Mysterious Life-Form

The Mysterious Life-Form (Mysterious Life Form in Europe, ) is an enemy in and the alternate form of the Plasm Wraith. In this form, it looks like an amorphous slug-like blob of translucent plasm. It follows Brittany, or whoever is guiding the Pikmin carrying Captain Olimar, through the labyrinth that is the Formidable Oak. Once Olimar is outside, the creature reverts into its original form.

Plot
When first spotted atop the mound that forms the Formidable Oak, the Plasm Wraith transforms into a spherical blob after sucking up Olimar into its body in order to protect him, but the Koppaites order the Pikmin to destroy it. They decide to carry Olimar back to the S.S. Drake, but as the Pikmin cannot see a way back, it is decided to have them follow Brittany, and the Koppaites enter the cave system. As soon as they enter, the Mysterious Life-Form drops from the cave ceiling and begins chasing the player through the cave. The player must stay ahead of it while overcoming the various obstacles present within the cave system in order to safely escape.

Strategy
The point of the confrontation with the Mysterious Life-Form is not to destroy it, but to escape from it. There are a few notes that you should consider:


 * The Mysterious Life-Form is invincible, unless it's captured Olimar, so focus on always moving forward.
 * There are multiple paths you can take, so take whichever is easier to overcome.
 * Though the Mysterious Life-Form cannot be stopped, certain actions can slow it down. Throwing bomb rocks into the Mysterious Life-Form will briefly stun it. This can also be done with an iron ball found in cave system if it is pushed when the Mysterious Life-Form is directly in front of it.
 * Every enemy in the area is an illusion created by the Mysterious Life-Form; when killed, they disintegrate into plasm. If these creatures are not killed, the beast will envelop and digest them in its body when it reaches them.
 * The Mysterious Life-Form and the Pikmin carrying Olimar will always follow Brittany; this can be utilized to buy time. If Brittany is down, they will follow Charlie, then Alph.
 * Many of the paths in the area are loops, so while Alph and Charlie are figuring out the puzzle, Brittany can go around in circles to distract the creature.
 * If Pikmin are enveloped by the Mysterious Life-Form, they can be freed by continuously whistling at them. However, if the creature recaptures Olimar while any Pikmin are inside it, the Pikmin will instantly die.
 * If the creature manages to recapture Olimar, it will stop following Brittany and try to escape to the top of the area via the hole found at the dungeon's main corridor. When being attacked, it will occasionally transform into an Elemental Plasm. After having sustained enough damage, the creature will drop Olimar and will remain immobilized until its health gauge refills, allowing the crew an opportunity to escape.
 * The creature can take shortcuts over some walls. This is most noticeable with the wall between the room with the bridge fragments and Arachnode, and the room with the Bulborb.
 * If it is carrying Olimar and succeeds in reaching the hole, it will exit through it. This will trigger a cutscene where the leaders and all Pikmin go back out through the entrance to wonder where the creature and Olimar went and comment on how it is almost sunset, resulting in the day ending instantly.
 * If it cannot get to Olimar (for instance, if he is inside a pond), it will chase after the closest leader instead.
 * If it is really close, call the Pikmin carrying Olimar and let it get him. When it does, attack it, and as soon as it breaks, take advantage of it standing still and run away.

After you successfully escape the cave system, you will arrive in an arena outside near the S.S. Drake. When Olimar reaches the exit as well, the Mysterious Life-Form will come out too, revert to its original form as the Plasm Wraith and detain Olimar in its nucleus, thus commencing the final boss battle.

Naming
Because the explorers do not know about this form of the Plasm Wraith, they simply nickname it "Mysterious Life-Form". In Europe, it's spelled as "Mysterious Life Form". In Japan, it uses the same name,, which translates to "Life Form of Mystery". Internally, it is called, most likely a combination between , 3D geometric functions for producing organic-looking blob objects, and "boss".

Trivia

 * The Mysterious Life-Form completely passes through Candypop Buds as if they did not exist.
 * While the Mysterious Life-Form is reviving, a song can be heard coming from it.
 * Enemies absorbed by the Mysterious Life-Form get progressively smaller until they disappear.
 * The Mysterious Life-Form bears a striking resemblance to the Goolix, a boss from.
 * The creature's cube, which is presumably its actual main body, controlling the plasm as if it were normal limbs, can also be split into twenty-seven smaller cubes in a 3x3x3 formation. This can be seen during its respawn animation during the chase sequence. It can further split into two hundred sixteen in a 6x6x6 formation, as can be seen when it uses an elemental plasm during the Plasm Wraith boss fight. This is in addition to becoming completely hollow and having its six faces appear out of nowhere, as seen when Olimar gets captured during the chase sequence, as well as being able to physically overlap with Olimar, and, as can be seen when the creature slips away, spit out a false cube that can also overlap with objects and disintegrate.