Pauperesque Squallard

The Pauperesque Squallard is a large avian with a ferocious appetite.

=In fanon games=

In Pikmin 5: Apex Predator
The Pauperesque Squallard is a female -like creature appearing in Pikmin 5: Apex Predator as the first apex predator to be faced off against. It is encountered in the Lover's Spring soon after finding the Purple Onion, in the middle of a large muddy area surrounded by purple Pellet Posies. As Purple Pikmin are born, a certain countdown begins. The weight of each Pikmin is taken into account, with Purple Pikmin contributing 10 due to their extra heft. Once the combined weight of every Pikmin exceeds 400, trying to leave instantly triggers an encounter with the Pauperesque Squallard. A cutscene starts from the bird's point of few flying over the Lover's Spring. It will then spot the player's character and their Pikmin, and the cutscene ends. The Pauperesque Squallard will land right where the gate is, preventing escape. The Pauperesque Squallard has a stomach scale of 225, meaning that's how many Pikmin it will eat in terms of their weight, and the boss fight begins. The Squallard will start trying to eat Pikmin, with Purples counting as ten, and all other types counting as one. The fight can hypothetically last until the Pauperesque Squallard is killed, but it is far more likely that the beast's stomach scale will be fulfilled first due to how early in the game it is first encountered. Once enough Pikmin are devoured, the mallard flies off, the player character is left in abject horror as to what they saw, and the day immediately ends.

Taking down the Pauperesque Squallard is no easy task in the absolute best-case scenario, and it will take every measure necessary to take down the big bird. Though the first encounter with the Paperesque Squallard is quite startling, quite a lot of damage can be done to it the second time around. Even if the second encounter does not lead to success, things will be relatively fine as the Squallard does not recover health between days. When there are enough sprays to spare, bring a full army with at least 40 Purples to where the Purple Onion was found to trigger the Pauperesque Squallard's arrival again. There will be a Poison Wollywog on the far end of the arena, opposite the gate, which will be very important for this strategy. Coax the Pauperesque Squallard to the other end of the arena and to the Poison Wollywog. The Pauperesque Squallard will try to inhale the Pikmin, but if all goes according to plan, the Poison Wollywog will get sucked up instead, removing half of the Squallard's total health and causing it to collapse to the ground for 10 seconds, providing precious seconds to attack the vulnerable face and eyes of the winged beast. However, Poison Wollywogs aren't the only ingestible things that hurt the Squallard; it can inhale a bomb rock, making it collapse to the ground for five seconds, and 16 White Pikmin will also make the Squallard collapse for five seconds. These tricks can only be used once, however, as the Squallard will spit out both bomb rocks and White Pikmin if it realizes it swallowed either. If at least two of the three strategies have been used, the Squallard will become much more hesitant when inhaling. Before inhaling, it will turn its head to get a clear view of its prey, as its eyes are on the sides of its head, and if it senses they are about to trick it into eating something harmful again, it won't inhale. The Squallard will have to lower its head to check out its food before inhaling, providing a major warning of an imminent attack.

After doing all of the recommended steps, what's left relies on the player character and their Pikmin. A squad consisting mainly of Winged Pikmin is effective, as they can all be charged at the Squallard's head as it stoops to see what it is about to inhale. Another strategy would be to fight it with Blue Pikmin, as the second encounter with the Squallard will occur in a large pool of water in the top-left of the arena. The beast will occasionally walk over and stoop down from a drink, repeatedly lowering its head to take a few sips, during which its head should be swarmed with Blue Pikmin. One final strategy would be to use Purple Pikmin, though this comes with a risk, as, due to their weight, Purple Pikmin fill the Squallard's stomach quickly, and when its stomach is full, the Squallard will fly off and only return the following day.

Though the Squallard will likely and easily devour large quantities of Pikmin, remember to be patient above all else, as the number of Pikmin seeds its body yields is more than worth the time and effort. Over the course of the boss fight, the Squallard steadily loses its feathers relative to its health, and its wind-blowing attack gets weaker as a result. Once the Squallard's health drops to zero, it vomits the Bakery Oven, comically assumes the position of a duck roast, and dies. As it is an apex predator, enemies cower in fear over it, and will not eat it overnight if it is not brought to the Master Onion before sunset, and will not attack the Pikmin carrying it, mistaking the corpse as being alive. It is very highly recommended to have taken the Giant's Centrifuge before killing the Squallard to distribute the hundreds of Pikmin seeds gained from it, or else the whole corpse can only be for one Onion.