Ash's Pikachu

For the alternate version, see *Ash's Pikachu (M20)*

**Ash's Pikachu** (Japanese: **サトシのピカチュウ** *Satoshi's Pikachu*) was the signature Pokémon of the Pokémon anime from the original series to *Pokémon Journeys: The Series*, and the first Pokémon that Ash obtained on his journey as a Pokémon Trainer, given to him by Professor Oak. Pikachu travels outside his Pokéball.

## History

Main article: Ash& § 39;s Pikachu/History

## Personality and characteristics

After Ash gained Pikachu's loyalty in *Pokémon - I Choose You!*, Pikachu became extremely loyal to Ash and has maintained this loyalty, and while he is not always immediately trusting of strangers, he is generally friendly to humans and Pokémon alike. He acted as a guardian and big brother to Misty's Togepi, and has been seen meditating and even breaking up fights among other Pokémon, such as in *Pikachu's Vacation*. In *Mewtwo Strikes Back*, Pikachu, Meowth, and Meowth's clone were the only Pokémon not to participate in the giant battle; Pikachu stood motionless as his clone repeatedly slapped his face. Contrary to his distrusting nature, Pikachu took a liking to Misty very early in the series, and he has retained this liking of Misty throughout the series, such as when he was very happy to see her in *The Scheme Team*, *Alola, Kanto!*, and *A Fated Face-Off!*.

During the Hoenn saga, Pikachu temporarily developed amnesia and sided with Team Rocket for a while. On several occasions, Pikachu has developed an "electric flu" causing him to become overcharged and extremely powerful. During these instances, Pikachu will sometimes accidentally let off electric outbursts which can be set off on anyone, including Ash. In all of these cases, Pikachu did not mean harm upon anyone.

As shown in a handful of episodes, the first being *Showdown at Dark City*, Pikachu has a special fondness for ketchup, but he will eat and enjoy almost any other human or Pokémon food. In *The Fires Of A Red-Hot Reunion*, Pikachu also displayed a fondness for orange juice. In *That's Some Spicy Island Research!*, Pikachu was revealed to have a distaste for Poni Island radishes. A running joke in the anime also seems to be Pikachu using Thunderbolt at the beginning of each series to accidentally destroy a female companion's bike or unintentionally shock the companion herself. This has happened to Misty, May, Dawn, Iris, and Bonnie.

Pikachu, like his Trainer, is always happy to battle. He often tries his very best, but when he loses, he doesn't complain or feel bad about himself, especially when Ash reassures him. Ash and Pikachu are almost identical personality-wise, and thus are the perfect match for one another. Most others agree, except for Burgundy, who in *A Connoisseur's Revenge!* said that Ash had a terrible relationship with all of his Pokémon, though this is more due to her inexperience in determining such relationships. Though rare, the two can still butt heads at times. When they first met, Pikachu would shock Ash with electricity out of vitriol. While being zapped by Pikachu still happens regularly for poor Ash, it's usually when he angers his buddy (such as when Ash rubs and pulls Pikachu's cheeks), or by accident (when Ash grabs Pikachu's tail by mistake).

In general, Pikachu as a species are not particularly powerful, but Ash's Pikachu is a notable anomaly, overcoming odds in battle numerous times. In *Ash Catches a Pokémon*, Meowth remarked that Pikachu's power "exceeds its evolutionary level". In *Showdown in Pewter City*, he defeated Brock's Onix with an Electric-type attack that triggered the sprinkler system causing Onix to be drenched in water, one of its weaknesses. Ash's Pikachu has also triumphed over some very powerful Pokémon that had previously defeated several of Ash's other Pokémon, such as Drake's Dragonite, Tyson's Metagross, and Korrina's Mega Lucario. He was also the second Pokémon in the anime to defeat a Legendary Pokémon in battle, defeating Brandon's Regice to win the Brave Symbol in *Pace - The Final Frontier!*. He later fought Tobias' Latios to a draw in the semifinals of the Lily of the Valley Conference, and defeated Gladion's Silvally and the recurring Tapu Koko commanded by Professor Kukui in separate battles at Manalo Stadium. He has helped Ash win countless battles and Gym and League matches.

The possibility of evolving into Raichu was first raised and discussed in the episode *Electric Shock Showdown*. After suffering a crushing defeat by Lt. Surge's Raichu, Nurse Joy presented Ash with a Thunder Stone. Ash allowed Pikachu to decide, but he refused, having decided to become stronger as he is, and defeated Raichu by using superior speed. In the Sinnoh region, Pikachu battled another Raichu belonging to a trainer named Sho. The two were not only even matches in power but, unlike before, also in speed; ultimately Raichu used Hyper Beam to secure victory, a move Pikachu could not learn. At a Pokémon Center, Ash revealed that he kept the Thunder Stone he acquired in Vermilion City in case Pikachu changed his mind about evolving. Once again, Pikachu chose not to evolve and defeated Sho's Raichu in a rematch with a combination of speed, power, and spinning techniques learned from Dawn. During this event, Team Rocket stole the Thunder Stone, as they also wanted Pikachu to stay as he is.

However, at times, Pikachu has lived up to his species' frail and brittle strengths, particularly in Gym battles, where he was defeated with relative ease by his opponent; for example, he was overpowered very easily by Lt. Surge's Raichu, Sabrina's Kadabra, Blaine's Magmar, Bugsy's Scyther, Whitney's Miltank, Chuck's Poliwrath, Roark's Rampardos, Fantina's Drifblim, Cress' Panpour, and Viola's Surskit, despite having type advantages against Scyther, Poliwrath, Drifblim, Panpour, and Surskit. He also drew against Winona's Pelipper and Norman's Vigoroth, and struggled against Crasher Wake's Floatzel. Furthermore, he has lost twice to Trip's Serperior, as a Snivy in *In the Shadow of Zekrom!* and a Servine in *A Rival Battle for Club Champ!*, despite Trip being a starting Trainer and recently having obtained Serperior. In addition, Pikachu tends to noticeably struggle when an opponent hinders his mobility in some fashion, such as when the aforementioned Panpour stopped Volt Tackle with a Mud Sport that covered the battlefield, when Burgh's Leavanny impaired his speed and accuracy by immobilizing his tail with String Shot, when the icy battlefield of Viola's Surskit threw him off balance in the first battle, or when Wulfric's Bergmite prevented him from using Quick Attack by numbing his legs with Icy Wind.

Pikachu is also the only one of Ash's Pokémon to accompany him to the Hoenn, Unova, Kalos, and Alola regions, and was intended to be the only Pokémon to accompany him to Sinnoh before Aipom was discovered to have stowed away on the ship Ash was taking. Up until the capture of Dawn's Pachirisu, Pikachu was the only Electric-type Pokémon in the anime owned by a main character.

Following their first encounter with him in *Pokémon Emergency!*, the Team Rocket trio made it their life's mission to capture Pikachu for their boss. Sometimes, they succeed with nets, cages, capsules or one of their mechas, but most of the time their plans always failed by Ash and his friends or something else involved. Whenever Pikachu gets released from their trap and reunites with Ash, he sends Team Rocket blasting off with his Electric attacks. Most of the time, in this case, his Thunderbolt. Sometimes, Pikachu sends them away even when he didn't get stolen. On other occasions, he battles them with Ash.

Even with his high level of electrical power, Pikachu has not stopped learning new attacks. Upon learning that Roxanne, the Rustboro Gym Leader used Rock types, Ash had Pikachu begin learning Iron Tail in *All Things Bright and Beautifly!*. After training hard, Pikachu finally perfected it in *The Winner by a Nosepass*, where he used it to defeat Roxanne's Nosepass and earn Ash his first Hoenn Badge. In addition to giving Pikachu an advantage over Rock types, Iron Tail has allowed Pikachu to defeat many other powerful opponents. In *May's Egg-Cellent Adventure*, during a battle with Team Rocket, Ash ordered Pikachu to do a Quick Attack. Much to the surprise of Ash and his friends, the Quick Attack morphed into an imperfect Volt Tackle which sent Team Rocket blasting off. Upon mastering the move in *The Green Guardian*, it became one of Pikachu's most distinctive techniques, to the point of garnering Paul's interest, up until *Dancing With the Ducklett Trio!*, where Pikachu replaced it with Electro Ball. In *A Battle Hand-Off!*, Pikachu learned Electroweb in place of Electro Ball, allowing him to not only trap opponents, but also use the move as a springboard to increase his mobility or as a shield to protect himself from damage. In addition to his repertoire of moves, Pikachu has used his Ability, Static, a few times in the anime, has an affinity for Z-Moves, and is capable of Gigantamaxing.

## Relationships

Main article: Ash& § 39;s Pikachu/Relationships

## Pikachu's language

Some of Pikachu's speech is consistent enough that it seems that some phrases mean something. In *Stealing The Conversation!*, Team Rocket refers to this language as "Pika-speak," but this most likely isn't official. This includes:

* Pikapi: *Satoshi* (Ash)
* Pi-Kachu: *Pochama* (Piplup)
* Pikachu-Pi: *Kasumi* (Misty)
* Pika-Chu: *Takeshi* (Brock), *Kibago* (Axew)
* Pikaka: *Hikari* (Dawn)
* PiPiPi: *Togepy* (Togepi)
* PikakaPika: *Fushigidane* (Bulbasaur)
* PikaPika: *Zenigame* (Squirtle), *Mukuhawk* (Staraptor), *Goukazaru* (Infernape)  *Gamagaru* (Palpitoad) or *Marilli* (Azumarill)
* PiPi-kachu: *Rocket-dan* (Team Rocket)
* Pi-Pikachu: *Get da ze!* (He says this after Ash wins a Badge, catches a new Pokémon or anything similar.)
	+ Pikachu may not be the only one to use this phrase, as other Pokémon do this as well. For example, when Iris caught Emolga, Axew said Ax-Axew (Ki-Kibago in the Japanese version). This also happened when Iris caught Gible in BWS02.
* Pika-Pikachu: When referring to or introducing himself.
* Chaa: Anything he says happily or excitedly, or when yawning.
* Pika!: "Matte!", or saying "Wait!"
* Pi-kaPika: "Sayōnara," or saying "Good-bye."
* Piiika-Chuuuuuu!: When using Thunderbolt.
* Pika-Pika-Pika-Pika-Pika-Pika, Chuuu Pii!: When using Electro Ball.
* Pikachu-Pi-Pi-Pi-Pika!: When using Quick Attack.
* Pika-Pika-Pika-ChuPi-Ka!: When using Electroweb.
* Chuuu-Pi-Ka!: When using Iron Tail.

## Moves

### Z-Moves used

 A **†** shows that the move was used recently, unless all moves fit this case or there are fewer than five known moves.

### Max Moves and G-Max Moves used

 A **†** shows that the move was used recently, unless all moves fit this case or there are fewer than five known moves.

## Trivia

* The Professor Oak's Big Pokémon Encyclopedia featured at the end of DP013 is about Ash's Pikachu. He writes this Pokémon senryū about him: 「パートナー　サトシとピカチュウ　いいかんじ」 "*Partners Satoshi and Pikachu: always feeling good.*"
* Pikachu is Ash's only Electric-type Pokémon and was the only Electric type owned by a main character in the anime prior to Dawn catching Pachirisu.
* Pikachu was the only one of Ash's non-temporary Pokémon to use an Electric-type move under his ownership until Naganadel in *Fiery Surprises!*, 1,082 episodes later.
* Pikachu was the first of Ash's Pokémon to habitually disobey him. Other Pokémon would later do so as well, notably Primeape and Charizard.
* As revealed in *Enter Pikachu!*, Pikachu is, chronologically, Ash's first:
	+ Pokémon caught in its evolved form, although its pre-evolved form did not yet exist at the time of his debut.
	+ Pokémon to have evolved via friendship. However, Leavanny is the first to do so under his ownership.
* Pikachu is the only one of Ash's Pokémon capable of evolving through use of an Evolution stone, not including Snorunt, as it did not have a stone-induced evolution at the time of its debut.
* Pikachu is the only one of Ash's Pokémon to be have been used in every Gym battle in a region, namely, Johto.
	+ Pikachu is also Ash's only Pokémon to win a Gym battle single-handedly, excluding one-on-one matches, as shown in *Watt's with Wattson?*.
* As Pikachu hates being in his Poké Ball, it is rarely ever seen, with a total of only six confirmed appearances throughout the whole anime outside of flashbacks: *Pokémon - I Choose You!*, *Showdown in Pewter City*, *Snow Way Out!*, *A Corphish Out of Water!*, *Breaking Titles at the Chateau!*, and *A Frenzied Factory Fiasco!*.
* In *Where No Togepi Has Gone Before!*, it was officially confirmed that Pikachu is male, as a female Togepi's Attract affected him. His physical appearance could not be used as proof before then, since gender differences were not implemented until after he had debuted in the anime.

* + Pikachu's gender had already been assumed male in the dub, where male pronouns such as "he" were used to refer to Pikachu. To a lesser extent, his gender was also previously implied in the Japanese versions, specifically in *Island of the Giant Pokémon* (in which Pikachu used masculine pronouns), *Princess vs. Princess* (he was present when the narrator said that males had to carry packages), *The Purr-fect Hero* (he was seen with Ash and Brock while they claimed that Kids Day was for boys), and in *The Battle of the Badge* (as Brock referred to Ash and Pikachu as "those guys").
	+ The species' gender difference was first openly indicated in *Beauties Battling for Pride and Prestige!*, as Pikachu was disguised as a female by sticking a heart-shaped piece of paper on his tail.
* Pikachu was shown at various points in the anime, such as *The Mystery Menace* and *Expedition to Onix Island!*, to be capable of surfing, a potential reference to the Surfing Pikachu initially featured in Pokémon Yellow, which itself was inspired by the anime.
* Pikachu is the first Pokémon in the anime to have defeated its evolved form, as he defeated Lt. Surge's Raichu in *Electric Shock Showdown*.
* Pikachu is the second Pokémon in the anime to have defeated a Legendary Pokémon, as he defeated Brandon's Regice in *Pace - The Final Frontier!*.
	+ Pikachu has done so more than any other Pokémon in the anime, having defeated a total of four Legendary Pokémon: the aforementioned Regice, Tobias's Latios in *The Semi-Final Frontier!* (though the battle ended in a draw, as Pikachu knocked himself out in the process), Gladion's Silvally in *Final Rivals!*, and Tapu Koko in *From Z to Shining Z!*.
* Pikachu is the first Pokémon in the anime to have defeated a Mega Evolved Pokémon without Mega Evolving, as he defeated Korrina's Mega Lucario in *Showdown at the Shalour Gym!*.
	+ Pikachu has done so more than any other Pokémon in the anime, having defeated a total of four Mega Evolved Pokémon: the aforementioned Mega Lucario, Lysandre's Mega Gyarados in *Rocking Kalos Defenses!*, Misty's Mega Gyarados in *When Regions Collide!*, and Steven's Mega Metagross in *Battling as Hard as Stone!*.
	+ Pikachu is also the only non-fully evolved Pokémon to have defeated a Mega Evolved Pokémon.
* If counting former Champions, then Pikachu has defeated the most Champion-owned Pokémon onscreen in the anime, at a total of seven Pokémon: Wallace's Milotic, Steven's Cradily and Mega Metagross, Cynthia's Gastrodon and Spiritomb (though the battle ended in a draw, as Pikachu was knocked out due to Destiny Bond), and Leon's Gigantamax Cinderace and Charizard.
	+ Pikachu is also the only non-fully evolved Pokémon to have defeated a Champion-owned Pokémon.
* In the anime, Pikachu is the first Pokémon belonging to a main character to have activated their Ability or Gigantamaxed.
* Pikachu is the only Pokémon in the anime to have access to both Z-Moves and Gigantamax.
	+ Moreover, Pikachu is the only Pokémon to have used different power-ups, the two mentioned above, in a single battle.
* As of *The Climb to Be the Very Best!*, Pikachu has used more moves than any other Pokémon belonging to a main character in the anime, at a total of 19 moves.
	+ Pikachu also held the overall record of most moves used until *Partners in Time!*, when Leon's Charizard surpassed him by one move.
	+ Pikachu has also debuted more moves than any other Pokémon in the anime, at eleven, and the most Z-Moves, at four.
* Pikachu is the only one of Ash's Pokémon to have been confirmed to have forgotten a move. The confirmation comes from *A Plethora of Pikachu!*, in which Template:Rotom states that Pikachu cannot use Catastropika since he doesn't know Volt Tackle, a move he was last seen using in *A Night in the Nacrene City Museum!* prior to him learning Electro Ball in *Dancing With the Ducklett Trio!*.
* Pikachu is the only non-fully evolved Pokémon used by a member of the final Masters Eight lineup in the Masters Eight Tournament.
	+ According to a caption in PJ121, Pikachu is also the first Pokémon to be brought to the opening ceremony of said tournament.
* If excluding Drone Rotom, Pikachu is the first Pokémon to have acted as a referee in the anime, taking up the mantle for Ash and Misty's battle in *A Fated Face-Off!*.
* In Latin America, Cartoon Network had a "Biografía Toon" (*Toon Biography*) segment, which consisted of non-canon biographies of cartoon characters. This segment once did a two-part feature on Ash's Pikachu, stating that he is the result of an experiment conducted by Professor Oak and that he allegedly destroyed the lab where he was created in a momentary loss of control.
* Pikachu appears as a figure in the sixth generation of Monster Collection.
* Event-distributed Pikachu billed as "Ash's Pikachu" consistently have a Naughty Nature, with the sole exception of the Pokémon Center Best Wishes event, which distributed one with a Brave Nature. Both Natures line up with Pikachu's personality in the anime, and both increase the Attack stat.
	+ All of the distributed Pikachu in a cap, however, have a Hardy Nature, possibly to keep them as neutral, stat-wise, as possible.
* In PJ128, the announcer of the World Coronation Series identified Pikachu as (Japanese: マサラの黄色い電光 *The yellow lightning of Masara*) when discussing Ash's team.
* *Time After Time!* and *The Mew from Here!* are the only main series episodes during his time as a protagonist to not feature Pikachu in any capacity.

## Gallery

Pikachu in a suitPikachu wearing Ash's original hat.Pikachu dressed as a Court JesterPikachu being possessed by the Red OrbPikachu under the control of a rogue MalamarPikachu turning into stone
### Gallery of Pikachu's moves

Ash's Pikachu using Thunder ShockAsh's Pikachu using ThunderboltAsh's Pikachu using AgilityAsh's Pikachu using Quick AttackAsh's Pikachu using ThunderAsh's Pikachu using Double-EdgeAsh's Pikachu using TackleAsh's Pikachu using LeerAsh's Pikachu using Iron TailAsh's Pikachu using Volt TackleAsh's Pikachu using Electro BallAsh's Pikachu using Electroweb
### Gallery of Pikachu's Z-Moves

Ash's Pikachu using Gigavolt HavocAsh's Pikachu using Breakneck BlitzAsh's Pikachu using 10,000,000 Volt ThunderboltAsh's Pikachu using Corkscrew Crash
### Gallery of Pikachu's Max & G-Max Moves

Ash's Pikachu using Max SteelspikeAsh's Pikachu using G-Max Volt CrashAsh's Pikachu using Max Strike
## References

1. ↑ "Where No Togepi Has Gone Before!", when Togepi used Attract on the gang and Team Rocket's Pokémon, Pikachu became infatuated because of it.
2. ↑ "Balance of Power", when battling against Norman's Vigoroth, Pikachu's Static Ability activated, causing Vigoroth to become paralyzed.

## Related articles

* For more information on this Pokémon's species, see Pichu and Pikachu.

* Episodes focusing on Pikachu
* Ash's Pikachu (M20)
* Pikachu in a cap