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A wild Pancham emerged from the nearby bush, drawn to the commotion. Seeing another of it's kind, the Pancham walked right up to Po and the other Pokémon, unnoticed by Merrimack who was still reeling from Selene's words.

He knew he'd hurt her, but had know idea it'd be this bad. He always thought when he didn't show that day, she'd go crying to her mom or friends, be angry for a while, then move on. She'd certainly done well enough without him. Or so it had seemed. Seeing how hurt she was, all Sly wanted to do was take her in his arms and never leave her again. But Team Rocket wouldn't just let him walk way, and crossing them would be dangerous for both of them. I don't have a choice. he thought to himself, his heart sinking into darkness.

"You must be dumber than a Psyduck if you ever thought I was your friend," he said. "I'm not anyone's friend, they'd only slow me down, apparently by dragging me around to lousy tourist traps. Executioner, Judge -" just when he thought this mess couldn't be any crueler, he remembered he'd be separating Judge and Selene again, but now all he could do was continue, "Return, we need to get back to work." Judge cast a sorrowful look back at Selene, but both Steel-types returned to their Pokéballs. Turning away from Selene, he added, "I won't be in Alola long, so you can just go back to assuming I'm dead." Because I might as well be.

Merrimack didn't even flinch as Jury intercepted Gajiru's Air Slash with an Iron Tail. He turned to look at Selene again, but was meet by the Corviknight's eyes. Those bright red eyes. All the pain he'd been through,and that'd he'd put her through as well. He lashed out at Selene, "If you want to waste your time crying over some loser, fine! But control that glorified taxi before it pick a fight IT CAN'T WIN."

"As if I need you to catch Pokémon for me!" he yelled back at her. Of course she wants to battle now. I should have known she wouldn't just let me walk away. "And I wasn't looking for a battle, but since you and that birdbrain are asking for it: Jury, Iron Tail!" Jury leapt into the air, bringing his Iron Tail down on Gajiru. The collision of Steel-type attacks sent the Umbreon flying high into the air. "Now, Dark Pulse!" Merrimack commanded. Jury oriented himself in the air, took aim, and fired a stream of Dark-type energy at Gajiru.

"I meant 'don't let your ruby-eyed creep pick a fight' not 'pick a fight for it!'" Merrimack shot back at Selene. "But seeing as how you got that completely backwards, let me make it clear what 'it can't win' means! Jury!" The Umbreon jumped to his feet and shook off the dust, as Merrimack readied his Z-Power Ring, calling out "Finish it off at full power! Black Hole Eclipse!" Striking the pose for a Dark-type Z-Move surrounded Umbreon with Z-Power allowing it to unleash a full-force Z-Move at Gajiru: Black Hole Eclipse - a crushing black void that seemed to consume the very light around them.

That put that red-eyed birdbrain in his place. Merrimack thought to himself, satisfied. Maybe now we can move along. He thought Selene would concede, especially when he heard her tell Po he wouldn't be battling. Almost too bad, could be fun to battle Po after all this time. Seeing her send in Eevee was a surprise, for a few reasons - not the least of which was simply that Selene chose to continue their battle. "Little Litten must really be fired up now, huh? But what do you expect your little Hibiscus to do against my Jury?" As if wondering that himself, Jury walked right up to Hibiscus and leaned over her, looking her straight in the eyes. Selene had had Hibiscus just as long as Sly had Jury, but while Jury had long since become an Umbreon, Hibiscus had shown no signs of evolving, even after Selene completed the Island Challenge with her.

Merrimack knew from training Po how strong a basic Pokémon could be, but he also understood how much power was gained by evolving. Either way he wasn't about to accept that Selene's Eevee - an Eevee more used to preforming than battling - could beat his Umbreon. "Well let's see Hibiscus deal with this! Jury, Psychic!" Merrimack called out. Jury's eyes glowed with Psychic energy, a similar glow enveloped Hibiscus as she was lifted from the ground and flung backwards by a telekinetic force.

Selene's quick combination of moves hit Jury hard, especially the pair of super effective strikes from Double Kick, but Merrimack was prepared for it. "Now you're in for it! Jury use Payback!" Dark-type energy surrounded Jury, making his fur stand on end. The Umbreon launched at Hibiscus, using the pain from her attacks to empower his own. The Payback sent the Eevee tumbling. "Now follow it up with Iron Tail!" Jury leapt into the air, his tail rigid with Steel-type power, he spun around in a somersault, bringing his tail down at Hibiscus.