(Cue- Premonition- Final Fantasy VIII)

"Let us see if you are worthy, of this Summon." Rime said as an orb with digital lines and flora swirling around it materialized in her hand before firing it upward.

"What is she calling?" Homura asked.

The clouds suddenly parted as a strange being descended, it had a circular-shaped upper body with angel wings on it, while it appeared mechanical, it also had angelic wings and female angels depicted on its lower body.

"Behold, bearer of the name of paradise, Eden." Rime said.

"This could be difficult. Ace, do you want our help?" Homura asked.

"I would greatly appreciate it." Ace said as Homura and Mark stood ready.

"Hmhmhm. None can stem the tides of time." Rime said.

"Stem this!" Mark said, powering up and launching an attack at Eden. "Wrath Kamehameha!"

Eden took a few hits before gathering magic into itself before it casted Flare, dealing heavy non-elemental damage to the group.

"That's a powerful creature…" Homura groaned. "I shouldn't say this out loud, but maybe it wasn't a good idea to help when I've already taken so much damage…"

"Oi, that's quitter talk, samurai! We just need to up the ante!" Mark said, assuming his Vajra Angel form. "Ace, know any weaknesses this has?"

"Unfortunately no. I've never seen a Summon like this before." Ace said. "Just don't hold back and fight with all you have."

"Right. It's all we can do." Homura said, holding her Soul Blade in hand.

The three of them then battled hard against Eden, doing their best to endure its powerful attacks. The battle was tough, as Eden was a very strong opponent with even stronger powers.

Eden then trapped them in a pocket dimension as a planet appeared and transformed into an iridescent clock sphere as it used it as a cannon, firing the three into space as the beam reaches the nearby galaxy, and the energy interferes with the stable black hole of the galaxy's bulge before they reappeared back on the battlefield.

"Okay… what was that?" Homura asked.

"Eden's signature technique, Eternal Breath." Rime said.

"Hang in there everyone. Faerie Star!" Ace called, healing their wounds.

"If that was its final attack… then maybe we can attack it while it's weak." Homura said. "Mark, let's make an opening for Ace to strike."

"Right!" Mark agreed.

"Let's do it!" Ace said, casting a symbol under Eden.

Homura, despite the damage she took, pushed forward as she charged right toward Eden.

"You just don't surrender, do you?!" Rime said as Eden blasted lasers at Homura, who dodged them all.

"If I were to surrender, after accepting teacher's death and my friends giving me strength, what kind of person would I be?!" Homura asked, jumping into the air right in front of the powerful beast. "Warrior-Maiden Single Sword Attack: Snake Bite!" she called, thrusting her sword into Eden as it glowed fiercely, damaging the summon as it roared in pain.

In the meantime, Mark ran towards the summon, his arms blazing with Ki.

"Build it up… keep building…until…BURST!" Mark thought, his Aura exploding outwards as he jumped up and landed an uppercut on Eden, causing the summon to stagger. "Now, Ace! Do it!"

"This is my strongest Dark Symbol." Ace said as a dome of dark matter began forming from the symbol around Eden. "Extinction!" he called, detonating it.

Eden cried out as it soon faded away, reverting into its orb-like state as Ace picked it up.

"Well done. As expected of my fiance's brother." Rime said, her eyes hidden by the mask she wore. "We shall meet again." she said before disappearing into distorted energy and a few black angel feathers as her calm laugh echoed.

"Ominous…" Homura said, putting a hand to her mouth. "I have a feeling she won't be easy to save." she said as the others walked up to the three.

"You guys alright?" Bow asked.

"A little battered but otherwise, we're alright." Ace said.

"Due in no small part to Spade's fiance." Homura said.

"She was here? What happened?" Noel asked.

"We defeated Garrot, but Rime was here as his hostage. Once she was freed, she turned on us and summoned a creature to attack us. We defeated it, but it was a tough battle." Homura said.

"I see. The Eidolons she commands are ones that were thought lost in history. You three are lucky she didn't fight you directly." Spade said.

"That thing launched us into a different galaxy, and we were lucky?" Mark asked. "Geez, didn't know you were into that sort of thing, Spade."

"I can assure you she's not that kind of person to take pleasure in others' pain." Spade said.

"Speaking of, I wonder how Shiki and the others are doing with Kurenai?" Makoto asked.

"Ah, I'm sure they're doing fine. It's them we're talking about." Dark Water typed.

*BOOM!*

The group saw a large dust cloud forming in the distance in a different part of the district.

"Yep. I'm guessing that's them." Mayumi said.

"Most likely." Shantae added with an indifferent expression.

At that precise location, the battle with Madame Kurenai was reaching its climax.

"Had enough yet?" Hope asked.

"The Kurenai Dragoon is not about to fall to the likes of 13 pathetic humans." Kurenai said.

"Humans? You still have no idea who you are dealing with, do you?" David asked. "Some of us are about as far away from human as you are of having a heart."

"If you think I'll believe that, you must be completely-" Kurenai started before alarms in her mech went off, as she saw something on her HUD. "Drakken Joe's ship is here! Damn brats, I can't afford to waste any more of my time here! Not when I have to punish Drakken Joe for stealing my Crimson Eye!"

Kurenai pressed a few buttons on her controls before a lever was brought before her.

"Witness the full power of the Kurenai Dragoon!" Kurenai declared, pulling the lever and powering her Knight gear up to full power. At that notion, the Dragoon instantly fired a laser beam from its eyes.

They quickly avoided it before it fired missiles that chased them.

"Not good. They must be heat seekers." Aelita said. "We can't lose them."

"Then we won't!" Shiki said as he jumped onto the Kurenai Dragoon with some of the others, with the missiles coming after them.

"If we can't get these missiles away from us…" David started. "We'll just have to bring them back to you."

"Are you stupid? The Kurenai Dragoon is able to withstand the power of its own weapons." Kurenai said.

"I was able to make a dent in it. So can Shiki." Jexi said as Shiki held onto one of the missiles as the weight of it and him were increasing.

"Let's see how much weight this thing can take!" Shiki said.

"He grabbed a Queen Nova missile with his bare hand?!" Kurenai asked, but then noticed he was using his Ether Gear. "No! He's holding it back with gravity!"

"Magimech attack!" Shiki said as they crashed into the ground with the Kurenai Dragoon breaking up. "Gravity Impact!"

Kurenai couldn't believe that her own creation was destroyed.

"No… this was supposed to be my invincible trump card." Kurenai said before she was looking up at the 13 with fear.

"Not so invincible now, is it?" David smirked. "Now, you're coming with us, like it or not."

It didn't take long for the Punishers to shut down as the Shiki group returned, with Madame Kurenai all tied up and brought before Homura.

"Hey…back from our walk." Jexi said.

"Sure, walk." Ace smiled. "So this is her."

"Who else?" David asked.

"Yeah...But none of you are touching her." Jexi said.

"She is here to be seen by Homura. It is Homura who will decide her fate, none of us." Aelita said.

"We already know." Ace said.

"Floors yours, Homura." Hope looked to the aspiring knight. She walked up to her mother as the two exchanged a little bit of silence.

"Homura…you look just like me when I was around your age. You've grown so much. Would you please untie me so we can share a hug? Aren't you happy to see your real mother again? I'm sorry. You're probably still upset at me for leaving you. I want you to know that you were always in my heart, and I've missed you ever since that day." Kurenai said, trying to lie her way out by pretending to appeal to Homura.

Homura then tapped something on her phone as appearing in her hands was a stuffed toy.

"What is that thing? Why is it so filthy?" Kurenai asked, clearly not remembering that toy was the one she gave to her own daughter when she was just a child.

"Do you not remember? This was the only thing connecting us. But it seems even that connection has been severed." Homura said as she summoned her Soul Blade.

"Wait! Calm down! Think about this! Don't! I don't want to die like this!" Kurenai begged in fear before Homura severed the ropes binding her. "Homura, you do forgive me after all I've done! Such a…"

"I do not forgive you. But I cannot ignore you either. I've lost interest in you. I give you thanks for giving birth to me. I have no feelings towards you beyond that. Teacher thought I needed a mother, but she was wrong. I needed someone who loved me. You may be my mother but you abandoned me and never even tried to find me again. Yet a machine took me in as if I were her own. She was someone I needed in my life. So…this is your punishment. Leave this planet and never return. Also…stay out of my life forever. I never want to see your face again. Understood?" Homura said seriously as Kurenai soon took off running.

"Uh, shouldn't we go after her?" Mai asked.

"Nah. Let her go." DW typed. "I see no revenge planning for her on the horizon."

"Why's that?" Frosta said.

"Here's the thing…Karma's a bitch." DW typed.

And he wasn't wrong. For Kurenai never even escaped Sun Jewel with her freedom. She was captured by someone she had scarred. Now reduced to being nothing but their personal whipping girl. As for the others, they returned to their ships with what was left of Sunstar as well as reporting Valkyrie's death.

"Why didn't you bring back her body?" Sister asked.

"Valkyrie had become a huge symbol of hope to the rebels. We couldn't just take that away from them." Glimmer said.

"Like I give a crap. I probably could have fixed her. We could have brought her back! Her memories and personalities are stored!" Sister said.

"But then it wouldn't be our Valkyrie." Witch said.

"Her memories and personality would be the same! What's so different about that?!" Sister asked.

"You guys probably have neurotransmitters for dopamine and endorphins, right?" Kazuichi asked. "There's no way to restore those. You'd be bringing her physical form back with her personality and memories, sure. But what about…."

"Well it would be better than her being dead! Shiki! Ace! Other Leaders! You guys have final say! Convince these idiots that we should bring Valkyrie back!" Sister said.

"They're not idiots. They're right." Hope said.

"That's right. Even if her body is restored, with her core destroyed, the Valkyrie you all know is long gone." David said.

"Besides…if you need four shining stars…then you don't need any looking. You have them." Jexi said with a hand on Homura.

"Yeah…make Homura…the next Valkyrie." Ace said.

"You'll do what?" Shiki said.

"Hey, there's nowhere in the contract that says a human can't be a Shining Star, right?" DW typed.

"You're right, a human isn't excluded from becoming one…" Hermit said.

"And we do need all four to come and go to the other Cosmos' as well as find Mother." Simon said.

"Then it's decided." Witch said.

"Speaking of…seems like our work in the Sakura Cosmos is done." Jet said. "We captured Sunstar, which was why we even came here."

"So that leaves the top three remaining criminals." Dhar said.

"Time to set our next destination then." Glimmer said.

"You know we have to know who we're chasing before we can pick a destination, right?" Jet sweatdropped.

"Which means we have to file our report first." Miu said.

Soon, they contacted Nancy.

"So Sunstar's basically scrap. I see…those Oracion Seis Galactica really are a rough set of crooks." Nancy said. "Good job in collecting him though."

"Well, whatever parts of him we could. His weapon systems were stripped bare." Miu said.

"I see. He was stripped and his weapons systems were sold. That's why Joe attacked." Nancy said. "Still, good job."

"Thanks. Do you have any leads on our number 3?" Lei asked.

"Number 3 isn't dangerous. He's an escape artist known as Alonz." Nancy said.

"Alonz…that was the guy Jack tried to recruit." Hope said.

"His location is unknown. Therefore, we'll move ahead to number 2." Nancy said, bringing up a young girl with a crazy style. "This is Reality Check. You need to be careful with this one. If she sees you, things will get crazy."

"Probably literally." David said.

"Where was she sighted last?" Jin asked.

"Last sighting…she was following a string of robberies…committed by the Lost Thieves." Nancy said.

"Oh boy… Guess we are following the guy that started this whole mess." Mayumi said. "Where is their next hit?"

"Hmm…looks like they've worked their way towards the Adventure Universe…near the Town of Tales." Nancy said.

"Going back there again, huh? This is gonna be something." Himeno said.

"Sure is. Should we call up Mythos Hearts and let them know about this?" Gemini asked.

"It is their territory. We probably should." Jexi said.

It wasn't long before a phone rang.

"Hello. You reached…oh it's you guys." Luz answered.

"Luz…listen. We're after a crook. A feminine crook." Sunset said. "She's…"

"Uh…got a wild look? Likes big-time heroes and villains, and likes to do crazy stuff?" Luz asked.

"...She's there, isn't she?" Sunset asked.

"Yeah. She's sitting at a table, by herself. Theo and Ethox thought she was a sign-up, but she's just sitting there. She said she's waiting for the right time." Luz said.

"Hang tight. Do not tell Theo or anyone else. Make sure she stays there till we get there." Sunset said as she hung up. "So…here's the thing…"

"She was already there, wasn't she?" Jexi asked.

"Yeah." Sunset said.

"We need to get going, fast." Hope said.

"But we need to get out of the Sakura Cosmos first, through Dragonfall." Sakura said.

"Nah. We can just use the Galaxy King's fast travel feature." Jet said.

"Yeah, we've been there before, so it'll be easy to warp there." David said.

"Never ceases to amaze me how awesome this ship is." Makoto said.

"Hang on a second!" Shiki called as he and the Edens Zero crew appeared. "You guys weren't seriously gonna leave without us, were you? Not when…"

"What are you yammering about? You already proclaimed yourselves members." Jexi said.

"Yeah, who said we were leaving you behind?" Ace asked. "Now come on, the Multiverse awaits."

"From witnessing the beginning of Shiki's grand journey with the Hero Alliance to Homura's birth as a new Shining Star. We've seen quite a lot, haven't we? I think an intermission on this particular story is long overdue." Xiaomei said. "Oh, but don't worry. There are still more adventures for the Hero Alliance to look forward to in the Cosmos, like the Edens Zero being chased by the Oracion Seis Galactica and the battle with Drakken Joe. And the true identity of Captain Connor, who muttered about being the captain of Edens One. We still don't know if Edens Zero will be able to clear Dragonfall. You don't want to miss the next exciting chapter of this story. Trust me, I've seen it. I'm glad you took the time to read this part. But this isn't farewell, we'll see each other again soon. And when the time comes when we do, I will have plenty more stories to share with you all. Stay safe until our next adventure."

To be continued…