towards the farmboy, which, obviously, didn't help his current mental state all that much. 

She stepped forward, and leaned in close, placing her face mere inches away from his.

With a mischievous grin, she parted her lips, and said-

"Uh... Penis?" 

"Uhm... P-pardon?"

Yeah, she wasn't actually very good at the whole femme fatale thing. And, in the first place, there aren't many ways to be seductive immediately after exiting the shrubbery. That's just one of the facts of life. Remember it.

"Uh... You got one. Yep. And I'm, uh..." The thief continued to stammer out, her face as pink as her hair.

The farmboy could only stare at her in bewilderment. "Uhm... W-why are you here?" He managed to get out. 

"Uh... I'm gonna take... You........ Door......." Pinkie stated.

. . .

For perhaps the first time in his life, the farmboy felt what it was like to be the more articulate person in a conversation. It was strangely satisfying.

"Oh, to hell with it!" Pinkie shouted, rearing her head back, and slamming it into his at incredible speeds. 

The farmboy was hit before he even knew what was coming, having no time to even attempt to dodge or brace himself.

The both of them staggered back after the impact, each placing a hand on their foreheads. 

"OW~! Holy cow, you got a thick skull! How much milk do you drink, hoooollly cow, ow!" Pinkie said, holding back tears.

"Uh, fu-, ah, uhm, a lot, I guess? I mean, we've got a couple dairy cows- Ow, gah..." The farmboy said, also holding back tears.

"Evidently... Whew, man... Well, for your sake..." She said, moving her hand away from her head. "I hope they've got a few in the abyss!" 

Pinkie raced towards the farmboy, her right arm reeled back, as sparks of electric energy began to coalesce and pop out of her hand.

"Ah!" The farmboy squealed as he quickly grabbed hold of his pitchfork once more, raising it up defensively.

Unfortunately for the farmboy, the pitchfork was made of iron, and the leather grip had become very worn and damaged through years and years of use. What that basically means is that the boy was in for quite the shock.

Pinkie reached her hand out, firmly grasped the long part of the pitchfork, and released. 

"Bwaaah!-" Was a rough approximation the terrible sound the farmboy made before he fell to the ground as tens of thousands of volts coursed through his body. Fortunately for him, he landed on the grass, so it was only a little extremely excruciatingly painful. 

"Lotta good all that muscle did ya." She said, carefully stepping around his convulsing, incapacitated body. "Well, time to steal stuff!" She said cheerfully, as she reached for her lockpicks as she got closer to the door.

Though, she didn't get far.

As she was stepping around the boy's body, she felt a hand grab hold just above her foot. 

See, metal isn't the only conductive material present. Humans themselves are pretty dang conductive, too. And the material that Pinkies suit was made out of? Oh yeah, that was plenty conductive.

"Bwaaah!" She shouted as she, too, convulsed and fell to the ground below. Though, fortunately for her, her right arm was unaffected by the shock, so she was able to catch herself, just a bit.

The both of them flopped around in the grass for a bit. It would have been comical, had it not been for the obvious excruciating pain inflicted upon the both of them.

Pinkie was the first to recover, as the shock was partially grounded by the time it reached her. She pushed herself up rather efficiently, though some of her limbs were still twitching.

"H-how... How EH- How did you do that?" She said, standing over him. Out of arms reach, of course. "Y-y EH- you shouldn't have been able to move." 

"I-I... W-w-w-w-w-w-wont l-l-l-l-l-let y-y-y-y-y-y-you-" The farmboy managed to say, mixing in genuine stuttering with the forced stuff from the immense voltage. 

With every one of his limbs, his neck, his mouth and even his eyes actively convulsing repeatedly, the farmboy pushed himself up with inhuman strength. Taking a page from his brother's notebook, it seemed. 

Also, his hair was standing and sticking straight up, which was kinda funny.

"Geez! What the hell is up with you, guy?" 

"Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Charollete." He managed to say, blushing furiously as his head and eyes twitched all the while.

"Charolette? A girl, eh?" Pinkie said. She had intended to chuckle, or at least joke about it, but she wasn't able to bring herself to. "I guess that's a good a reason as any."

She sighed, and quickly collected her thoughts. the farmboy took a slow and painful step forward, with fire behind his ever-twitching eyes.

"Well, the idea of getting close to you terrifies me right now." She said, rather bluntly, once again smiling. "So, instead, think I'll just..." She reached out her left arm, stuck up her thumb and pointer finger, and began back pedaling faster than the farmboy could possibly move in his current state. 

She stuck out her tongue and closed her right eye as she trained her pointer finger on the electric behemoth before her. Reddish orangish burning energy began coalescing at her fingertip, and, after a brief moment, it shot out towards him.

The farmboy was in no state to dodge. The bolt flew directly at his center of mass and burnt right through his shirt and into his chest. The force from the blast alone pushed him back onto the ground as his chest singed and burnt.

She couldn't help but stare at the body for a moment. 

And she couldn't bring herself to say anything.

After that, she raised her pointer finger to her mouth, and blew out the remaining energy. It wasn't a necessary thing, sort of a force of habit, something fun to do post combat. Though, today, she wasn't amused by it at all.

She reached for her lockpicks and began working on the door.

And her noise dampening spell from earlier meant that she couldn't hear the heavy breathing and equally heavy footsteps behind her.

Step, breathe, step, breathe. 

The farmboy prepared his pitchfork. Both hands on the grip, and hatred in his eyes.

Step, breathe, step, breathe.

'Aim carefully... And brace yourself. Go for the neck.'

Step, breathe, click, step, breathe.

Step, click, breathe, step, click, breathe

Step.

Breathe.

Breathe... 

The lock clicked open. "Easy enoug-"

And the farmboy jammed the pitchfork forward with all of his might, every ounce of muscle and power he'd gained as a result of his work, every single bit of strength he could possibly muster, all of the power of his remaining consciousness, all into this one, last, strike. 

. . .

Unfortunately, 

or, perhaps, most fortunately... 

In the first place, the farmboy was not a fighter. Every time an animal got too close or too aggressive, it was always his brother or his father that took care of it. Even bugs, insects, and all that related stuff horrified him. In terms of magic, the most he could do was water plants or attempt to slow down a chicken with a brief gust of wind. And, as for people, he'd rarely even dreamed of fighting anyone until this day. 

Beyond that, he was delirious. In more pain than he'd ever been in in his life combined. He was angry, too. Though he wasn't entirely sure of this strangers' motives, the mere idea that one might bring harm to Charolette enraged him.

He was nowhere close to the right frame of mind. 

His pitchfork struck right through the wall of the cabin, and it didn't even graze the pink invader.

She could feel it, though. She looked over, horrified, at the tool beside her. Over half of it was jammed clean through the thick oaken wall.

She felt that, if that thing had met its mark, she may have no longer had anything above her shoulders. 

She looked up at the farmboy standing behind her. 

He was still twitching, ever so slightly. 

His face and eyes had no color. Rivers formed at his cheeks. He fell to the ground, breathing heavily, his mouth hanging agape.

"Wow." Pinkie said, attempting to calm her racing heart. "You really love that girl, huh?"

The farmboy said nothing. His hands began to reach at his singed chest, and he began to almost fold over. 

. . .

And yet, despite everything, the farmboy reached one of his hands out, and clawed at the invader's leg. Rather ineffectually, obviously. 

"Damn." She said.

She stepped over to the farmboy, and placed her right hand atop his head.

"You... I doubt you really understand..." She began.

She breathed, deeply.

"... Just you lucky you are, farmboy."

And sparks of electric energy began to coalesce and pop out of her hand.