Gilled Mawdad

The Gilled Mawdad is a species of mawdad that inhabits water.

=In fanon games=

In Pikmin:
The Gilled Mawdad is a boss in Pikmin IV. It is encountered twice in story mode, once in an area and later in a cave, and both times in water, necessitating the use of Blue Pikmin against it. It is also encountered in Treasure Hunt!, where it drops the upon defeat. The Gilled Mawdad's appearance is similar to that of the Armored Mawdad, only lacking a crystalline shell, and with paler blue and smoother skin, fleshy mandibles, a white underbelly, a red tongue, and green eyes. Additionally, it has two pairs of red gills resembling those of a 's each directly behind and below its eyes.

When first encountered at the entrance of the Forest Valley's cave, where it sleeps, it will wake up and roar loudly when inevitably touched by leaders or Pikmin, and then proceed to bash through a cave wall and escape through it. It reappears after smashing through the wall of the cave's next section after the leaders and Pikmin enter it, then remaining in the arena it breached into. It can then be confronted, and the cave will remain otherwise vacant until the day after first encountering the Gilled Mawdad. It will yield a Pocked Airhead the first time it is defeated, and either two Sunseed Berries or six Juicy Gaggles upon every subsequent defeat. It will reappear in its arena thirty days after being defeated, but will not show itself unless the KopPad is used to look around for it or the leaders wait there for ten seconds, prompting it to climb down a wall. Another Gilled Mawdad is encountered elsewhere during the events of story mode. The Gilled Mawdad on land has more vitality than the one underwater.

Upon entering its flooded arena, the boss will rear up and roar, and then begin to circle the border. Afterward, it will utter a roar and dive toward the leaders and Blue Pikmin there. Avoiding its charge is made much easier with the use of the. Leaders and Pikmin that are trapped between its mandibles can be saved by inflicting enough damage to limbs, causing the Gilled Mawdad to flinch and throw its captives everywhere. Throwing Pikmin at its eyes will severely agitate it, making it careen erratically about its arena, knocking away Pikmin and leaders in its path until it knocks the offending Pikmin off by ramming into walls or rolling over. Targetting its eyes or gills will irritate it into spitting out any Pikmin in its mouth at the time. The Gilled Mawdad's most vulnerable point is the middle-most segment of its body, as the hide on its face and tail is thicker and thus more resistant to damage. When a quarter of its health is depleted, the beast will shake any Pikmin on it off, and circle its arena again, but at an increasingly faster pace, trapping any Pikmin and leaders near it in a whirlpool. Afterward, it will charge at any caught in the whirlpool to trap them between its mandibles to feed on them. Pikmin caught in the whirlpool's current can be whistled free from it, and leaders can free themselves simply by struggling out of it. Following this attack, the Gilled Mawdad will navigate to the nearest wall and climb up it for a surprise attack consisting of it dropping down on its prey, although sometimes it may pull itself back up if there isn't a clear opportunity to drop down. One way to coerce it into attacking is by positioning a Pikmin in the center of the arena and then whistling it back as soon as the Gilled Mawdad prepares to attack. After reaching half-health, the Gilled Mawdad will execute its whirlpool attack and then climb to the ceiling again. The use of ultra-spicy spray at this point makes for a satisfying victory against the Gilled Mawdad, as, when enough Pikmin are on it, it will be unable to shake them off, only wildly thrashing about its arena in a vain attempt to get them off of itself.

After acquiring Purple Pikmin, the Gilled Mawdad is encountered once more in Flooded Abyss. Upon approaching it, the creature will again rear up and roar, and then begin to circle the arena's border as it did before, only Pikmin thrown onto it will be thrown off and most likely pulled into the abyss below. Afterward, it will swim up and exit the chamber through a hole in the ceiling, the entrance. After exiting using the geyser, the Gilled Mawdad is found circling the shallow lake above the cave. When it approaches the leaders and Pikmin, it will attempt to crush them by slamming its head on top of them. If it hits its head on solid ground, like the cement surrounding the area, the Gilled Mawdad will become dizzy for two seconds, recovering afterward by shaking its head. Landing Purple Pikmin on its head during this time will extend the time it is stunned to up to eight seconds. While it is helpless, swarm it with Blue Pikmin. The Gilled Mawdad will instantly recover and shake some, but not all, off once it reaches three-fourths health, and briefly frenzy and attempt to trap and eat all nearby Pikmin regardless of if they are in the water or on dry land. While frenzied, the Gilled Mawdad will follow Pikmin and leaders even all the way to the landing site, although it will quickly retreat to the lake once its rage subsides.

While idle, it may spew water at nearby enemies such as sleeping bulborbs, waking them up, bulbears, annoying them, spectralids, killing them, and Fiery Bulblaxes, temporarily extinguishing them. If Winged Pikmin are carrying something or are directed to cross an area inhabited by the Gilled Mawdad, it will leap out of the water, eating some Winged Pikmin, drowning others, and throwing their spoils far. It will not interact with the dropped spoils unless they are pellets or small fruits, which it will then consume, and drop if killed within three days. Notably, the Gilled Mawdad reacts quite negatively to electricity, staying far from enemies and obstacles that harness it. It will frantically plunge into nearby water and flee to its deepest parts if Yellow Pikmin grab hold of it in a desperate attempt to get them off and inadvertently drown them. Pikmin too deep in water are very difficult to save, as they drown in roughly three seconds as opposed to eight seconds on the water's surface.