DP136

Gateway to Ruin! (Japanese: テンガン山の遺跡！ギンガ団の陰謀！！  Ruins! Conspiracy!!) is the 136th episode of the, and the 602nd episode of the Pokémon anime. It first aired in Japan on July 23, 2009 and in the United States on December 19, 2009.

Blurb
Traversing Mt. Coronet on their way to Lilypad Town and Dawn’s next Contest, our heroes discover a lost pink Shellos. They soon learn that it lives on the west side of Mt. Coronet, but has mysteriously wound up lost on the east side. Agreeing to take Shellos back home to its herd, our Heroes meet up again with Mr. Looker, who quickly heads out of the Pokémon Center just as they do.

Meanwhile, we discover that Team Galactic is inside Mt. Coronet and up to their evil doings, as usual. At the same time, Team Rocket secretly has their eyes on a mysterious case owned by Team Galactic, which Jessie is convinced contains treasure. But when our heroes accidentally walk into Team Galactic’s operations, they are soon tied up and have to angrily watch while Team Galactic searches for what turns out to be the “Gateway to Spear Pillar”—one part of their evil plot to create their “New World.” Fortunately, a disguised Mr. Looker bursts on the scene and ultimately frees Ash and friends. Team Galactic is able to continue their search, but when they come up empty-handed, a frustrated Team Galactic leaves the scene and Team Rocket is sent blasting off again.

With everyone safe and in one piece, our heroes bid Mr. Looker a fond farewell, return the pink Shellos safely to its herd, and their journey to Lilypad Town continues once more.

Plot
While they are still on their way to 's next Pokémon Contest in Lilypad Town, and  encounter a section of Mt. Coronet that is a muggy marshland. Soon, they come across a river with a strong current, as well as blue. Ash and the gang are confused, as Zoey's is colored pink. Dawn looks it up in her Pokédex and finds out that there are two confirmed kinds of Shellos—Pink Shellos and Blue Shellos. Soon they see a Pink Shellos trapped in the river's current.

jumps in to try to rescue it. Piplup manages to catch it just before the current takes it away. Then, using a long tree branch, the others pull both Shellos and Piplup to the shore safely. Then, Nurse Joy arrives, relieved to see Shellos safe and thanks the gang for saving it. Brock then begins his usual flirting, which is interrupted by 's. Nurse Joy wonders why a Pink Shellos is on the east side of Mt. Coronet, as Pink Shellos are only found on the western side of the mountain. Nurse Joy reveals that long ago, when Mt. Coronet was starting to form, the two types of Shellos were separated and soon adapted to their new color and environment. However, there have recently been several western Shellos that have gotten lost on the east side of the mountain, but she is unsure why. Nurse Joy quickly changes the subject and takes it to the Pokémon Center.

Fortunately, Shellos is not injured. The gang decides to take Shellos to the western side of the mountain. Nurse Joy suggests to find its home near the marshlands when Looker arrives and is intrigued to see another Pink Shellos on the eastern side of Mt. Coronet. After happily greeting the group, Looker announces he is in a hurry and leaves. Although the gang is confused, they still decide to keep on their task and bring Shellos home.

Meanwhile, inside of the mountain, a squad of s—led by Saturn and Charon—are searching the mountain for more clues to the Spear Pillar. The limited data they collected from Iron Island suggested that it was on Mt. Coronet and all the team has to do is find its gateway. Saturn is very impatient to find it, as they are very much behind schedule. Charon suggests he relax, as they would succeed in finding it. They are unaware that is spying on them, or that they are plotting to steal a briefcase they have.

Back with the group, Piplup is leading the way back to Shellos' home. Then, the gang notices many caves. Piplup and Shellos peek into one and despite Dawn's warning, they fall into it. The rest of the group follows after them. After falling a long way down, they find themselves unable to climb out. Looker, meanwhile, (who had just entered a different cave to the inside of the mountain) finds human footprints and deduces that the tunnels were dug up recently. Just then, he hears a sound and soon discovers Team Galactic, but chooses not to reveal himself just yet.

Team Galactic is continuing their search for the Spear Pillar, but Saturn is still a bit impatient and is starting to lose hope. Charon scolds Saturn's impatience, and reminds him that the region long ago believed in a Time-Space Legend involving Pokémon, these two Pokémon being and. Charon also mentions that the ruins were made as a result of the ancient people's desire to meet them and suggested once again that Saturn relaxes.

The gang soon finds the footprints and this time, Shellos leads the way. The gang does their best to catch up to Shellos, hoping to find a way out or someone who knows a way out. Unfortunately, they only find Team Galactic. Saturn becomes annoyed at the children getting in their way yet again. Without any warning, Ash and his friends are surrounded by Galactic Grunts, still under the watchful eye of Looker and Team Rocket.

Team Galactic ties up Ash, Dawn, Brock, Pikachu, Piplup, and Shellos, so they would not get in their way until their mission was complete. Brock wondered what they were planning this time, as Charon becomes amazed at finally meeting the "famous children" in person. Saturn, still getting impatient, tells Charon to ignore them and return to work. Team Rocket is still trying to steal the briefcase, but couldn't find a way past the Grunt guarding it.

Then Shellos began to cry, which irritated Charon and he ordered to keep it quiet. A grunt with a face obscured volunteers and yells meanly at Shellos so that Team Galactic could hear. However, the grunt quietly talks calmly to it, but making sure Saturn and Charon do not hear him, as well as not hear him telling the gang that he would help them escape. He does, however, yell loudly that he would "tighten the ropes". Charon and Saturn immediately ask who he is and the grunt comes towards him, with Saturn suspicious of him.

The grunt said that he was sent from headquarters to help the expedition. Charon is confused as to why that is, since they already have enough manpower for the job. The grunt reveals he came in a hurry and only knew about ruins in the expedition. Charon decided to bring him up to speed. He told the grunt their mission was to find the gateway to the Spear Pillar that is hidden on Mt. Coronet. The grunt with the case opens it, revealing the Spear Key to all, as Charon continued to explain by stating they would use the key to open the gateway to the Spear Pillar once they found it.

Ash and friends are amazed and soon find out how the Shellos got lost on the wrong side of the mountain: because Team Galactic dug the tunnels to find the gateway to the Spear Pillar. Saturn reminded Charon to be careful with the key, since their leader entrusted them with it. Charon said he couldn't really care about Team Galactic's intentions, so long as he does his part. Team Rocket, still spying on it, decide to steal the key and open the gateway to the Spear Pillar themselves.

Charon orders the grunt to get to work immediately. The grunt complies, but soon jumps a distance away from them, freeing Ash and the others, and reveals his true identity: Looker! Ash and the group are surprised and their surprise increases when—upon Saturn's request—revealed he was with the International Police. Team Rocket were also shocked that the man that delivered them lunchboxes some time ago was with the International Police and believed to have walked into a "brou ha ha".

Saturn mentions that he received a report of a suspected spy in their ranks and deduces that Looker was the spy. Then, Shellos runs off again, the gang following. Saturn orders the grunts to capture Looker. Team Rocket takes the opportunity to steal the Spear Key, unguarded. Jessie sends out to use. The Haze clouds Team Galactic's vision and when it fades, Team Rocket is in possession of the key. Charon orders them to identify themselves. Team Rocket begins their motto before Charon interrupts them, ordering the key back. However, they are soon surrounded by Team Galactic's arsenal.

Shellos soon finds itself in a dead end and cries. Ash and the group calm it down, assuring it that they would return Shellos to its home. Meanwhile, Looker manages to defend himself against the Grunts, which impress Ash and the gang, as well as two Grunts that were working on finding the ruins. One Grunt suggests that they help out until they receive a signal. Saturn and Charon rush to them and discover that there are ruins hidden behind some rocks. Saturn is relieved to find the search to probably be over and sends out his.

Saturn orders his Toxicroak to use to destroy the rocks and after a few jabs, the rock is finally destroyed, revealing old ruins, which is perhaps the gateway to the Spear Pillar. Although Saturn is a bit skeptical, he takes the key back from Team Rocket and Toxicroak uses to send Team Rocket blasting off. A grunt opens the case to reveal the key and take them to the Spear Pillar.

However, nothing happens. Charon is only able to deduce that the ruins are not the gateway to the Spear Pillar. Saturn becomes irritated and, seeing there was no need to be there any longer, orders to retreat. Pikachu and Piplup attempt to stop them by using and, respectively, but the Golbat use  and Team Galactic's escape was successful. Then, the place begins to flood due to Toxicroak's Rock Smash. Looker takes out a raft and the gang uses it to narrowly escape. Team Galactic begins to pinpoint the next location of the Spear Pillar on Mt. Coronet. Charon chuckles on how simple it was as Saturn gives him an irritated look, apparently not trusting or taking a liking to Charon.

After safely moving out, Looker goes back to headquarters and the gang continues to find Shellos' home. As Shellos becomes reunited with its breed, Brock notices the mud water from the flash flood clogged up the tunnels Team Galactic made, meaning the Shellos will never again wind up on the wrong side of the mountain again. Ash and the gang say good-bye to Shellos, as they continue their way towards Lilypad Town.

Major events

 * and meet Looker again, and they, along with, discover that he is a member of the International Police.
 * Ash and his friends encounter Team Galactic again and meet Charon for the first time.

TV episode debuts

 * (East Sea)

Humans

 * Jessie
 * James
 * Nurse Joy
 * Saturn
 * Charon
 * Mars (flashback)
 * Zoey (flashback)
 * Looker
 * Mars (flashback)
 * Zoey (flashback)
 * Looker

Pokémon

 * (Zoey's; flashback)
 * ('; multiple)
 * (East and West Sea; multiple)
 * (Zoey's; flashback)
 * ('; multiple)
 * (East and West Sea; multiple)
 * (Zoey's; flashback)
 * ('; multiple)
 * (East and West Sea; multiple)
 * (East and West Sea; multiple)

Trivia

 * This episode, which features Team Galactic, also marks the 100th episode since they made their debut.
 * narrates the preview of the next episode.
 * Music from Lucario and the Mystery of Mew and Pokémon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea are used in this episode.
 * The dub title is a reference to, a magical phrase in the story of "" in .
 * This is the final episode to use a 3:2 aspect ratio for the episode's beginning in the high-definition feed.
 * This is one of the few episodes to retain all of its Japanese background music and use no dub created music (with the exception of the title screen music).
 * This episode was the first to air in Japan after the theatrical release of Arceus and the Jewel of Life.

Errors

 * There are a few scenes where 's jacket is longer than it should be.
 * In one scene, a part of 's vest was colored the same as her skin.
 * At the end of the episode, during the "To Be Continued..." scene, 's feet are blue.

In other languages
Das Labyrinth im Kraterberg EP605 DP136 DP編第136話 精灵宝可梦 钻石＆珍珠 第134集