Obnoxious Fate Chapter 2: Calling It Quits
The next day after Wally's appointment, Dr. Tomois had reached the mid-point of his day. His daily routine consisted of checkups in the morning, a lunch hour, a few hours of research and paperwork, and a few checkups to finish out the day. Every day, at lunch, he would check his email. Usually, he would get his usual mix of complaining from his superiors and advertising, but today he noticed that he got an unusual email:
Dr. Tomois,
After my next appointment, can I talk to you about some concerns about my treatment?
Thanks,
Wally
This puzzled the doctor, as most people would ask questions during their checkup and consultation and not afterwards. Oh well, a medical consultation is a consultation. He checked his schedule and replied back that he had a half-hour free.
Two weeks later, his appointment went just like before. Wally quietly walked in, Dr. Tomois analyzed the data, and again had nothing (good) to report. "Well, that's it for the appointment. What did you want to talk to me?" Dr. Tomois asked as he sat down on his stool.
"Well... um, I... um... my problems are going to stay like this... forever, right?"
"Well, Wally, I wouldn't say that..."
"But you're not denying it?"
"...I'm not going to. Okay. Let me be honest with you. While you're not getting any worse, you're not showing any real progress..."
"...So you're saying that I've gone as far as I can? There's no getting better?"
"I'm not saying that, but I'm not wanting to give you false hope..."
Wally quickly shut up and looked down. Dr. Tomois, unfortunately, had experience in giving people bad news and he knew that the waterworks were coming. It was only a matter of time.
"I know. I suspected it..." Wally said without breaking his gaze on the floor tiles. Dr. Tomois, specializing in puminology and obviously not psychology, made the mistake of continuing by saying "Well, you have had attacks recently and some of them were quite severe. Remember that big one a few months ago?"
Uh oh. Dr. Tomois mentally uttered a certain word in his head as his patients' green eyes glared at him as tears emerged from the corners.
"What's the point?" the green-haired boy said as he tried not to break down.
"What's the point in what?"
"Everything? Why am I wearing this if it's not doing anything?!" Wally said as he knocked on his respirator.
"Well, it allows you to go-"
"Don't give me that! It didn't allow me to do anything! I didn't get to go to the Ba-" Wally loudly said as he looked away. The respirator mistakenly labelled his now-obvious crying as an attack and clicked the mask into action. With a smack of the button, the mask slid back down. After calming down to the point where he could talk without sobbing, Wally turned back around with a look of sadness and defeat.
"What I'm trying to say is that I want this to end." Wally started to explain. "What does it matter if I'm not getting any better? Why bother? I'm just going to die anyways! If I'm so 'crippled' and 'limited' then why do I want to keep going if the outcome is the same?!"
Hearing that, it was Dr. Tomois' turn to look away. He never liked using the D-word. Never. He knew that Wally had a point, but he had a feeling that if he held on a little longer that things would get better. He chose his words carefully before he turned back to Wally and said "You know as well as I do that advances happen all the time. Your respirator is proof of that!"
"I've been sick for like, my entire life! Twelve years! If they don't have a cure, then why should I believe that they're going to make one?" Wally retorted.
"And with what we have now, you can last another sixty or so years!" Dr. Tomois replied while keeping from yelling at the poor kid.
"Sixty years. And what the hell am I supposed to do in the meantime?!" Wally blurted. Dr. Tomois raised his eyebrows as any swearing (even minor) was just odd coming out of the timid boy's mouth. Without giving him a chance to reply, Wally continued by saying "I'm stuck in my room! Tell me, what's the difference between my room and a coffin?! Both are where I'm apparently stuck for eternity!"
This was getting out of hand. Dr. Tomois turned away again and wiped the sweat (okay, maybe there was a tear in there) from his face. "S-So, you don't want to continue any treatment?" the doctor asked. Wally nodded. "Well, I'm afraid that the decision isn't yours. You would have to have your parents' permission... until you turn eighteen." Dr. Tomois replied.
Wally got up and shrugged in defeat. "Okay, six years. If there's no cure by then I'm done. Fair enough." he said as he went to the door. This took the doctor by surprise as the argument ended surprisingly quickly. Too quickly. "Are you okay?" Dr. Tomois asked, not wanting to flat-out ask whether the boy was contemplating ending his own life. Wally glared at him, opened the door, and left.
Dr. Tomois sighed and rested his forehead on his hand and thought "This really couldn't get any worse." When his cellphone started ringing, he looked down at it and realized that, indeed, it can. With a click, he opened the clam-styled phone and answered with a "Hello?"
"Yeah. Yeah? I know I'm thirty days past due, I'll try to pay it up when I can. I know. I know. I... know." He replied to the debt collector on the other side of the line. His meek promise to make good on his debts fell on deaf ears as he reached into a pocket on his lab coat and pulled out a Pokeball to release an Elekid on the examination table. Elekid started charging a ThunderShock as Dr. Tomois shouted "What? What? I can't hear you! You're breaking up!" before the phone dropped the call thanks to the interference. "Thank you!" the doctor said as he put the Electric Pokémon back into the ball.
Out in the lobby, Wally looked out of the front door to see if his mother was there to pick him up. Since he obviously didn't want to worry her by bringing up the discontinuing of his treatment, he told her to drop him off and come back in two hours. He looked down at his watch to see that he had another forty-five minutes to go. With a sigh, he walked back into that particular lobby and decided to begin his trek to the only vending machines in the place: in a lobby on the other side of the hospital.
After a brief walk, he arrived and put his money into the machine to get a Lemonade. With a whir, the machine pushed the lemony drink forward... only for it to get stuck. With a groan, Wally slumped his head against the glass of the machine. With a sigh, he got a Pokeball from his belt. "Cacturne! Give me a hand with this!" he said as the Scarecrow Pokémon appeared next to him. Letting out Pokémon that weren't used for medical help is against the rules at the medical center, but he needed that Lemonade NOW. "Grab the machine and shake it!" Wally commanded and while Cacturne became startled by his trainer's snappy attitude, he put his arms around the machine. A few "gentle" shakes caused the bottle to fall. After opening the bottle and letting the Cacturne take a drink, Wally said "Thanks!" and put the walking cactus back into its Pokeball.
"Don't ya hate it when that happens?" a voice said from behind him.
Wally turned around to see a kid sitting in a chair with his foot propped up on another chair. This was normal for a hospital as this wasn't an emergency. What wasn't as normal was that the kid had weird, crescent-shaped hair and a green jewel on his forehead.
To Be Continued...
Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews! To answer some of the questions and concerns: Yes, Ruby (and Sapphire) play a huge role in the upcoming chapters. We will see a few other Dexholders (but not all of them) tossed into the fray as the story unfolds. While we saw some of Dr. Tomois' problems, the next chapter will actually follow him outside of the Medical Center and we will start to see some of his ulterior motivation.
