Fortunately, though the brash young man was reckless, he was not stupid.
Instead of attacking at the start, he chose to use Nasty Plot to increase his damage output.
In a sense, Houndoom could be considered a lower-tier version of Arcanine. Arcanine was better suited to physical attacks, while Houndoom excelled more at special attacks, so Nasty Plot was usually a standard move for Houndoom.
Hmm, the question-mark effect of Nasty Plot really never got old, no matter how many times he saw it.
"Calm Mind."
Heiduo snapped his fingers. Gardevoir's eyes glimmered faintly, and the barely audible sound of dripping water echoed in Heiduo's mind.
The two Pokémon finished boosting themselves at the same time.
"So fast!"
The brash young man's heart stirred. Houndoom had clearly boosted first, yet the light signifying their stat increases appeared at the same time as Gardevoir's.
It could use status moves this quickly too?
"Snarl!"
He shouted, and the Houndoom before him let out a howl. A semicircular wave of energy, black on the outside and red within, flew from its mouth and raced along the ground toward Gardevoir!
Snarl, a Dark-type special attack. Its secondary effect lowered the opponent's Special Attack, and it was an area-of-effect move!
Not Dark Pulse?
Was he that afraid of Gardevoir raising its Special Attack?
Heiduo raised an eyebrow. By choosing not to use Dark Pulse here, the brash young man had already revealed his lack of confidence in Houndoom's damage after Nasty Plot, as well as how wary he was of Gardevoir's offensive power.
Gardevoir stood still, obediently following Heiduo's instructions and allowing Houndoom to hit her once.
Her refusal to dodge, or even use a move, left everyone rather surprised.
"Taking it head-on?"
"What is he trying to do? Betting on her high Special Defense?"