Chapter Two: Aftermath
By Za Raapini
Dunk awoke to a piercing sound rattling his eardrums. While his sleep-addled brain struggled to figure out the source of the noise, he tossed and turned in his bed, fumbling around, when he suddenly felt very light.
As he lay there on the floor, his brain struggling to fully wake up and the same piercing sound driving him nuts, he wondered what his day was going to be like. If the first minute or so of the morning was any indication, he was betting it wouldn’t be good. Wait. Morning.
He scrambled to his hooves and threw his pillow at his alarm clock. The feather-filled missile struck the clock, the lamp, and the hotel room’s phone, and all three went to the ground in a terrible cluster of racket.
It wouldn’t be a good day at all.
As he went through his morning routine, Dunk thought back to his conversation with his dad from the night before. About how he needed to put in the work necessary to become a star. His entire life, Dunk thought he had been working hard, when apparently it just wasn’t enough.
Maybe start hitting the gym even more? I don’t know what to do, apart from that or maybe practice more with ponies. Guess I just need to stop having a life if I want to be the best. It’s what Dad did, Dunk thought.
Dunk was shaken from his thoughts by a loud knock at the door. As he went to open it he wondered who could possibly be visiting him here. Maybe… oh no, anypony but him, please anypony but him.
It was him. It was his agent. Top Dollar. Dunk looked at brown stains on Top’s yellow coat and wondered how much coffee he had consumed that morning.
“Heya Dunk, how ya doing today? Not too good I bet, and I feel bad for what happened the other day. I got some coffee, you want some coffee, no, no coffee? Alright fantastic, so let me break down what’s going to happen with you,” Top said.
“It’s nice to see you too, Top,” Dunk said as he closed the door behind Top. The agent appeared to not hear him, as he continued talking.
“So anyways, as I was saying, here’s what’s going on–you’re going to try out for the Kickers, since they’re the only team in the league that might actually kinda sorta want you on their team. Tracking? Okay good, so here’s what we’re going to do…” Top’s voice trailed off as Dunk began studying the agent’s tie. It was rumpled with the ever-present brown stains all over it. Top really needed to learn how to control his coffee cups while he was drinking.
“And so you’ll be flying out later tonight for the tryout which starts in three days, they want you to get to know some of the players and the coaching staff and get you ready for what the tryout will entail nothing too serious just some basic drills on offense and some basic drills on defense some team building exercises some actual practice workouts free throw shooting three point shooting things like that,” Top said.
“So what you’re telling me is it that it’s basically a normal practice. Okay, no sweat,” Dunk said.
“Right except this practice will be watched by people who may or may not want to give you a job depending on how you perform and please for the love of Celestia, Dunk don’t screw this up! Look kid this is my first shot at getting someone into the league, it really is and I’m just trying to help you out as much as I can so please work with me on this,” Top finished, his blue eyes darting around the room.
Dunk stopped to look at his agent. Top’s mane was a mess, and his eyes were bloodshot. Anxious didn’t even begin to describe him it seemed; the slightest noise made him jump. He was holding a Big Gulp cup with steam rising from the top of it, taking drinks of it every few seconds.
“You ever stop drinking coffee man? Everything you say just comes out as a blur, and it’s hard to keep up. I think I get what you’re saying though. Just show up, and work hard, right? Things will be fine,” Dunk said.
“Look kid, it’s my job to assume things won’t be fine. Things are never fine in my line of work, not until the contract is signed, and let’s face it, right now? You have no contract to sign,” Top said.
“That comes in time Top, that comes in time. Obviously, I wasn’t good enough yesterday. So I’m going to somehow prove I’m good enough at the tryouts. Can’t be that hard,” Dunk said.
“Just like it wasn’t hard being drafted? Dunk, that’s all you talked about for two months leading into yesterday. How you thought you were a top five pick, maybe even number one. Teams are smart Dunk,” Top said.
“Well then, I’ll guess between the two of us we’ll have to make them stupid again, huh?” Dunk said.
Top laughed at the comment and took a swig of coffee.
“It’s not that easy kid, I’m telling you. Look, my brother knows Scott Boer, high powered agent, all that jazz. It’s hard for his players to get good contracts, and he’s the best in the league. You gotta dazzle them, you gotta make them see that not drafting you was a mistake. You gotta make them see that you can give them the spark they need on both sides of the ball, which, let’s face it, is going to be a struggle. But that’s what you have to do. Sell yourself,” Top said.
“So what’s the plan after I sell myself? Keep selling myself until I become a free agent?” Dunk said.
“Uh, yeah pretty much. You constantly have to sell yourself, you have to constantly remind the team you play for why you play for them. You’re thinking too far ahead though kid. We gotta get you to LA, get you to those tryouts, get you a contract, Celestia willing,” Top said.
“Right, right. Focus on the now, focus on the now,” Dunk said.
“There ya go kid. Alright, so get your things packed up, I need another coffee, and let’s get going! We got a gym to go conquer!” Top said.
Despite himself, Dunk smiled. His agent’s nervous enthusiasm was infectious, but his pep talks left a little bit to be desired. I mean seriously, he tells me it’s not easy, then he says let’s go conquer a gym! I’m down for it though. Right now I just wanna play some ball, Dunk thought.
He heard Top leave his room, and got out his suitcase. Thinking of something, he stopped what he was doing and walked out into the hallway.
“Hey Top, do I got time for a workout?” he said.
“Yeah kid, yeah. We don’t have to be there until later tonight! Come find me in the hotel lobby when you’re done! I figured we could grab lunch!” Top said.
“You got it!” he said as he walked back into his room. If he ever was going to improve, he needed to start taking every opportunity he could to better himself. His game needed to be built on fire, not flash. He pulled out his sweatbands and headed to the hotel gym. Time to stoke the embers.