History Main / RefusAlOfTheCall

** He gets asked to stop a thief and literally refuses the call; his uncle is killed by that same thief. He quits a number of times as an ongoing refusal of the Call, only to find out that the Call has unlimited minutes. He's often made to remember why he got the call.

* ''VideoGame/EarthBound'': When Buzz-Buzz is telling Ness of the prophecy and what he must do, Pokey thinks he's one of the three boys and backs out from helping. [[spoiler:He ends up being involved anyways, but on the wrong side]].

See also: AchillesInHisTent, LeaveYourQuestTest and TheDragAlong. Contrast AdventureRebuff and RefusedByTheCall, where [[RussianReversal the call refuses you]], WeAreNotGoingThroughThatAgain which takes place at ''the end'' of a story where the heroes refuse to repeat their adventure when confronted with the possibility, and CantRefuseTheCallAnymore, when circumstances force the hero to accept the call.

* Asuna of ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'' seems to fit this. When she first finds out about magic, she wants nothing to do with it, and seems downright offended by how it's going against her nice and orderly world (the fact that it seems to be losing her crush isn't helping.) [[spoiler: She actually falls into the "did this before, but forgot about it" category, having erased her memory [[OlderThanTheyLook ten years prior]]]]. Needless to say, given that the principal put Negi (The Call personified as a cute boy) in her room and he won't hang up, she gives in eventually.

* ''Manga/KatekyoHitmanReborn'' is basically an endless cycle of Tsuna refusing the call, his friends being put in danger, and him thus being forced to accept the call for just long enough to deal with this new threat. Each arc starts off this way, and several ''individual battles'' are sparked by near-identical internal struggles.

* ''[[Anime/TheIdolmaster THE iDOLM@STER]]'' - Ritsuko really doesn't want to replace Azusa on the Ryuugu Komachi unit when she gets the mumps. Thing is, she doesn't [[ButThouMust have a choice.]]

* In ''FanFic/UltimateSpiderWoman'', Mary Jane Watson's best friend Kitty Pryde refused to join the ComicBook/XMen, and she also refused to join the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants or the Acolytes of Magneto. She considers her phasing powers to be [[WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway useless]], and would really prefer to be [[IJustWantToBeNormal free to live her own life and otherwise be left alone.]]
* ''Fanfic/AverageJoeInBulletHell'''s Ryan Randa receives a series of texts from a stranger on his cell phone, telling him to go someplace and to have his boss give him time off from work. This understandably creeps him out, so he takes precautions to protect himself. Fat lot of good this does him when the caller in question, [[VideoGame/{{Touhou}} Yukari]] [[RealityWarper Yakumo]], eventually tires of texting him and drops him into Gensokyo anyway.

* In ''FanFic/MyStupidReality'' [[WeCanRuleTogether Light refuses to be L's successor.]] [[StalkerWithACrush Too bad L doesn't take "no" for an answer...]]
* In ''FanFic/AChildShallLeadThem'', Swoop ''really'' doesn't want to be the next Prime, to the point where ''throws'' the Matrix of Leadership at someone. [[spoiler: He eventually accepts the calling anyway.]]
* ''FanFic/APieceOfRebellion'': [[WesternAnimation/TheLEGOMovie Bad Cop/Good Cop]] really, ''really'' doesn't want to be [[TheChosenOne The Special]]. Not when they know ''exactly'' what Lord Business is up to -- because they're his [[TheDragon right-hand man]]!
* Isa of ''FanFic/GoddessRebornChronicle'', which is a [[AntiAntiChrist very good thing]]. She was supposed to play the part of Lillith.

* For most of ''FanFic/OriginStory'', Alex Harris refuses to become a superhero, saying that she only wants to be left alone. She flees every attempt made to engage her in active superheroics. And then one night, she spots a helicopter that is falling out of the sky...

* In ''FanFic/{{Eternity}}'', the shipgirl Yonaga, formerly Enterprise, doesn't answer the initial call to battle against the Abyssals. It is partly out of giving the returned Imperial shipgirls the chance to prove and redeem themselves, and partly out of fear that she will regress to her Pacific War-self of near permanent RoaringRampageOfRevenge (which also alienated her to nearly all US ships at the time) and kill the japanese shipgirls.
* In ''Fanfic/PowersOfInvisibility'', [[WesternAnimation/{{MiraculousLadybug}} Juleka]] is offered the Turtle Miraculous and the role of Guardian by Master Fu, but she refuses in part because she's seen how Ladybug and Chat Noir keeping their secret identities from each other is tearing them apart. When pushed, she later acknowledges to herself that the reason is that she's afraid of failing, of letting down her friends with disastrous consequences. But by this point, with Adrien, Marinette and Rose incapacitated by Madusa, she knows that she is their best hope, and she accepts the role.

* After some consideration in ''FanFic/DekuIThinkHesSomePro'', Izuku refuses an implied offer to be given One For All, declaring that while he might not be capable of becoming the top hero in Japan like he dreamed, he can be an inspiration for other Quirkless kids dreaming of becoming heroes themselves.

* In ''VisualNovel/ShoujotachiWaKouyaOMezasu'', Uguisu tries this at first. But she is eventually convinced to do the artwork after the others praise the drawings she's posted online.

* In ''Anime/{{Doraemon}}: Giga Zombie no Gyakushū'', Doraemon comes to the {{Player Character}}'s home to ask them to help him rescue his crew and defeat the BigBad. The player is free to tell him "no", and [[WhatTheHellPlayer though he'll plead with you]], repeating it enough times will lead to Doraemon [[YouBastard walking off crying]], [[NonStandardGameOver ending the game]].

* To the Skrulls, Hulkling of the ''ComicBook/YoungAvengers'' is the prophesied savior destined to unite the fragmented Skrull Empire and end their war with the Kree. However, he repeatedly refuses to take up this destiny, as he was raised on Earth.

** In ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'', Aang runs away after being informed (prematurely) that he is the new reincarnation of the Avatar. He is then [[HumanPopsicle frozen in am iceberg]] and reawakens to a world in a century-long war that needs the Avatar now more than ever.

'''Gary''': ''WELL I DON'T WANT THE FUCKING POWER!'' I don't want the guilt, I don't want the shame, and I don't want the responsibility!

[[caption-width-right:256:[[ComesGreatResponsibility And we all]] [[MyGreatestFailure know how]] [[MentorOccupationalHazard this ends.]]]]

* In the initial ''ARR'' quest arc of ''FinalFantasyXIV'', it's possible to abandon the main questline entirely after learning the basics. Even within the questline itself, the leader of your local Adventurer's Guild will offer you the choice to back away when the Scions of the Seventh Dawn offer you to join them. Of course, not answering the call will lock you out of most of the game's content, including all the expansions as they can only be accessed by progressing the story.

'''Ando''': I wish destiny would lose our number.

** In ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'', Aang runs away after being informed (prematurely) that he is the new reincarnation of the Avatar. He is then [[HumanPopsicle frozen in a iceberg]] and reawakens to a world in a century-long war that needs the Avatar now more than ever.
** In ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'', after [[spoiler:Zaheer assassinates the Earth Queen]], sending [[spoiler:the Earth Kingdom]] spiraling into anarchy, the world's leaders ask Suyin Beifong to temporarily take control of the region until it is stabilized. She refuses, saying that she's not interested in seizing that kind of power for herself. Unfortunately, her [[APupilOfMineUntilHeTurnedToEvil protégé]] Kuvira didn't take kindly to Suyin not stepping up to lead when a leader was so desperately needed. So she [[JumpedAtTheCall took on the task herself]], stabilizing the region by force and creating a [[TheEmpire new despotic regime]] in the process.

** The episode "Towelie" runs on this. Being told to exchange Towelie to get their "Okama Game Sphere" console back, they end up tied up in a convoluted conspiracy plot; despite this they are totally uninterested in whatever unfolds:
--->'''Scientist''': Thank you for bringing him to us, boys. You see, this is not an ordinary towel. He is the RG-400 Smart Towel, designed with a computer chip inside the terry cloth\\

'''Stan''': ''We... don't... care.''

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' goes so far as to have a two-part episode titled The Call, in which Terry is invited to join the Justice League. In the end, he refuses to do so, at least as a full-time member.

-->'''Rick''': I refuse to answer a literal CallToAdventure let it go to voicemail.

* The two part OriginsEpisode of ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'' revealed that after messing up her first outing as Ladybug, Marinette, already reluctant about accepting the Call, tried to quit and secretly pass on the [[TransformationTrinket Ladybug Miraculous]] to her friend, Alya. Circumstances and a [[YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre pep talk]] from Cat Noir later cause her to reconsider and take up the mantle again.

* ''VideoGame/Persona5'': The Protagonist attempts to delete the Otherworld Navigation app that kicks off the rest of the plot for a good three days before actually using it to willingly enter the AdventureFriendlyWorld of the Palace.

* ''Fanfic/KyonBigDamnHero'' has Kyon's reluctant admission that he remembered [[spoiler:seeing his family's ancestral samurai sword in storage]] and ignoring it. Haruhi then [[LampshadeHanging accused him of this]].

* In ''[[VideoGame/TearsToTiara2 Tears to Tiara 2]]'': [[TheHero Hamil]] [[ObfuscatingStupidity plays dumb to prevent a rebellion]], and was willing to let the [[KnightTemplar Zaras]] kill him and the entire [[TheResistance Barcid Party]] and enslave all the people of Hispania if it meant preventing the death and destruction of war. Seeing Tart about to be burnt at the stake that changes his mind.
* In the Dragonborn DLC of ''Videogame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'', if you defeated [[BigBad Alduin]] before confronting Miraak, he will state that when the ancient Nord heroes of old asked him to help them defeat Alduin he ignored them, claiming that while he could have taken him, he simply didn't care enough to.

* In ''VideoGame/GoldenSun'', it's possible to refuse to chase after Saturos and Menardi. This leads to a NonStandardGameOver revealing the world drifted towards its destruction [[spoiler: and a bit of FridgeBrilliance, when you realize the destruction wasn't the lighthouses being lit, but the world withering away without Alchemy. (Or possibly elemental imbalance, given some dialogue in the second game)]]

* In the second instalment of ''VideoGame/PennyArcadeAdventures'', you have the option to refuse to join Gabe and Tycho after Fruit Fucker Prime destroys your tent. [[ButThouMust They'll just come back the next day and ask again until you accept.]] If you refuse enough days in a row, you get an achievement called "The Reluctant Hero."

** Rincewind ''always'' refuses the call, being a complete and utter coward; however, he invariably ends up being forced by the plot into following it. This is subverted in ''Literature/TheLastHero'', where he actually volunteers for a space mission, having realized that he's bound to be chosen for it anyway.