Advice
Read the terms and advanced tech thread, if you haven't already:
http://smashboards.com/showthread.php?t=80690
Start working the advanced techs into your game. I recommend that you start with shorthopping, z-canceling, and teching.
Don't grab so much with pikachu. While his grab is good, it's more important to learn how to combo with his aerials, uptilt, and upsmash. After you've gotten shorthopping and z-canceling down, pikachu's aerials can combo into each other very well.
Your friend's kirby: he should NEVER use kirby's downB offensively. If the opponent sees it coming (and they usually will), it's very easy for them to get out of the way, and then grab him. He should use kirby's uptilt a lot, it's one of the most broken moves in the game. He should also use kirby's dair to spike people who are out over the edge, and use kirby's fsmash. Kirby's aerials are all pretty good, with the exception of his uair.
Lastly, watch smash videos on youTube, you can learn a lot. Here are some links:
http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=MevseC&page=1
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=AlanAndPope21
http://youtube.com/superboomfan
Learn the advanced techs, watch videos of good players, and practice a lot.
Hope this was helpful.