DP023

Faced with Steelix Determination! (Japanese: 爆走ハガネール！ビッパの村を守れ！！ Roaring ! Protect the Village!!) is the 23rd episode of the, and the 489th episode of the Pokémon anime. It first aired in Japan on March 15, 2007 and in the United States on July 12, 2007.

Blurb
Team Rocket's latest misguided Pokémon-snatching scheme digs them into a deep hole, deep enough that they accidentally bury their shovels in the head of a very irritated Steelix! Steelix goes on a rampage and Team Rocket runs away, bumping into Ash and his friends in the middle of their mission to help a lost Bidoof find its home. Steelix hits Team Rocket with an attack that blasts Meowth into the midst of Ash and the gang, while Jessie and James are off on their own.

Ash's group runs for a nearby waterfall, escaping into a rocky pass that Steelix can't fit into. On the other side is the lost Bidoof's home village, but all the Bidoof are trapped there because they're afraid of Steelix. Jessie and James join the stranded group but decide to hide while Meowth and our heroes try to calm Steelix and save the village.

Building stronger walls to keep Steelix out is only a temporary solution—they need to get the shovels out of Steelix's head! Meowth lures Steelix to another narrow pass where the others are waiting, and even though Team Rocket is sent flying by yet another Hyper Beam, everyone else works together to get two shovels out. The last shovel is still stuck, but once the Bidoof team up, they get it out and stop Steelix from charging into a waterfall. Reminded once again of the power of teamwork, Ash and his friends can leave their new Bidoof friends and head for their next destination.

Plot
Jessie, James and are digging some holes into the ground. Halfway, when digging a particular hole, they hit something hard. It turns out to be a, and the shovels they were using get stuck in its head. Infuriated, Steelix chases them towards the direction of, and. Suddenly, the gang hears a cry from an injured. Brock takes a Super Potion out of his backpack to heal the Bidoof, and puts a plaster on its wound. Bidoof then reveals to the gang that it lives in the Bidoof Village, and when they are about to continue walking through the forest, Team Rocket appears. While talking about catching, Steelix appears and charges a , alerting the gang and Team Rocket to run away, with Bidoof leading the way. They all approach a fork in the road, and Bidoof commands the gang to turn left. Team Rocket prepares to follow them, but Steelix fires another Hyper Beam that hits Jessie and James but misses Meowth. Meowth jumps toward the gang as they continue to run along through the forest, still being chased by Steelix. They then spot a waterfall, and Bidoof points out that this is where it lives and that they can enter through a gap in the rocks, which is too small for Steelix to fit through. After passing through the gap, they see a small village that turns out to be Bidoof Village.

As all of Bidoof's friends come out and greet it, the head Bidoof explains to Meowth that the reason they did not come looking for the Bidoof that Brock healed was because they were scared of the rampaging Steelix. It also explains that although the rocky terrain around the village is strong, it will not keep Steelix out forever. As they hear Steelix continue to attack the wall, they climb up to the other side and see Jessie and James looking for Meowth. Steelix blasts the two inside the Bidoof Village with Hyper Beam, and all of the Bidoof get angry when they hear from Ash that Steelix's rampage is all Team Rocket's fault. In a quick haste to hide from Steelix, Jessie and James go and hide in a Bidoof's home and Steelix begins to sound angrier than ever. Upon this, the gang is finally provoked to calm Steelix down and save the village. Dawn sends out and has him use  on Steelix, while everyone else sets up a barricade against the gap in which the gang entered. However, after Piplup gets tired and returns to his Poké Ball, Steelix busts through the outside of the gap, leaving the barricade as the gang's only protection.

Dawn suggests that Steelix will calm down if the shovels are removed from its head, and that it will be easy if they can lure it into the gorge in the village. As Meowth is thrown under the bus by Dawn to be the decoy, Steelix breaks through the barricade and proceeds to chase Meowth toward not only the gorge, but also the Bidoof home in which Jessie and James are hiding. Meowth makes it to the gorge and jumps, and Ash sends out to go and save him, making Steelix fall into the gorge just as Dawn planned. When Staravia sets Meowth down next to Jessie and James, Team Rocket is reunited and begins to taunt the out cold Steelix out of anger for chasing them all this way. The gang tries to shush them in an attempt to keep Steelix unconscious so they can get the shovels out of its head, but the three continue to rant. Steelix wakes up in the process and blasts Team Rocket off with Hyper Beam.

Steelix once again starts rampaging, however inside the village this time. Ash has Staravia use on one of the shovels, knocking it off of Steelix's head. As Staravia turns around, Steelix knocks him away and charges toward him, only to smash into a rock when he is recalled by Ash. Ash then has Pikachu use on the second shovel, knocking it off and leaving one shovel left on Steelix's head. As Pikachu prepares to knock the third shovel off, Steelix head butts into the wall and Pikachu falls to the ground. Steelix's anger is turned up to 11 and it relentlessly attacks the village, as such, making it too dangerous to get close to its head. The Bidoof that Brock healed explains to the head Bidoof that they must remove the last shovel themselves. Head Bidoof at first seems reluctant to perform the actions explained by the other Bidoof, but after looking around and seeing that its village cannot take much more of Steelix's attacks, it readies the entire Bidoof clan to ambush.

All the Bidoof jump off the cliff and onto Steelix's head, and try and pulling the shovel out. However, they and the gang all notice that Steelix is charging toward the fountain. Ash sends out to use  on Steelix in an attempt to stop it. Razor Leaf works for a short while, but Steelix pulls itself together and chases Turtwig away with Hyper Beam. It then continues charging toward the fountain, and the Bidoof clan continues their attempt to pull the shovel out. Steelix gets to the very edge of the waterfall, and head Bidoof tells the gang to give it more power, and as such, they successfully pull the shovel out of Steelix's head. Steelix stops charging right at the end of the path and calms down.

As day turns to evening, Steelix leaves Bidoof Village. The gang also leaves and continues on their way to Floaroma Town for Dawn's upcoming Pokémon Contest.

Humans

 * Jessie
 * James
 * Jessie
 * James
 * James

Pokémon

 * (multiple)
 * (multiple)
 * (multiple)
 * (multiple)
 * (multiple)
 * (multiple)
 * (multiple)

Trivia

 * Music from Destiny Deoxys and Jirachi: Wish Maker, along with an alternate cut of Spurt!, are used as background music.
 * Professor Oak's Big Pokémon Encyclopedia: Jessie's Seviper
 * Pokémon senryū: あかいキバ　わわるとアブネー　ハブネーク Akai kiba / Wawaru to abunē / Habunēku "The red fangs, it's dangerous to touch them; Habunake."

Errors

 * In the Portuguese dub, during the rock wall scene, was called.
 * The Hulu description for this episode misspells Steelix as "Sttelix".

In other languages
Ohne Mut kein Preis! EP492 DP023 DP023 DP編第23話 精灵宝可梦 钻石＆珍珠 第23集