Kecleon
Invisibiliacerta dedunes
Overview
Kecleon are famed for their ability to change color and even typing to hunt and avoid being hunted. They are excellent ambush predators that thrive in a variety of microclimates in their home range, from mountain peaks to tropical dry forests to the edge of the desert. Their iconic ability and relative ease of care have made them common pet reptiles. The pet trade has spread them to many more environments, including Alola's, where they have been able to establish themselves and thrive. Even after three intensive extermination campaigns, wild kecleon can still be found on Akala.
There are many trainers kecleon might appeal to. Budding reptile enthusiasts often catch or adopt one for their ease of care. Many pokémon studies laboratories keep kecleon for educational outreach or research purposes. Science-minded trainers can get a head start by learning how to care for one of the most researched pokémon in the world.
Competitive trainers may find kecleon to be underwhelming. They are also relatively solitary and unintelligent compared to similar lizards and dragons, which makes them easy to care for but not particularly engaging. Partial invisibility, while useful in the early stages of the island challenge, has far more counters in the later stages. It can also make the pokémon difficult to keep track of.
Physiology
Kecleon is classified as a normal-type. This is at best misleading and at worst completely inaccurate, but there is no better designation.
Most kecleon have green scales in their base appearance. Some have purple or red scales. This color is what they revert to when asleep, frightened, distracted, or mating. In practice, their color is highly variable due to guanine nanocrystals beneath the skin. Kecleon can shift their scale color to match color and patterns around them, better blending in to their environment. They can do this in a matter of seconds. The exception is a jagged stripe, usually red, around the midsection that cannot change color quickly or at will. The stripe's shade varies over time to signal strength, with brighter shades indicating a stronger kecleon.
Kecleon prefer to live an arboreal lifestyle. They are adapted to this with a prehensile tail and split-toed feet to better grasp onto branches, rocks, or anything else they are climbing. To help find and hunt insects they have turreted eyes that can swivel around for maximum field of vision and a tongue twice as long as their body. Anything caught in the tongue can be quickly hauled back to the main body to be killed and eaten.
These adaptations are all useful and make kecleon a nearly unparalleled ambush predator capable of blending into their surroundings and lashing out at anything that gets within two body lengths. While interesting, this is not their main appeal to scientists. That is their very interesting relationship to elemental energy.
Kecleon have a very shallow energy well and almost no distinctive elemental energy of their own. They struggle to perform more than basic physical attacks or the odd dark- or psychic-type move. Initial attacks against them have very little energy to react with and almost never deal more damage than their raw force would imply. As a battle goes on, kecleon will absorb ambient elemental energy into their subdermal cells, effectively changing their typing. This means that they will resist most other attacks of the same types while gaining increased power of matching elemental moves. Their scales will charge actively when the pokémon uses an elemental attack or passively from being hit by one. This is an involuntary process that kecleon have no direct control over. In the wild it lets them adapt to environments with clear and persistent hazards, such as extremely cold or hot temperatures. It also grants their follow-up attacks more power without having to generate and maintain a constant elemental reserve. The downside is that clever foes can exploit this weakness, opening with a coverage attack that makes kecleon more vulnerable to their most powerful moves. Kecleon's first few attacks in a fight are also barely charged with energy and they cannot reliably ensure they can use more energy intensive attacks in a fight.
Kecleon typically grow to be three feet in length, tongue and tail excluded. With their tail they can be up to six feet long. Males are usually about 15% larger than females. Adults usually weigh between fifteen and twenty pounds. The typical wild lifespan is eight years. Captive specimens can live for fifteen.
Behavior
Kecleon are mostly solitary creatures that find a hunting grounds and rarely stray from it. They are capable of drinking droplets of water in dry environments, further reducing the need to travel. Kecleon are not territorial as long as there is enough food to go around. When there is not there are rarely fights. Kecleon will compare stripes to gauge strength. The subordinate individual will usually leave and seek out a different territory without insisting on a fight they would probably lose.
In Alola kecleon initially preferred the rainforests of Akala for their abundant insect and bird life and the dark forest floor and broken sightlines. The latter allow for the imperfections in kecleon's invisibility to still blend in with the environment.
At present kecleon mostly live underground after repeated culls on the surface. There are still subterranean insects and small pokémon to consume, such as wimpod, salandit, and diglett. A camera trap once witnessed a kecleon attempting to eat a hatchling larvesta. The volcarona's retaliation destroyed the heat resistant camera. Most hunt in the forest at night and retreat to the caves during the day to avoid humans.
Kecleon prefer to hunt by staying in place and blending into the background for hours at a time. They will strike with their tongue when anything gets within range, relying on the force of impact and subsequent crushing to kill their prey. Anything that survives can be attacked with claw strikes. The strategy is most effective against prey less than a quarter of kecleon's size. While they can attempt to hunt larger prey, anything not killed or stunned by the initial strike will likely get away or injure the kecleon in turn.
In low prey density areas kecleon will sometimes adopt a more proactive strategy, looking in crevasses and cavities for insects before using their tongue to fish them out. The tongue is sticky enough that it can bind small insects to it and bring them back to the mouth to swallow.
Kecleon are relatively safe from predation so long as they remain hidden. Their predators tend to have either acute vision that can detect their exposed stripes in a dark environment or an excellent sense of smell or hearing that lets them bypass their invisibility. Salazzle can also enthrall male kecleon and get them to voluntarily reveal themselves. This makes them kecleon's most effective predator in Alola.
Husbandry
Kecleon prefer live prey. It is best to let them hunt invasive insects in the first few weeks after capture before transitioning them to commercial insectivore mixes. About 15% of their diet should be made up of greens and fruit. Preferences for fruit and vegetables will vary by individual. There must be mist or water droplets available at least five times a day for drinking. Kecleon will sometimes refuse to drink from stagnant water sources.
Trainers have had mixed results housebreaking kecleon. The best way to do so is to show them other pokémon using their own trays of litter before presenting them with their own. Boxes are not optimal as the kecleon may hide inside of it.
Keeping track of kecleon can be an arduous task, especially outdoors. While not particularly intelligent, their climbing abilities can let them get into a surprising number of places and hide there in plain sight. Ideally kecleon should be kept in a sealed paddock, indoors or outdoors, with multiple enclosed hiding places and basking areas, as well as a climbing structure capable of supporting their weight. Heat lamps are necessary on rainy days and when direct natural sunlight is not available in the enclosure. On the trail it is best to always have another pokémon keeping track of kecleon. Radius-withdrawal balls can also keep the kecleon from escaping, but these are beyond the budget of the average trainer and must be replaced at least twice a year for best results.
Enrichment, such as simple puzzles to access food or new climbing structures, can increase some specimens' quality of life. Others will not care. Most kecleon are at most tolerant of their trainer and teammates. A few, especially captive born individuals, can come to enjoy and actively seek out social interaction. Make sure that everything they are not supposed to get into is childproofed as kecleon have a habit of invisibly sneaking up to things they know they are not supposed to steal in order to take them.
Kecleon do best with similar sized or inorganic teammates that will neither threaten them nor be threatened in turn. Anything much larger will result in the kecleon spending almost all their time hiding and/or invisible. It is best to have at least two other pokémon that can sense kecleon at all times. Psychics, lucario, some ghosts, and echolocation users are the best choices.
Illness
The most common health problems in kecleon are respiratory issues. These are most often attributed to too much humidity or too little. Wild-caught kecleon have mostly adapted to the higher humidities of Alola and are more vulnerable to dry environments. Captive-bred kecleon can have trouble breathing in very humid enclosures. When possible it is best to keep humidity in indoor enclosures around 60%, adjusting based on the kecleon's apparent preferences. Kecleon that primarily live outdoors should have access to a climate-controlled area during the wet season. Thankfully, most respiratory issues will go away in a matter of days.
Eye infections are also common. The causes are diverse. Due to the difficulty of telling if an infection is fungal, bacterial, or viral, any eye problem should result in an immediate trip to a veterinarian for a diagnosis and treatment plan.
Captive kecleon often have kidney issues, sometimes including fatal renal failure. These issues primarily stem from poor hydration. Kecleon require water droplets to drink. Too much moisture can lead to other health problems. This results in a delicate balance that many trainers fail to meet. Sufficiently large enclosures can include one area with a mister for drinking and another with dry, heated surfaces. The pokémon can go between the two as necessary. During the dry season kecleon may require a mister in outdoor enclosures to ensure adequate hydration. Vitamin A supplements can also reduce the rate of kidney failure and should be applied on all prey given. Commercial insect mixes should be checked to ensure they meet kecleon's nutritional needs.
Thankfully, kecleon have an indicator of general health that's easy to read. When visible, kecleon naturally adopt a darker color when healthy and a paler one when ill. Sudden or severe changes in base coloration are cause for a full examination.
Evolution
Juvenile kecleon are very similar to adult kecleon. They are, however, much smaller. Within a year of their birth kecleon will grow one hundred-fold to their adult size. This requires a great deal of food intake. Growing kecleon should have constant access to as much food as they want.
Battle
Kecleon might theoretically have some use in battling with their ability to change typing to alter their natural weaknesses and resistances. Unfortunately, kecleon are too frail and far too weak to be able to leverage this advantage in the competitive circuits. Even on the island challenge kecleon can find their lack of physical bulk to be prohibitive. Invisibility is a cool trick, but if even a handful of resisted attacks can knock them out it cannot carry the match. Kecleon also struggle in battle as they are initially weak, only gaining strength when they have the opportunity to use an attack multiple times in a row without getting hit. Finally, kecleon are naturally conflict-avoidant. They do not fight with conspecifics and prefer to ambush their prey. It can be difficult to persuade them to fight or even to train.
Kecleon can leverage their invisibility to confuse unprepared opponents and buy themselves time to use tricks such as thunder wave or stealth rock. They can also attempt to get a string of attacks going. They are not great at either, but they can be useful for trainers who insist upon using them. Even then they will fall off by the third island.
Acquisition
Kecleon can occasionally be found in the wild around and under the rainforests and volcanoes of Akala. They can be difficult to detect by sight. Trainers interested in hunting one down are better off tracking them by scent, thermal radiation, or psionic signature. At present they are most common in the densest forests and in large, open tunnels such as cooled lava tubes. A handful are open to the public.
Many reptile specialist breeders raise kecleon. The inability to import and scarce wild population drives up demand for domestic breeding. A healthy, even-tempered kecleon can easily sell for upwards of $1,500. Shelters will also occasionally end up with specimens purchased as pets and then rejected when the problems of caring for a secretive, invisible species became apparent.
Kecleon can be adopted, purchased, or captured with a Class II license.
Breeding
Females receptive to mating spontaneously develop blue spots across their body. This draws the attention of nearby males who will display their stripes to her. The most powerful male will usually win the right to fertilize her eggs, although on occasion a female will choose a subordinate male to mate with. She will then dig a burrow up to twenty feet deep to lay her eggs in. This is the only time kecleon burrow in the wild. She will lay about 100 eggs at a time and then cover the entrance in dirt to prevent discovery. The eggs then take roughly seventy days to hatch. At this point the baby kecleon will dig their way out of the burrow.
Kecleon grow extraordinarily quickly. Hatchlings weigh about two ounces. By their first birthday they can weigh up to ten pounds. They are sexually mature at five months. Males rarely gain a chance to mate until they reach full size around their second birthday. Females will often decline to mate until they are at least a year old. They will only breed at five months during times of extraordinary adult mortality.
In captivity kecleon have been known to mate with a number of other lizard species. Subordinate males are the most willing to mate outside of their species, leading some breeders to intentionally keep multiple males in a single large enclosure. After the burrow is sealed kecleon do not lash out if it is raided. They may even become receptive to mating shortly after if they know their last clutch was lost. Kecleon eggs can be incubated in a water-vermiculite mixture. They are far less sensitive to temperatures than most lizard eggs. Sex ratios are not determined by ambient temperature. Outside of acceptable temperatures the eggs can pause development for up to a month before resuming once conditions are good.
Relatives
The Arabian kecleon, I. dedunes, is one of seven species in the genus. Five of the others are all primarily native to tropical forests. These range in size from the dwarf kecleon (I. lewinsi) at just eighteen inches long to the five-foot long Malagasy kecleon (I. scanderevenator). The remaining species, the Sudanese kecleon (I. saraxrubra) is the Arabian kecleon's closest living relative. They are critically endangered and limited to a four-mile segment of the Nile River basin. The Arabian and Malagasy kecleons make up the majority of captive specimens.
There have been persistent rumors and legends dating back centuries of a powerful kecleon species living somewhere in the deserts of the Arabian Peninsula. They are said to preside over a phantom bizarre that appears and disappears at random. They can and will sell and buy anything and everything at what they consider to be a fair price. Travelers who respect their rules and pay fully are let go with whatever they purchased. Those who break the rules or steal, even unintentionally, will be torn apart and devoured by the kecleon. Scientific expeditions to find the kecleon have been met with mixed results. Most have simply failed to find anything. A 1904 team never returned and their remains have never been found. In 2014 a team of Australian scientists initially claimed to have video evidence of the phantom bazaar. Later attempts to play the footage show the cameraman panning over and focusing in on random patches of desert while the lead researcher excitedly spoke to empty air.
