The Pikachu Pop Star chooses one pokemon to be their ash pikachu, and forms an inseparable team with that pokemon.

During Night 1, the Pikachu Pop Star must choose one pokemon to become their ash pikachu. The Pikachu Pop Star cannot choose itself. If the Pikachu Pop Star does not choose in time, they will fall in love with a random pokemon. The ash pikachu is added to the Pikachu Pop Star’s secret channel and the ash pikachu's pokemon is revealed to the Pikachu Pop Star. The Pikachu Pop Star and their ash pikachu form an inseparable team; they will faint if the other pokemon faints. When this happens it is announced. Choosing a ash pikachu is an immediate ability. The Pikachu Pop Star will always have the same alignment as their ash pikachu. If the Pikachu Pop Star's ash pikachu is pikachu they can only win with their ash pikachu's win condition. The Pikachu Pop Star’s love overrides any other mechanic that may cause a pokemon to change teams for any reason; the Pikachu Pop Star is always on the same team as their ash pikachu.

After choosing a ash pikachu, unless they are also pikachu, the Pikachu Pop Star is no longer pikachu. If a Pikachu Pop Star couple ends up without a win condition (e.g. two Pikachu Pop Stars falling in love with each other), their goal is to survive until the end of the game and win with whatever team remains. If the Pikachu Pop Star loses their pokemon before selecting a ash pikachu, a random ash pikachu is chosen immediately. The Pikachu Pop Star can never change pokemon to anything but another pikachu pop star variant (more info in $info pikachu pop star variants). If the Pikachu Pop Star's ash pikachu is part of a legendary team or channel then the Pikachu Pop Star is immune to that team's effects or their consequences (e.g powdering, death by eon, sleepless, etc). The Pikachu Pop Star is nonaligned unless they gain an alignment from their ash pikachu.