Welcome to the thirty-eighth issue of 6th Generation's Pokemon of the Week! This week, due to frequent requests, we'll be covering the last Mega Pokemon until OmegaRuby AlphaSapphire. This week we discuss Aerodactyl.

Aerodactyl was revived with DNA found in an Old Amber over 10 years ago. It has been bred out of extinction since then, but the population is carefully controlled. Aerodactyl is a vicious Pokemon that is said to have been the terror of the skies in the ancient past. It's shrieks cause fear to anyone that hears them.

Base Stats: 80 HP / 105 Attack / 65 Defense / 60 Sp. Attack / 75 Sp. Defense / 130 Speed
Mega Aerodactyl: 80 HP / 135 Attack / 85 Defense / 70 Sp. Attack / 95 Sp. Defense / 150 Speed

Aerodactyl has been somewhat lackluster over the years. It always finds itself outclassed by better Rock types. Rhydon and Golem made Aerodactyl a laughable choice back in Red and Blue, and these days Tyranitar and Terrakion are generally better choices. But with access to a Mega Evolution, Aerodactyl gains very good Speed and a fantastic ability in Tough Claws. It's still not good enough for OU, but it's not so bad that using it in OU is unfathomable. Just be sure to build a team around it if you're daring enough to use it in OU.

Aerodactyl@ Aerodactylite Pressure [Tough Claws] Adamant nature (+Attack, -Sp. Attack) EVs: 212 Attack / 252 Speed / 44 Defense Stone Edge Ice Fang Aerial Ace Earthquake / Fire Fang

Mega Aerodactyl is capable of running a potent offensive set, thanks to his new ability Tough Claws, which boosts contact moves power by 33%. Unfortunately this doesn't boost his Rock type moves, but Stone Edge is powerful enough to be used without it, and it has great coverage as well. Ice Fang is wonderful coverage for Dragon types such as Garchomp. Aerial Ace is your secondary STAB that gets a Tough Claws boost, and allows you to deal good damage to Mega Venusaur.

The last slot has a couple options. Earthquake is better neutral coverage, forming an EdgeQuake core and allows you to deal with Heatran, but Fire Fang allows you to deal with Ferrothorn and choice-locked Scizor. The EVs allow it to outspeed as much as possible and survive two Brave Birds from Choice Band Talonflame if necessary (you'll appreciate it when Stone Edge misses). The rest goes into Attack to hit as hard as possible. Not much else to say about this set; Mega Evolve when you send it out and deal damage.

Aerodactyl@ Aerodactylite Pressure [Tough Claws] Adamant nature (+Attack, -Sp. Attack) EVs: 244 Attack / 220 Speed / 44 Defense Aerial Ace Aqua Tail Taunt Roost

Given access to Taunt and Roost, Aerodactyl is capable of putting a stop to stall and defensive strategies. Taunt stops the opponent from healing or using any status moves whatsoever, while Roost will keep it alive through whatever attacking options the defensive Pokemon has access to. Pokemon like Chansey will be unable to heal, and her Seismic Toss will not be able to deal significant damage with your ability to heal 50% of your health with Roost. Your two attacking moves provide the best overall coverage. Aerial Ace gets STAB and Tough Claws, while Aqua Tail also benefits from Tough Claws (just... it does, don't analyze it) and these two moves have good coverage together.

The EVs once again allow you to survive two Brave Birds from Choice Band Talonflame, but the Speed this time is set to allow you to outspeed base 110 Pokemon before Mega Evolution, and outspeeding Greninja (Base 122 Speed) and below after Mega Evolving, and dumping more into Attack this time to be able to break defensive Pokemon like Skarmory better.

Old Amber can be found by using Rock Smash on rocks in Glittering Cave's inner chamber. This can then be revived into Aerodactyl in Ambrette Town. Here's what I'd recommend:

Aerodactyl Rock Slide Fly Ice Fang / Earthquake / Iron Head Fire Fang / Earthquake / Iron Head

Rock Slide and Fly are your STAB attacks, and Fly is handy for transportation anyway. The last two slots are just whatever you value most. Ice Fang and Fire Fang are most effective if you're Mega Evolving so they deal enough damage to be good attacks, while Earthquake provides good coverage in general. Iron Head deals good damage to the many Fairy types in X/Y. Just go ahead and pick whichever appeals most to you.

Aerodactyl has long been the forgotten original fossil. Kabutops has always been the cool one, and Lord Helix has his own cult, but no one really cared much about Aerodactyl. Finding it was somewhat more difficult than the forced fossil given to you in Red and Blue, and by the time you could revive it you already had 6 or 7 badges, so raising a Pokemon from such a low level was not an appealing option. The worst part is Aerodactyl was awful in Red and Blue, so for all of your effort you'd be rewarded with a Rock type that couldn't learn Rock Slide. It has gotten better over the years and now with his Mega Evolution, Aerodactyl could logically be thought of as the terror of the skies of the ancient past. These days... not so much.

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