Pikachu Became a Legendary-Tier Pokémon After His Biggest Powerup Ever

Pikachu’s greatest power-up in the Pokémon anime occurred entirely unintentionally during the Team Aqua and Magma arc, when Pikachu took on the power of a Legendary Pokémon. By absorbing the Blue Orb, Pikachu gained an immense amount of power, along with glowing lines across his body similar to those on Primal Kyogre and Groudon.

In the Team Aqua and Magma story arc, the leader of Team Aqua, Archie, takes control of the Red Orb, hoping to use it to control Kyogre and complete his goal of raising the sea levels across the world. However, Team Aqua is currently in possession of Groudon, while Team Magma has the Kyogre they need, along with the Blue Orb.

In the episode “Gaining Groudon,” Ash, Pikachu and friends are brought to the Team Magma base, and in an attempt to keep the Orb safe while Kyogre escapes, Pikachu grabs it… and accidentally absorbs it into his body, causing the Electric Mouse Pokémon to go out of control with overflowing power.

Pikachu Used the Power of Legendary Pokémon To End Their Conflict

Pikachu, even while being overwhelmed by the power of a Legendary Pokémon, manages to climb atop the containment system for Groudon, calling down a massive thunderbolt that awakens it and allows it to escape. Pikachu rides on Groudon and the two work together to defeat Kyogre, using Pikachu’s type advantage to help protect Groudon from Kyogre’s Water-type moves. As Kyogre takes damage, Archie loses the Red Orb (which had fused with him the way the Blue Orb did with Pikachu) and with it, control over Kyogre. Pikachu similarly ejects the Blue Orb, and collapses out of sheer exhaustion, falling into the water below, where Ash rescues him.

While in the episodes, the Blue Orb is for controlling Kyogre and the Red Orb is for Groudon, the Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire games show the opposite. In fact, the Blue Orb is the item needed for Kyogre to transform into its Primal Reversion form, a Mega Evolution-like transformation that restores the immense power these Legendary Pokémon once had in the distant past. That suggests that Pikachu was actually channeling the ancient power stored within the orbs, which was simply far too great for an ordinary Pokémon to control for very long. Really, it’s impressive that Pikachu lasted as long as it did, taking part in a battle between Legends the likes of which the world had never seen.

This power-up, of course, was very temporary, only lasting two episodes, but it’s indisputably the strongest that Pikachu ever was, at any point in the anime. By using the orb’s power, Pikachu effectively became a Legendary Pokémon for a brief time, which he proved by standing toe-to-toe with Kyogre. The experience was certainly one that Pikachu wouldn’t care to repeat, however, as it left him completely exhausted. While Ash’s Pikachu is undoubtedly a strong one, the Blue Orb incident proved that Pikachu is far more powerful than anyone in the Pokémon anime could’ve expected.