That run is the surprise of the summer: I was absolutely not planning to run with that oldest of Poke-fossils, neither now nor ever. However, as I was cruising in Glittering Cave, a fateful Rock Smash produced a piece of Old Amber. Having no idea what that item was, I ran to Bulbapedia and discovered the link with Aerodactyl; and when I saw that he boasted a Mega Evolution and that his Mega Stone could be obtained in the exact same spot where fossils were revitalized, there was not turning back. An Aerodactyl run was going to be a thing indeed, and no later than right now.
A bit of Breeding, Trading and Hatching later, I was the proud Trainer of a newborn Aerodactyl; and my, was it a shock to discover my little Météores' starting Move pool. I mean, what kind of monster can wield Wing Attack and Bite at bloody lv. 1? Those are 60 power Moves, for Arceus' sake! Needless to say, one-shooting very quickly became routine. As my Météores boasted a Careful Nature and thus reduced Sp. Attack, I decided early on to make him a pure physical attacker — and his learnset was more than happy to indulge me.
Wing Attack and Bite were ultimately replaced with Aerial Ace and Crunch, along with Return and Ancient Power. Being Special, the latter was far from ideal; however, I stuck to it for a good third of my run because of the STAB and the all-stat bonus effect. I ultimately settled for Earthquake, Dragon Claw, Iron Head and Rock Tomb as my final, Elite Four-obliterating Move pool. Needless to say, said Elite Four was a mere formality, with every 'Mon going down in one clean hit bar Gyarados, Scizor, Probopass and Gourgeist.
Overall, I can say that Aerodactyl's battle prowess is absolutely stellar, and that he's dope solo run material despite his five Type weaknesses. He certainly fared much better against Fighting 'Mons than his fellow fossil Amaura, thanks to his secondary Flying Type that cancels his weakness to Fighting. The Cyllage Rock Gym was a bit hairy, being so early on in the game and without Mega Evolution to save the day; but Météores finally triumphed thanks to his high Attack, the Rocky Helmet and a bit of luck. By the time I challenged the Electric and Ice Gyms and the Water and Steel Champions, Météores had ME in tow and was more than overleveled enough to take care of them without breaking a sweat.
The catch here is Aerodactyl's frustratingly slow growth: not only is he afflicted with Slow leveling-up rate — which ultimately forced me to backtrack and fight earlier Trainers so he could hit the big 100 before the Pokemon League — but he also takes his sweet time to learn Moves. I was absolutely flabbergasted to discover that he learns Giga Impact as late as lv. 83: while this is perfectly consistent with his fossil nature and Rock Type, I shudder when thinking of the players who want to use him in a regular run setting. I was also quite miffed to see his wonderful Rock Head Ability go to waste in my run, as he learns no recoil Moves through leveling-up and I didn't find any recoil TM. Oh, well; he did fine enough with what he had, and it's all that matters.
That glorious experience totally makes me want to run with more fossil 'Mons. Since there is one or two of them in nearly each Gen, I'll probably indulge in a round of fossil runs sooner or later — and create a matching feature on that blog. But for now, other runs are begging for attention; see you soon with more Pokemon goodness, dear fellow gamers!
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