Skyfabric

Night of Mischief Friday the 13th can come any number of times during the year, and Espurr loves it when these nights come around. What Espurr loves even more is when a full moon coincides with a Friday the 13th. This year, it just so happens that in April, there is such an occurence. The reason a night like this is so much fun is that it is the one night that it can fully control its immense psychic power. Now what, might you ask, would a spacey Pokemon like Espurr do with immense power? Why... spook people of course. It starts off innocently, puffing out campfires, knocking over tents... kid stuff. But then Espurr remembers that its power is nearly infinite, and little by little, harmless pranks become atrocities. Children are thrust into trees until their ribs crack. Lakes are evaporated dry, all the water pokemon inside flapping about miserably. Entire are forests left to collapse. All the while, a giddy expression of wonder and amazement glows on the face of what should be a cute cat-like pokemon. Not so, not tonight. As it approaches you, it seems to stare straight through you, as you are lifted off the ground, and hurtled off several hundred feet. Away you fly like a human bullet, only to be caught inches from the ground. You realize that you faced certain death. You realize that your life hangs solely in the eyes of a psychic cat that cares nothing for your life, but is toying with it anyways. You scream, but there is no sound. All because Espurr won't let you. Espurr shares with you all the horrible things it's done in the past, on nights just like this, still bearing its static expression. Then, it pulls you in to embrace you. You can hear it panting, purring, cooing, as though torture is what it enjoys most. What begins as a harmless round of fun becomes an atrocity. It scars you. Gives you waking nightmares. You know for a fact that it won't be long before it all happens again. In the end, all Espurr does it stare at you, and smiles. You wake up. Now it is yours to decide what is real and what is not. ~Formal submission for this contest~ Cause yeah, I screwed that up twice. Nice job me. :P [spoiler=But what it do?] _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ [spoiler=1. Lost Treasure ] In the back alleys of Dawnveil City, there is tell of a particular salesman who sells special masks. They are gold, shimmering, and glimmer with mystery. A boy bought a mask with the last of his saved up money as a present for his older sister. Upon taking it home and giving it to her, she stared at it, in awe and bewilderment Wrought with curiosity, she donned the mask, only to pull at it moments later. It would not let go. Muffled screams came from the girl, as she crumpled to her knees in fear. The little boy did not know this, but the mask fed his sisters images of the Yamask. Images and memories from when it was human. Some were happy for a few moments, only to end in bitter sorrow, others were rife with horror. In the end, a face of worn complexion and sunken eyes appeared before her, and a name was spoken in a woman's voice. "Jeanne Talon." She immediately understood what this was. She knew the mask was a lost human soul in the form of a Yamask. "I must show you one more thing, child." With tears in her eyes, she nodded in acceptance. This memory was different. Very different. Instead of sorrow, or fear, the emotion present was anger, hatred. A man appeared before her in a trenchcoat and darkened spectacles. She was crumpled to the floor, in brutal pain, and unable to get up. The man walked over to her, grabbed her hair, and smirked. "Do you know how much money you'll make me, pretty girl? Quite a lot." The girl then felt what she saw, as the man pulled out a knife and pressed it firmly against Jeanne's neck. She would feel the slow burning as it grazed her skin, then the sudden shock when it had done its work. "That man took my life, then forced me into dormancy. It is because of him that I am with you in this form, lifeless. I wish condemn him... I need you, my dear, to set things right." With that, the girl nodded, as though she were in a trance. She removed the mask with ease, now that Jeanne had shared with her what she had wished, and turned to her young brother. "I need you to tell me who gave you this." She said while waving the mask. Unnerved, the boy chose to listen. When they arrived at the salesman, the mask vibrated in anger. The girl understood, throwing the mask at the man. Clinging to his face, the mask made him crumple to the floor, and screams escaped him. Only moments later would he cease and fall onto his back. The mask would leave him, only to reveal the gilding of the man's face. "Now you can suffer the same fate. I will never forgive you for that which you had done, nor will I forgive myself. My humanity is ever lost because of you." [spoiler=2. Frost Garden] Many hear the tales of a ghostly ice Pokemon and her solemn mischief, but few realize how real these tales are. After all, travelers passing through the Snowpoint mountains without bearings often disappear. It's not like they're being taken away or anything, right? Some might chalk it up to poor survival skills, illness, or just lack of preparation, but hardened explorers will tell you. Snowpoint is a cakewalk compared to the likes of Mt. Coronet. Ice Pokemon galore inhabit the area, but only one is so devious and sinister as to abduct hapless travelers and detain them to an icy prison. Froslass, the maiden of ice herself. Abandoned as a Snorunt, devoid of attention and affection, and spitefully neglected she became hollow, to the point where she callously froze her 'friend' Rather than take what she wanted from him, she simply left him there in the mountains where it's said that during moonlit nights, he can still be seen glimmering atop the crags. Over the course of a decade, she has often tried to sate her ever growing thirst for attention. Her method of acheiving such attention? Assailing travelers, freezing them to the bone just as she did her first victim, and keeping them in her courtyard of snowy caverns. In this way, they will never abandon, abuse, or otherwise devoid her of presence. All she captures are hers to admire, to smother with misplaced affection and to fill the ever deepening void of loneliness. She craves to complete her collection, even if there isn't enough room to hold it in those desolate caverns. So with that, I urge you. Have fire Pokemon at the ready, Ice Heals galore, and bring a friend, otherwise you might end up in the Frost Garden, Froslass' shrine to herself. Don't be like me. I misunderstood the rules xD I'll leave #1 + #2 up for enjoyment though

I'm not sure how far this extends, but I can confirm it with Assurance. Payback, I'm not so sure of, but the gist of it is this. When selecting a move that has a criteria that affects the power of said move, there seems to be a discrepancy. -In the case of Assurance, taking damage prior to usage of the move does not increase the power from 60 to 120. -In the case of Payback, moving before or after the opposing pokemon does not seem to affect the power (where it should raise from 50 to 100) There are a handful of other moves that function similarly to these two, such as Facade. I do not have the resources as of yet to test these, but it's something to look into.