PK01

For the series of Pikachu shorts, see Pikachu's Winter Vacation.

Pikachu's Vacation (Japanese: ピカチュウのなつやすみ Pikachu's Summer Vacation) is the first Pikachu short. It debuted in Japanese theaters on July 18, 1998, and then made its way to North American theaters on November 10, 1999.

Pikachu's Vacation was shown alongside Mewtwo Strikes Back.

Blurb
Pikachu and its buddies have decided to spend their summer vacation here in Pokémon Square, a place for Pokémon to get together and have fun. Along come four Pokémon, making a racket as they head into the Square—and the noise wakes up Togepi, who just got to sleep!

Pikachu and its friends try to get the four noisy Pokémon—Raichu, Cubone, Snubbull, and Marill—to calm down, but everything starts going downhill from there! Squirtle and Marill go head to head, while Pikachu and Raichu face off in a heated battle. Charizard finds itself mixed up in the melee, too, and ends up getting its head stuck in a pipe!

This musical fantasy is full of the friendship, camaraderie, and lovable characters that make Pikachu and its friends so special!

Plot
, and  release their Pokémon to spend the day at a theme park for Pokémon. With and  leading, all of the Pokémon dance their way to the theme park.

However, upon arriving, all of them stampede off to look for fun, except Pikachu,, and  who have to look after Togepi when it gets hungry and bursts into tears. Squirtle and Pikachu attempt to make Togepi happy by making faces at it, but Squirtle's scary face makes it even worse. Upset, Squirtle walks off but then spies an apple on a tree. Bulbasaur gets it down using but it rolls over to Psyduck who eats it and wanders off, Togepi bursting into tears again. Bulbasaur, however, uses his and rocks Togepi to sleep by singing a lullaby (which Dexter names the Bulbaby).

Togepi has fallen asleep, but is awakened by a quartet of loud Pokémon:, , and. Pikachu approaches and asks them to be quieter, but instead, the four get aggressive. After the quartet started arguing with Bulbasaur and Squirtle, Pikachu tries to make peace stating that since they're older, they should set a better example for the baby. Togepi wanders off onto a log which starts rolling down a river, Pikachu crazily trying to stay on, but eventually falls into the river and watches the log roll off and hit a nearby swimming pool. Thankfully, Togepi gets off the log safely. Pikachu retrieves Togepi, but finds Bulbasaur, Squirtle and the bullying Pokémon squaring off against each other.

Squirtle and Marill challenge each other to a race across a crowded swimming pool. Pikachu starts off the race with the help of who rolls and explodes. Squirtle and Marill race across the pool, but then Marill bumps into a and it becomes so angry that it attacks Marill with. Afterwards, Squirtle ends up getting caught on the back of a. Squirtle escapes and speeds across the pool, but discovers Marill has already won. The two groups continue to square off, Pikachu not wanting any more competition. Raichu's sparks out lightning bolts which scare Togepi. Pikachu hugs it, only for the two to get electrocuted by Raichu. Pikachu finally snaps and gets angry. Pikachu and Raichu attempt to overpower each other with their sparking cheeks, and instead speed off across the park, causing mayhem. , and  are trying to sleep but are continuously disrupted by Pikachu and Raichu. The battle concludes with the two stepping on the tail of, who chases them, but the two are going so fast that they outrun it. Charizard eventually outspeeds them and he stops right in front of Pikachu and Raichu and he blows them away, making them fall on a Snorlax. Afterwards, the two are crushed by said. The others rush to help, but stop when Charizard hurtles out of control and gets its head stuck in a climbing frame.

Pikachu and all of his gathered friends (minus Staryu and Goldeen) attach a rope to Charizard's foot and try to pull it out, but Charizard's frantic panicking causes them all to fly backwards. Charizard begins to cry so Pikachu manages to enlist the help of the bullying Pokémon who apologize for their previous actions - all except Cubone, who follows its nature of only caring for itself. However, Cubone eventually helps. Charizard is eventually pulled out, but it sends all the Pokémon flying through the air. Charizard flies off, taking Psyduck with it. Meowth, who has been disrupted from his sleep multiple times, brings out a bomb to stop all the noise, but Charizard lands on him and Meowth is blown up underneath Charizard.

In the end, all the Pokémon help rebuild the destroyed climbing frame and spend the rest of the day having fun. As the sun sets, all the Pokémon hear their Trainers calling and all leave. Before Pikachu leaves, he shakes hands with Snubbull, the five becoming friends. Pikachu hops off as his new friends wave farewell. The short ends with Pikachu leaping into Ash's arms for an exchanged hug.

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Trivia

 * For the Japanese Blu-ray release in 2012 of this Pikachu short, was recolored in the ending credits due to the controversy surrounding her color.
 * This was adapted into a full-color manga in All That Pikachu!.
 * All three Pokémon that debuted in this short would later be made.
 * This short introduced Misty's Togepi as well as spoiled the evolutions of Ash's Charizard, Jessie's Arbok, and James's Weezing to audiences in numerous countries, since it was released well before Togepi's hatching episode and the episodes in which the aforementioned Pokémon evolved (EP031, EP043, and EP046).

Errors

 * When all of, , and 's Pokémon stampede into the park, Misty's Psyduck is seen running over . However, in the next frame, Psyduck is seen standing right behind Pikachu.
 * In the logo, the é in Pokémon is not e-acute, thus making it "Pokemon".
 * In one scene, an in the background has white eyes instead of black.

Dub edits

 * Ash's Pokédex, Dexter, acts as a narrator of sorts in the short, giving out various facts about the featured Pokémon and their behavior. These facts include:
 * is identified as the Egg Pokémon, although the species was later identified as the Spike Ball Pokémon. Togepi is also mentioned to have a low tolerance for hunger.
 * performs a calming melody for Togepi, identified by Dexter as the "Bulbaby".
 * was identified as a "newly discovered" Pokémon.
 * The Pokédex is shown to be able to translate Pokémon languages.