Vehemoth Phosbat

The Vehemoth Phosbat is a boss in Pikmin 3 and the second boss encountered in Story Mode, in the Distant Tundra. It is a large, bioluminescent moth-like creature with massive orange wings, yellow eyes, small stumpy limbs, and a large gaping whale-like mouth.

This creature resides in dark caves, where it renders itself completely invisible, which also allows it to safely roam the cave undetected. When a leader approaches the Vehemoth Phosbat, it lights up its entire body with bioluminescent hairs that glow pink. Upon lighting up, it will open its mouth and inhale ferociously, creating a powerful vortex that will trap Pikmin and the leader. After a few seconds, up to five will be inhaled into its mouth and become eaten. When distressed, it will also frantically flap its wings, releasing a cloud of toxic dust from its hairs that chokes nearby Pikmin and causes them to scatter around the room. This dust, however, is merely a temporary distraction and is not lethal.

After its defeat, the player unlocks Charlie as a playable character and is also rewarded with the Heroine's Tear.

Background
At the beginning of the game, Captain Charlie takes shelter in a cave, where he finds larval Phosbats crawling on the cave floor. Whether or not he uses his Yellow Pikmin to attack them, the Vehemoth Phosbat abducts him. He is not playable until Alph and Brittany rescue him later in the game.

Behavior
The Vehemoth Phosbat will remain unseen as it flies around the area. When a light is activated near it, it will fall to the ground, blinded and helpless for a short time. When it rises off the ground again, it will not instantly go into its invisible state, so it is vulnerable for a few seconds more. When its entire arena is lit up, it will occasionally retreat to a wall to rest and gradually regenerate its life.

The Vehemoth Phosbat has more threatening attacks than the previous boss, the Armored Mawdad. Like most other enemies, the Vehemoth Phosbat also can shake off Pikmin as well.
 * It can become visible and create a vortex in which the Pikmin will be trapped inside. From there, it will suck a few of the Pikmin into its mouth and they will be eaten. Pikmin trapped in the vortex can be whistled and saved.
 * After being attacked, it will rise back into the air and spew out poison-like dust nearby. This will choke the Pikmin for a brief period of time, but will not kill them.

When the cave's main light source is activated, the Vehemoth Phosbat becomes grounded for a bit, and then heads off to a nearby wall to rest. Interestingly, when it does this, it regenerates a small bit of health, but only in this scenario. If it lands on any wall again, it will not regenerate.

Defeat Bosses!
The Vehemoth Phosbat can be fought in Defeat Bosses! The time limit for this stage is 15 minutes. The stage only takes place inside the cave room that serves as an arena in single player, with the exits locked out by a "keep out" sign. Alph (player 1's starting leader) starts at the intended entrance with 10 Red and 15 Yellow Pikmin, and Brittany (player 2's starting leader) starts at the exit to the main area with 10 Rock and 15 Yellow Pikmin. Idling under Common Glowcaps are 10 Rocks near the center and 10 Reds near the large electrode, but every other Pikmin found in the stage is buried. There are 10 Reds behind the large crystal leading to some fragments, 10 Yellows on a ledge near a Golden Candypop Bud and more fragments, and 5 Reds and 5 Rocks buried near the bridge's building location, for a total of 35 Reds, 25 Rocks, and 40 Yellows.

The following table lists what medal the player gets according to the time they take:

Standard strategy
Unlike the Armored Mawdad, the Vehemoth Phosbat's arena is much more expansive, giving the player more room to move about. As the player enters the area, the only light present will be from the variously-placed Common Glowcaps. In this darkness, the Vehemoth Phosbat is invisible, and it will quietly move throughout the area, only revealing itself when it tries to inhale Pikmin. To stun the beast, one must activate a light in the room by throwing Yellow Pikmin at the electrode, which will cause the creature to reveal itself and fall to the ground, stunned. However, once the player has done this, the Vehemoth Phosbat will retaliate by summoning its young to attack the player. They can eat one Pikmin at a time. However, they're slow and easy to kill, making them pose little threat, but can be somewhat of a nuisance when trying to do other tasks.

The Phosbats are spawned from large eggsack-like objects that are placed throughout the area called Phosbat Pods, which can be destroyed to prevent further spawning of Phosbats. Continue the previously mentioned stun method to buy some time, as the Vehemoth Phosbat will constantly follow you after you've begun to attack its children. You can hide under Glowcaps, which will prevent it from coming towards you, at least until the next phase of the fight.

Scattered around the cave are two piles of fragments, which can be used to build a bridge to a large red battery. Having 20 Yellow Pikmin stand atop this box will light up a large light bulb attached to the cave ceiling, which illuminates the entire area. This light results in the stunning of the Vehemoth Phosbat and renders it incapable of becoming invisible for the remainder of the battle. After this happens, you can simply throw Yellow Pikmin onto its back to weigh it down whenever the beast stops to suck in Pikmin. After it gets back up, it will begin to release a toxic powder that chokes all nearby Pikmin. During this time, it will retreat onto a wall in the cave to rest and regenerate health. It is recommended to throw several Rock Pikmin at its back while it rests, as normal Pikmin will just be thrown off after the boss prepares to start flying.

Continue this process until the Vehemoth Phosbat is defeated. Upon its defeat, the boss will erratically fly around the area until it collides with the light bulb dangling from the ceiling, after which it will fall to the ground and writhe in pain, just before its life finally ends.

Expert strategy
A much quicker way to defeat the Phosbats involves using both leaders and distracting the boss while the Pikmin work.

First, have the Pikmin destroy a few Phosbat Pods to give them nectar. Then, go to the right of the cave entrance and there will be a climbing stick that leads up to a fragment pile. Instruct all of your Pikmin to climb the stick and construct the bridge while the leaders distract the Vehemoth Phosbat. Once the Pikmin have brought all of their bridge shards to the bridge, it should be long enough for one leader to throw the other across. Do so, and follow it by throwing twenty Yellow Pikmin up to them, and then have them use the Yellow Pikmin to activate the car battery. This will instantly commence the second phase of the battle.

Once the boss falls to the ground, swarm it with all of your Pikmin, and then quickly call them back before it gets up. Once it begins to fly away, stay ahead of it and throw a few Yellow Pikmin at it while running in the same direction that it is flying. This will make the boss stop to shake them off and change direction. During this short period of time, quickly throw all of your Yellow Pikmin at it to weigh it down, causing it to fall into the ground and struggle to get back up, which opens it up to further attack. Using this strategy, the boss can be defeated in under two minutes.

Other
The Vehemoth Phosbat can be killed without turning on the main light. The player needs to continuously damage it, preferably with Red Pikmin. Activating the main light's electrode after the boss's defeat will still turn the light on, but no cutscene will take place.

Badges
In, there is a badge the player can gain from the Vehemoth Phosbat:
 * Achieving Enlightenment: Defeating the Vehemoth Phosbat.

Trivia

 * The Vehemoth Phosbat is the first airborne boss in the Pikmin series and the third to have an actual younger form.
 * If the juvenile Phosbats are caught in the vortex attack of the Vehemoth Phosbat, they will duck in cover to avoid getting eaten themselves.
 * Although it is recommended that the large light is activated, it is possible (and time-consuming) to defeat the Vehemoth Phosbat without activating a single light, by throwing Rock Pikmin at it when it reveals itself during attack.
 * If the boss loses all of its health while in mid-air, it will drop to the ground, even if no Pikmin are latched on to it. Only when it is on the ground can its death sequence start.
 * It is actually possible to see the boss's silhouette while it is invisible if the player looks at it with the KopPad's camera while under the light of a Common Glowcap.
 * The Vehemoth Phosbat is one of the only creatures in the series to have proper eyelids.