CMA: Victory Muffins

Dom slouched down the boat's ramp, running a hand through his disheveled mohawk. With a yawn, he stretched his arms and cracked his neck loudly. Reggie popped out of his Pokeball and sat on Dom's foot. Bleary-eyed, Dom watched the crowd swirl around them. He rubbed his jaw and sighed.
"Goddamn, Reggie, I feel like I slept on a buncha rocks last night."
"I slept wonderfully," Reggie piped up enthusiastically. Dom shot him a soul-curdling glare.
"Yeah, yeah, says he who sleeps in the same comfy Pokeball night after night after friggin' night. I hate mornings. Let's get somethin' to eat already." Hefting his bag, Dom began to shoulder his way through the milling contestants. Reggie bounded up onto his shoulder, sniffing the air intently for food.
Dom was beginning to wonder if they were even planning on putting out food at all until he noticed the muffins.
There were plates of them, platters of them, dishes upon dishes of them stacked precariously on a table too small to hold them.
"It's like…it's like…heaven. In food form," Dom sighed in awe. Then he noticed the crown jewel: a single muffin, studded with chocolate chips and bits of Pecha berry, wrapped in silver foil and dusted with sugar. It was nothing short of a masterpiece—and there was only one left! Dom made a beeline for the table just as a hand reached down and picked it up. He froze in midstep, arm outstretched in a last-ditch grasp at his vanishing prize, before slumping in defeat. He looked up at the trainer whose arm had just snatched away his breakfast.
He was clad in yellow and black, with dark hair falling around his eyes. The young man looked slightly bemused at Dom's near-comical rush for the muffin he had picked up. Dom straightened up and looked him in the eye desperately.
"Dude…I will battle you for that muffin."
"If you want it that badly, then—"
"No, no, hey, I've been looking for a battle. You, me, two-mon rotation, right here, right now. Winner. Takes. Muffin." His eyes narrowed dramatically.
"Well, if you insist," the young man said. Both trainers reached for their Pokeballs. Dom instinctively reached for the blue-and-red ball at the front of his belt, but then hesitated. Did he really want everyone's first impression of him to be that of his flamboyant, metrosexual wash-up of a legendary?
"Here goes nothin'," Dom muttered, and threw his first ball into the air. "Go get 'em, Sig! Spike up the field for us!" The Scolipede emerged from her ball in a shower of poisonous spines, causing the crowd to scatter. "Oh, shit, shit, forgot about that! Clear out everyone! Battle coming through!"

Benny, Steve and Rob looked out over the main Plaza. Competitors were pairing off to battle, and only the last few stragglers were still hanging around the snack table.
"See, Benny, and you said there'd be chaos. Look! Everything's going perfectly—"

"Everyone out of the way!" A shout echoed from the plaza. The air was showered in purple sparks as a Scolipede emerged in the heart of the crowd.
"Perfect, huh? Perfect my ass," Benny grumbled as the three raced down to see what was causing all the commotion.
"Who is this punk?" she snapped as they arrived at the circle of onlookers.
"Dominic "Dom" Rigger, age 27. Hometown, Lavaridg—"
"Yes, thank you H4X, I think we got it," Rob shoved the Porygon-Z out of the way to watch the battle.
"Rigger and Kiro, huh?" Steve looked down at his notes. "Whaddaya know, they're opponents anyway."

"Never caught your name, dude. Gotta have something to call ya when I win!" Dom shouted over to his opponent, who still had yet to choose a Pokemon.
"Kiro. Just Kiro. And I wouldn't be quite so confident, my friend. Go, Hypno!"
As Dom looked at the crowd with a confident smile, he caught the eyes of the three judges. "Oh, crap, I'm dead." But to his surprise, two of them grinned encouragingly, flashing them both a thumbs-up. "Alrightythen. Let's get this over with so I can actually have breakfast. Catch 'em off guard Sig, and Steamroller him!"
Sig leapt into the air, spinning furiously, and charged—into nothing? "Wait, what, where'd he go?"
The Hypno reappeared at Sig's back, and a bluish light flashed from his palms, striking Sig square in her head. The giant insect collapsed, and Dom's face turned pale.
"C'mon Sig, you're stronger than that," he whispered.
"It looks like you were getting ahead of yourself there. I suggest you choose your next Pokemon quickly."
"You think I'm gonna go down in one hit? Someone needs to learn that Payback's a bitch!!" At that cue, the Scolipede reared and struck the unsuspecting Hypno down. Dom sneered, starting to get into his rhythm now.
"Super. Effective. Now what was that about picking your next Pokemon?"
"Right. It's your turn, King!" Kiro's Nidoking shot forth, landing with an earth-shaking thud. He stood menacingly over Dom and Sig, soaking up their trump card- the Toxic Spikes he had so cleverly laid.
"Hmm. How considerate of you," Dom mused sarcastically. "Okay then, Harvey, you're up! And try not to screw this up," he added under his breath.

"Interesting choices: Nidoking on Nidoking," Rob commented to the other judges. The rest of the crowd had moved back considerably. It already looked like this battle was about to turn into a barfight.

"King, dig underground!" Kiro's voice rang out. King roared and disappeared underneath the field.
"Watch out, Harvey! He could come up anywhere! Harvey? Dammit, are you even paying attention?" The bright blue Nidoking was eyeing a couple of female Pokemon scattered in the crowd. Dom covered his eyes and groaned. "What am I gonna do with you? Hey, Harvey, quit flirting and focus on the—"

"Grrroooaaaaarrrrrr!" King erupted out of the ground, slamming Harvey into the air. "Now Thrash him!" Kiro commanded. King lunged forward at the staggering Pokemon, throwing crazed punches left and right.
"Don't fight him back! Wait for an ope—oh, whatever, you're not going to listen anyways," Dom said. Harvey was throwing punches right back, the two tank-sized monsters locked in a brutal wrestling match. While Harvey was smaller, he was lighter on his feet. King however, had the advantage of an actually move—plus Rivalry.
By now much of the crowd had scattered to avoid the two powerful, poisonous Pokemon. It looked like King had the upper hand, but Dom noticed something: he was finally wearing down. Thrash was a massively powerful move, but drained the user to confusion afterwards. If Harvey could hold out, Dom saw when he could get an opening!
"Hey, Harvey, this guy thinks he's so much better than you! Put his lights out with a Water Pulse to the face!"
"What?" Kiro shouted. "King, dodge it!"
But the massive creature was too slow, and got a powerful shot of water to the face. He staggered, his confusion and exhaustion taking its toll. "Now Harvey, finish him off with Earth Power!" The blue Nidoking slammed his fists into the ground, throwing a huge fissure towards King. Golden light exploded from the cracks, knocking the giant off-balance. He collapsed in a heap of dust, spent.
"Victory! Yes, yes! The muffin is miiine!" Dom pumped his fist in the air. "You owned it, Harvey! You too, Sig." He patted the Scolipede's nose.

"So, Benny, what did we learn today?" Steve prodded.
"That people are maniacs."
"That yooou don't need to be such a control freak. It's all good."
Rob nodded in agreement. "That Dom kid's not bad. Neither of them are."
"He's still a punk though. A lazy, layabout—"
"Whatever, Benny. I like him," Steve chuckled.

Kiro calmly recalled his fallen Nidoking. A shadow of disappointment passed across his face. The battle brought back…nothing. Again.
"Hey, man, no hard feelings, right? Your Nido's pretty awesome—at least he doesn't spend all his time showing off." Dom's voice snapped Kiro out of his reverie.
"Hm, yeah, good battle. I suppose you deserve your muffin," Kiro said with a wry smile, and handed Dom his "prize." Happily, he took it and was poised to take a large bite out of it, when he noticed a waiter approach the snack table…and set down a whole tray of the "rare" muffins. Dom stopped and groaned at the irony.
"Oh well. This is…this is a Victory Muffin! It's special," he insisted, and took an enthusiastic bite. He chewed, swallowed and paused.
"What, no chocolate-cream filling?"