Oooooh Another Blog!

Ash does it, so should you.

How many battles has Pikachu been in? How many has he won? And how many of them were against really, really strong Pokemon? The answers: a lot, a lot, and a lot.

Now, how long has Ash owned Pikachu? Answer: less than a year.

In less than a year, we have seen Ash triumph over 32 gym leaders and 4 Orange Crew members, fight in 4 Pokemon league tournaments, fight Lance, and seen Pikachu fight in hundreds, maybe even thousands of battles. But we always notice one singularity after each tournament: Pikachu becomes extremely weak when entering a new region.

Why is this? Why is it that Pikachu cannot beat a brand new, level 5 starter Pokemon at the beginning of each region? This is perfectly illustrated in the current season, Pokemon Best Wishes. Even with simple Normal-type attacks, Pikachu’s Attack should have been high enough to 1 hit K.O. Shooti’s Tsutarja. Though this brings up a new question: What level is Pikachu?

If one could recall from the first season, we have had one instance that gave a clue as to Pikachu’s level back then. Back in episode 9 of the Indigo League series, Ash encounters a female named Giselle who scoffs at Ash’s Pikachu, saying that Pikachu is a mere level 25 (though Pikachu is, in fact, at least level 26, for Pikachu used Thunderbolt in episode 5 against Brock. Thunderbolt is learned at level 26). We are now at episode 665, so what level is Pikachu now? Yes, I am puzzled, too.

Another clue as to what level Pikachu is is the Dragonite of the Orange Island series (episode 114). A combination of Charizard, Squirtle, Tauros, and Pikachu were used to defeat the said Dragonite. A base Dragonite is level 56 (At the time of airing). In this battle, Dragonite is hit by a Flamethrower (glancing), Dragon Rage (explosive), Bubble, self damage from using Takedown on Tauros’ horns, is thrown slightly by Tauros, an Agility/Tackle, and finally taken down by Pikachu’s Thunder. From this, we can guess that the majority of damage done was by Charizard’s Dragon Rage and Pikachu’s Thunder. While this does not give us an exact level of Pikachu, we can roughly estimate that Pikachu’s level is indeed much higher than level 25, as he was in episode 9. He is, in fact, at least level 45 at this point. The fact Pikachu knows the attack ‘Thunder’ means he is at least that level.

The math so far is thus: from level 5-26, it took Pikachu 5 episodes. From level 26-45, it took Pikachu 109 episodes. The first 20 levels took a mere 1/22 of the episodes it took Pikachu to level the next 20 levels. With this math, and if we accept that Pokemon leveling requires an exponential amount of experience for each consecutive level, we will find that it will take an additional 1733 episodes from this point for Pikachu to reach level 65. As such, we must for now decide that Pikachu is under level 65, but over level 45. Another piece of evidence is Ash’s Pikachu in the TCG, which is a level 45 (released July 18, 2009, about episode 583).

Owned for less than a year, level 45-50, and still loses to level 5 starter Pokemon. Quite a mystery. That single Iron Tail should have been enough to K.O. that Tsutarja.

The answer to that question in the beginning is simply this: the Japanese are fucking crazy, and we will never be able to understand them. Really, Ash has had 4 girlfriends in less than a year, we’ve seen Ash sleep at least a couple hundred times, and Pikachu should be raping those noobs. Where the hell did logic go? Answer: the Japanese never had any.