Work Text:
The Majesty of the Mid-Evolution
TW: Body Image Problems, Self-Hate, Hopelessness
Quilladin was wandering along the many rows of gaudy outfits in the dressing room of the Pokemon Academy of Dance. They had always wanted to be a performer. Little more than a year after they hatched, Quilladin, then Chespin, had walked to the dance hall every day after school to observe the lessons. The dancers were inspiring! Everything from the flashiness of Aromatisse’s feather boa to Salazzle’s captivating belly-dances demanded Quilladin’s attention. They were ready to devote their lives to the art of dance!
There was a problem though that Quilladin was becoming increasingly aware of lately. When they were young, everyone found their fascination with dance to be cute and fun. Their parents often showcased Quilladin’s accomplishments out of pride. But lately, the effect had worn off. Everyone around them was realizing that this whole dance thing wasn’t just a childhood phase, and Quilladin was being reminded more often about their differences in appearance to the other dancers. While the other dancers were strikingly majestic, Quilladin was far from it. And these clothes weren’t making them feel any better.
While it was rare to hear anyone say directly to Quilladin that they looked awkward in comparison to the other dancers, they were taking notice to how they were being excluded from performances and the mood change when they walk into the hall. It was discouraging to say the least, and their mind was becoming filled with doubtful thoughts.
Quilladin finally decided on a sky blue glittery suit, and after squeezing into the outfit clearly designed for thinner performers, looked in the mirror. What they were met with was not the inspiring dancer they strived to be, but rather an awkward, fat, and pitiable image. The suit didn’t make them feel any more presentable, rather, it just contrasted it’s beauty with their awkward physique. They often wished they had never had gotten into performing. They could have just enjoyed dance from the stands, unseen. But Quilladin knew that there was so much more to dance, and that being on stage was a large part of why they enjoyed it.
As they stood there, drowned in their thoughts, a group of new students came into the dressing room, led by a patient instructor. “This is the dressing room. Learning dance is a lot more than just memorizing moves; you not only have to build your own style of dance, but also your own style of appearance. Think about what your outfit and accessories says to the audience even before you start dancing. Aesthetic is half the battle. Anyway, we don’t want to bother the dancers preparing for their performances. Let’s move back out to the dance hall…”
This was enough to push Quilladin over the edge. Seeing all of those adorable little kids, many of them pokemon species that would evolve into majestic performers by their final evolution, while that god-forsaken instructor lectured on and on about how appearance is everything… Don’t they understand that pokemon don’t control how they look!
Quilladin ripped off the flashy suit, revealing the outfit they had worn to school that day underneath. It was plain, unflattering, and lazy. Quilladin hated it even more than they hated the suit. They stormed out of the dressing-room, walked through the crowded dance hall and out the door.
…
Happy Birthday Ash!!! I tried to write a fun pokemon story but it ended up really depressing :(. Hope you still like it though XD. I'm pretty sure I want to add more chapters.