I *finally* caught Mesprit, though it took the longest time. I finally was able to catch it with a Haunter that knows Mean Look and Hypnosis and was holding a Quick Claw. So in other words, through dumb luck. I never really realized how *weak* the Ghastly-Haunter-Gengar evos are. Sure, they have great Sp. Attack stats, but their Defense/Sp. Defense stats are non-existent.

Follow up:

I also made it to the Elite Four. The first time through Bertha kicked my butt (how the hell is her Golem faster than my Houndoom?! That's just wrong.) but I did a little attack tweaking and got all my pokemon to level 52. I also switched out my Staraptor for my super powered Alakazam. How powerful is my Alakazam? It's level 51 and its Sp. attack stat is 180.

The second time through I survived to face Cynthia, though I will say Flint's Magmortar is a beast! I used Surf on it and it barely made a dent in it O_O

Unfortunately, Cynthia took me out with her Garchomp, it was just too fast for any of my other pokemon to stand a chance. So now it's back to training. I've also decided to swap out my Luxray for my Staraptor again. There just isn't any real place for an electric type for any of the Elite Four Battles. I want to teach my Staraptor Ominous Wind, but so far I don't have enough Blue Shards to do so.

Current Team: Empeleon lvl.52, Alakazam lvl.51, Houndoom lvl.52, Staraptor lvl.44, Garchomp lvl.52, Rosearade lvl.52

I am still looking to getting HeartGold, and Amazon did have it for 31 dollars, but that still is above the price point I'm willing to pay. I don't want to miss the Yellow Forest event, but I also don't want to pay so much for a handheld game.

However, it looks like the 5th gen of Pokemon is going to be arriving soon: Pokemon Black and Pokemon White. The graphics look pretty freakin' sweet, but if Ruby/Sapphire has taught me anything, it's that don't be fooled by the graphics. I'll have to wait and see more of the pokemon. Hopefully they'll top the series at an even 600, but don't go past that, because otherwise virtually no one will be able to complete the Pokedex.