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 Pokémon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire, and the 451st episode of the Pokémon animated series. 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==
En route to the Battle Pyramid, arrives at the Pewter Gym. A strange looks overcomes everyone and explodes with the sight of the frightful remodeling of his beloved Gym. Brock is welcomed back with open arms by . 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 video call to his parents who happen to be at an destined for a holiday. 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 realizes that his evolved into Steelix while he was away. After a few seconds, , and stampede into the arena, all pleased to see 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 friends. Meanwhile, Team Rocket begins plotting their attack on Pewter Gym. After a few seconds, a descends from the air and delivers two s to Jessie. Team Rocket escapes into a nearby field and call upon the two Pokémon; a meancing pair of and a . 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 Pewter Gym makeover.
A Double Battle gets underway as and Brock call upon their 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 strikes Charizard with a and breaks through the ferocious stream of flames. Aggron launches forward with a colliding with Donphan and pushing him backwards. Steelix prepares to attack, but is knocked back by Charizard's attack. Aggron follows up with a , tearing up the battlefield and finally coming to meet its target, Donphan, scoring a direct hit. As Donphan and Steelix recover, Ash and Brock reformulate their strategy. Donphan uses 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 flies into the air and counterattacks with another Flamethrower as Steelix strategically uses its tail to uplift a rock to guard against the fire attack, following right away with a , which pushes Charizard into a wall. Donphan charges at Charizard with Take Down, making another direct hit in a row. Aggron launches a attack striking Donphan knocking him backwards. Aggron continues to attack with another Water Pulse. The impending wave of water closes in on Donphan, but Steelix helps launch Donphan over the wake and strike Aggron. 
Team Rocket's scheme is soon uncovered after Max spots Meowth escape off into the distance, and follows him into the Gym’s Pokémon storage area. 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 envelope 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 him off course. Meowth drops the loot bag and a few Poké Balls roll out. Brock prepares to deal with the troublesome trio, but Forrest interrupts and has Geodude use on them. 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 blast forward, striking Charizard and Aggron with Mega Punch and Iron Tail. As Charizard and Aggron stumble from the attacks, everyone contributes to blast Team Rocket off with a fusion of attacks.
Brock's parents and Ludicolo finally return home, as Brock furiously orders a family discussion and reveals that Team Rocket were behind the Gym remodel scheme. At his friends' requests, Brock agrees to forgive his parents. Lola presents Brock with a wand-shaped souvenir, much to his frustration.
Meanwhile, Team Rocket hang from atop a tree as Delibird arrives to reclaim the Poké Balls it gave them earlier, explaining that they were supposed to go to rival Rocket duo Butch and Cassidy. Team Rocket attempts to reason with it, but are left feeling humiliated as Delibird flies off into the distance. The next day Brock and his friends leave for the Battle Pyramid, with Brock’s family wishing the group well on their journey.
==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 .
* Jessie and James receive a and an , respectively, from the . The Pokémon are later taken away by to be delivered to Cassidy and Butch.
* Brock's Geodude is revealed to have learned and .
===Debuts===
====Humans====
=====Main series debuts=====
* Lola
====Pokémon debuts====
* Brock's Steelix
==Characters==
===Humans===
* 
* 
* 
* Max
* Jessie
* James
* (fantasy)
* 
* Lola
* Brock's siblings
** Forrest
** Tommy
** Suzie
** Cindy
** Salvadore
** 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)
==Trivia==
* This episode's English dub title is a play on the title of the reality TV show , which is about home renovation, much like what did to the Pewter Gym.
* This is the second time that the Pewter Gym has been redecorated. The first occasion was in A Family That Battles Together Stays Together!. even references that occasion after seeing the battlefield.
* Pokémon Symphonic Medley is used as background music.
* 4Kids background music is used in this episode.
* This episode marks the first appearance of Team Rocket's in the since Can't Beat the Heat!, 181 episodes earlier, as well as its only appearance in Pokémon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire.
* This episode contains one of the few occasions where Team Rocket calls one of Ash's friends by name, with James comparing Brock's siblings to a " lookalike contest".
===Errors===
* In one scene, Jessie's earrings are red instead of green.
* In one scene, the print on 's bandanna is colored black instead of white.
AG177 error.png|Jessie's red earrings
AG177 error 2.png|May's miscolored bandanna
===Dub edits===
* In the English dub, after is hit by 's and targeted by 's , Brock tells it to "dodge and use ". Steelix instead smashes the Gym floor with , lifting up rocks as a shield. This could be a dubbing error or some improvisation on Steelix's part.
* In the original Japanese version, does the Butch name gag. In the English dub, Meowth just calls Butch by his actual name.
==In other languages==
177
Category:Episodes written by Aya Matsui
Category:Episodes storyboarded and directed by Yūji Asada
Category:Episodes storyboarded by Yūji Asada
Category:Episodes directed by Yūji Asada
Category:Episodes animated by Masaaki Iwane
Category:Episodes focusing on Brock
de:Vergeben und vergessen
es:EP454
fr:AG177
it:RZ177
ja:AG編第177話
zh:宝可梦 超世代 第176集