[omnipath]

Bulbasaur may have an edge, type wise, but I'd put money on Pikachu actually winning. Pikachu with Light Screen, Thunder Wave/Knock Off, Protect/Wish, and Hidden Power (Ice) with Light Ball, would completely take on a Bulbasaur. http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Pikachu_(Pok%C3%A9mon...

Bulbasaur would need Toxic/Sleep Powder, Growth, Energy Ball/Petal Dance/Giga Drain, and if you must, Hidden Power (Ground) with leftovers. Would NOT suggest using Leaf Storm unless you know you could knock out the opposing pokemon within two hits, even with the two stage lowering of the Special Attack. http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Bulbasaur_(Pok%C3%A9m...

The problem with your strategy is that it doesn't take into account crit attacks. Bulbasaur could get a critical hit on it and get all the way down to around 30% health left. The problem what that is that Bulbasaur is MUCH slower than Pikachu, so by the time that round is over, you don't have enough health to survive another neutral hit. The only way I could see Bulbasaur winning is with crit hits, or with just stalling out Pikachu (by changing growth to protect, hidden power ground to leech seed, and going with Giga Drain, you would have a really great chance to stall out Pikachu, if Pikachu doesn't 3HKO Bulbasaur), and hope he didn't have hidden power ice.

(If you're not using physical attacks, why waste a slot on Sword Dance, a move that increases the Physical attack stat??)

[_frog]

Yep I've been totally outclassed. I've only recently started getting into the online aspect of Pokémon so I still have a ton to learn with regards to strategy. Though does the speed stat really matter all that much outside of first mover advantage?

[omnipath]

Yes. Most pokemon battles, unless they're designed to stall, or there are a lot of misses, pokemon as a rule usually faint within two to three hits. Unless Pikachu's stats are totally a bad fit for a special attacker, and Bulbasaur's stats are totally for special walling, chances are even with attacking with Thunderbolt, Pikachu could take down Bulbasaur within 4 rounds. With Hidden Ice, holding the Light Ball, probably 2 rounds.

Now, let's say we gave Bulbasaur all the extra ev training into special attacking. It would still take about two hits to knock out Pikachu. Problem is, since Pikachu is faster, it'll get in two hits before Bulbasaur does. This is why both Pikachu and Bulbasaur are considered LC (Little Cup) or NU (Never Used), as they have a lot of problems dealing with a lot of different pokemons that occur in battling.

May I suggest you try a website called Pokemon Showdown? It's an online simulator which allows you to try out different strategies, and test them against other people. http://play.pokemonshowdown.com/