AG177

Grating Spaces! (Japanese: タケシ＆サトシ！タッグバトルでニビジムを守れ！！  & ! Defend Gym in a Tag Battle!!) is the 177th episode of the, and the 451st episode of the Pokémon anime. It first aired in Japan on May 18, 2006 and in the United States on December 5, 2006.

Blurb
Our heroes have finally made it back to Pewter City, where Brock once again comes home to find the Pewter Gym looking stranger than ever. When he gets in the door, he discovers that his mom and dad are headed off on a free prize vacation, leaving the Gym in the care of three suspicious Gym remodelers who promised to make the Pewter Gym fashionable. His parents even took his Ludicolo to carry suitcases! Of course, it's all another Team Rocket scheme in disguise.

On a happier note, Brock meets Steelix, his evolved Onix. His siblings beg him to help them put the Gym back to normal. Team Rocket returns and realizes their new plan is full of twerps, but Team Rocket's Delibird drops off Poké Balls for them containing a Charizard and Aggron! With this firepower, they go in and challenge Brock to a battle—if they win, they decorate the Gym any way they want! Ash offers to help Brock out and it's time for a double battle.

Brock uses his Steelix, Ash uses his Donphan. Charizard is a tough opponent for Steelix to go up against and Aggron's no slouch, either! But Brock and Ash have teamwork on their side, unlike Team Rocket. Meowth sneaks off to steal Poké Balls while everyone is distracted, but Max blows its cover. Now Team Rocket's secret is out, and Brock's brother Forrest is outraged. Forrest, Brock, and Ash team up to beat Team Rocket. When Brock's parents come home, they get quite an earful from Brock, but family is family, after all. As for Team Rocket, they discover that all the bonuses they were getting were really meant for Butch and Cassidy!

Plot
In a blaze of glory, and  are headed towards Pewter Gym and are getting even closer to the Battle Pyramid. Upon successful arrival at the Gym, strange looks overcome our heroes. explodes with the sight of the frightful remodeling of his beloved Gym.

Brock is welcomed back with open arms as surround him. After a few moments, all of his siblings form a single line. The oldest sibling instructs Brock that mother and have left with the others confirming the statement.

Brock places a call to his mother and father who happen to be at an. Brock is upset while his mother is in a joyous mood, acting as if everything is okay. As Brock displays his anger, his mother just ignores his comments and wishes him a goodbye as and  grant him the same parting.

After she disconnects the call, two people dressed in airport staff attire and a arrive, handing Brock's father two tickets for a honeymoon. As the plane jets off into the sky, plot to capture the  of Pewter Gym now without a Gym Leader. Meowth goes into his usual illusions with being pampered by Pewter Gym's former Pokémon.

Brock explores the newly renovated Gym further, noting the various streaks of colors plastered across the walls and floor. An adjacent door opens to the pathway and a grasps Brock's body and moves him closer. Brock is in a confused state as he did not realize that his evolved into Steelix while he was away. As soon as Steelix becomes friendly, Brock finally notices that Steelix was his original Onix while Steelix places him on the ground. After a few seconds,, and  stampede into the arena to display their pleasure with Brock's return. Brock turns to thank his younger sibling, Forrest, for his hard work and commitment in assisting the Pewter Gym.

Brock prepares a delectable lunch for his siblings,, and Max. Meanwhile, Team Rocket begins plotting their attack on Pewter Gym. After a few seconds, a descends from the air and delivers two Poké Balls to Jessie. Team Rocket escape into a nearby field and call upon the two Pokémon. After the blinding light disperses, an and a  are revealed. Now with two powerful Pokémon within their possession, Team Rocket arrive at Brock's residence and ring the doorbell. Everyone rushes to the door to see who the visitor is. Once Brock answers the door, Jessie and James are quick to forward a challenge to the ominous Pewter Gym. The kids hint that Team Rocket (or rather, their disguised selves) were responsible for the makeover (or vandalism).

The battle gets underway as Ash and Brock call upon their majestic Steelix and. Team Rocket release their Charizard and Aggron. Jessie doesn't hesitate to begin the battle as Charizard blazes forward with a striking Steelix directly. Donphan blazes forward striking Charizard with a and breaking the ferocious steam of flames. Aggron launches forward with a colliding with Donphan and pushing him backwards. Steelix flares forward but comes to meet Charizard's ferocious and gets knocked backwards. Aggron follows up with a, tearing up the Gym floor and finally coming to meet its target, Donphan, striking for a direct hit.

Donphan and Steelix begin to recover from the attack as Ash and Brock reformulate their strategy. Donphan begins the second round by exploding forward with a attack which knocks Charizard off balance. Steelix follows up with an knocking Charizard backwards and then grasps onto it with, constricting and restraining Charizard. Aggron launches a devastating Hyper Beam which hits Steelix directly and makes it release Charizard from its grasp. Charizard explodes into the air and counterattacks with another Flamethrower as Steelix strategically uses its tail to uplift rock to guard against and disperse the fire attack, following right away with a, which makes a direct hit to Charizard and sends it smashing it into the wall. Donphan the charges at Charizard with Take Down, making another direct hit in a row. Aggron launches a attack striking Donphan knocking it backwards. Aggron continues the attack with another Water Pulse. The impending wave of water closes in on Donphan as Steelix strikes Donphan launching him over the wave striking Aggron. As the battle continues, Meowth escapes off into the distance, but not without Max noticing his departure.

Meowth collects the Poké Balls of Pewter Gym as Max arrives to confront Meowth. As his hat falls off, Max realizes that Meowth is actually Meowth of Team Rocket. Jessie and James attempt to recover from the last round as Charizard launches another Fire Spin attack and manages to hit Aggron. Both Pokémon begin feuding and finally charge a corresponding Flamethrower and Hyper Beam which manage to collide and fuse creating a magnificent explosion enveloping Team Rocket. As the dust clears, Team Rocket's outfits are charred and soon crumble away revealing themselves to Ash and Brock. Meowth attempts to escape but Forrest manages to call upon his Geodude who s Meowth knocking it off course. Meowth drops the bag and a few Poké Balls spill out from inside.

As Brock attempts to confront Team Rocket, Forrest interrupts and asks them why they are attempting to steal the Poké Balls. Forrest tells Geodude to use. Aggron and Charizard go on the attack with Hyper Beam and Flamethrower while Steelix uplifts more rock to defend against the impending attacks. Geodude and Steelix then blast forward, striking Charizard and Aggron with Mega Punch and Iron Tail. As Charizard and Aggron stumble from the attack, everyone contributes to Team Rockets defeat with a fusion of majestic attacks. Team Rocket blazes off like a brilliant star.

Brock's mother and father finally arrive home as Brock explains the previous situation to them. As usual, his mother ignores his comments and goes to grab a wand shaped item to display to Brock.

Meanwhile, Team Rocket hang from atop a tree as Delibird arrives to claim the Poké Balls it gave them earlier, explaining that they were supposed to go to Butch and Cassidy. Team Rocket attempts to reason with it but it only escapes off into the distance. A grand departure is exchanged with our heroes. The Flames of Courage grow ever so brighter for Ash and his friends as they near ever so closer to the forbidding Battle Pyramid.

Major events

 * and arrive at Pewter City.
 * and Max meet Brock's family while Ash meets Brock's mother, Lola, for the first time.
 * 's is revealed to have evolved into  and learned  and  while his  is revealed to have learned  and.
 * Jessie and James receive a and an, respectively, from the . The Pokémon are later taken away by  to be delivered to Cassidy and Butch.

Main series debuts

 * Lola

Pokémon debuts

 * Brock's Steelix

Humans

 * Max
 * Jessie
 * James
 * (fantasy)
 * Lola
 * Brock's siblings
 * Forrest
 * Tommy
 * Suzie
 * Cindy
 * Salvadore
 * Billy
 * Tilly
 * Timmy
 * Yolanda
 * Billy
 * Tilly
 * Timmy
 * Yolanda

Pokémon

 * ('s)
 * (Lola's; fantasy)
 * (Lola's; fantasy)
 * (Lola's; fantasy)
 * (Lola's; fantasy)
 * (Lola's; fantasy)
 * (Lola's; fantasy)
 * (Lola's; fantasy)
 * (Lola's; fantasy)
 * (Team Rocket's)
 * (Team Rocket's)
 * (Lola's; fantasy)
 * (Lola's; fantasy)
 * (Lola's; fantasy)
 * (Lola's; fantasy)
 * (Lola's; fantasy)
 * (Lola's; fantasy)
 * (Lola's; fantasy)
 * (Team Rocket's)
 * (Team Rocket's)
 * (Team Rocket's)

Trivia

 * This episode's title is a play on the title of the television show , a reality show about home renovation, much like what Team Rocket did to the Pewter Gym.
 * This is the second time that the Pewter Gym has been redecorated. The first was in A Family That Battles Together Stays Together!.
 * Pokémon Symphonic Medley is used as background music.
 * This is the first appearance of Team Rocket's Delibird since Johto, and its only appearance in the.

Errors

 * In one scene, Jessie's earrings are red instead of green.
 * During the battle in the dub, Jessie says "light thrower" instead of "Flamethrower."
 * In one scene, the Poké Ball print on May's bandana is black instead of white.

Dub edits

 * In the dub, after Steelix is hit by Aggron's Hyper Beam and targeted by Charizard's Flamethrower, Brock tells it to "dodge and use Dragon Breath." Steelix instead smashes the Gym floor with Iron Tail, lifting up rocks as a shield. This could be a dubbing error or some improvisation on the part of Steelix.

In other languages
Vergeben und vergessen EP454 AG177 AG編第177話 精灵宝可梦 超世代 第176集