"Night of Destiny: The Sailor Guardians’ Ordeals" is the 4th episode of the 5th season of the Sailor Moon anime and the 170th overall. It aired in Japan on April 20, 1996.
Summary
Fearing for Mamoru's and Chibiusa's lives, Usagi follows Nehellenia to the Queen's domain. Her friends try to convince her that is a trap, but she doesn't listen and leaves on her own. They go after her, so Nehellenia thinks of a plan to trap the Super Sailor Senshi inside nightmares; two by two.
Plot
Once Nehellenia took Mamoru away and the Sailor Senshi were left alone in his apartment, Sailor Chibi Moon slowly started to detransform. Unable to keep on her feet, and with nothing left to do that could help Mamoru, the group left the building.
Chibiusa is now sleeping in one of Hikawa Shrine's bed and the nine Sailor Senshi discuss what they should do now: They have to rescue the Prince, but at the same time they know Nehellenia is luring Sailor Moon, so she could kill her. Setsuna says that if Mamoru isn't rescued, Small Lady, his daughter from the future will disappear, as evidenced by her previous detransformation and fainting. But Usagi stands up and decides that no matter what, she will save both her boyfriend and her daughter, as she softly cries. A tear touches the Crisis Moon Compact, making it glow, and soon this light covers Usagi's body, starting her transformation in Eternal Sailor Moon. Once it's done, she gradually flies to the sky and Rei tries to grab her, to avoid Usagi confronting the Queen, but she leaves the ground before her friend could catch her. Now, they have no choice but to follow Sailor Moon. Chibiusa wakes up and says that she is also going (despite her weak state), so they take their Sailor Senshi forms and use Sailor Teleport to get to Nehellenia's domain.
Meanwhile, Sailor Moon has reached already the Queen's palace but instead of it, she is in which appears to be an unknown dimension, and she no longer has her Sailor Senshi form. Nehellenia is before her now, and tells her that she will never escape from her imposed nightmares and vanishes: The environment gradually starts changing, and Usagi finds herself in the middle of a blizzard, completely alone.
After her encounter with Usagi, Nehellenia is sitting on her castle throne with Mamoru at her feet. Several mirrors are disposed of around her, which helps her tracking down people. She looks at each one of them and finds out that the Sailor Senshi are coming after her. This makes her mad and tosses a cup to the mirror, breaking both into pieces, but surprisingly, the mirror regenerates itself. It turns out that the cup was destroyed, and its shards are now on their way to collide with the sailor scouts. The Sailor Senshi are still using Sailor Teleport when they see the crystal shards. Sailor Uranus and Sailor Venus tell everyone to hold their hands but the force's impact is too strong for them to stand and they are separated and fall inside the Queen's dimension.
Sailor Uranus is the first one to be shown, falling in the middle of what appears to be ancient ruins of an old civilization (something like the Silver Millenium). It seems that she is alone, but Sailor Mercury had also fallen there and she joins Uranus. The two discover that their friends aren't there, so they come up with a plan to escape from that place. Uranus suggests that if they reach a distant hill's top, they might be able to get a better look at their surroundings. When they finally get to the top they realize that past the hill, the ruins they have just left behind are now in front of her; in fact, they see that the whole place repeats itself in a pattern. Mercury tells Uranus that it must be a trick of the enemy, so they should save their energy in case it appears. As she finishes saying this, Nehellenia shows up and Uranus tries to damage her with World Shaking, but the Queen reflects the attack, denting the Sailor Senshi. Mercury reacts to this and helps to stop Nehellenia with Mercury Aqua Rhapsody, but it has no effect on the latter, which returns the blow to her with no effort, and fires off a dark wave of energy at her, but she is saved by Sailor Uranus, who lifts her to avoid the attack. Keeping in her mind that Nehellenia can reflect attacks, Uranus attempts to kick her but she easily avoids all attacks and knocks the Sailor Senshi out. Sailor Mercury sees all this and thinks that Uranus' all-out offensive methods are useless here, so it's time that she uses her own: She remembers being a child and not being able to play basketball with her schoolmates because of all the time she spent studying, but at the end, she could help them in another way: designing a strategy to win the match. These memories make her realize that she is not a fighter like a Uranus, she solves things through studying. She takes out her Super Computer and with her goggles on, she analyzes the place and the Queen, who releases a dark beam at her which impacts the Sailor Senshi, but she is still standing, using her computer to find a way to defeat Nehellenia. She keeps on attacking Mercury, whose defenses are almost worn down completely as her analysis isn't complete yet, until Sailor Uranus protects Mercury from the attack, placing herself in front of her partner to act as a shield from Nehellenia's attacks, however she is weakened by the fight so she won't last much. The analysis reveals that all is an illusion and the source of it is the Moon, so Uranus uses World Shaking straight to the moon, which vanishes the illusion, revealing the true aspect of the place: an empty dark-red dimension. Nehellenia detransforms too, as she wasn't the true one, it had been a Mirror Paredri the whole time, but with her Space Sword, Uranus kills it in one hit. As they contemplate the new area they are in, a pair of mirrors appear at their back, with a pair of hands coming out from them which grabs the Sailor Senshi and takes them inside the big mirrors, rendering Mercury and Uranus in a freeze like a state, unconscious.
Sailor Neptune and Sailor Mars have fallen into a dark forest, full of tall trees and two different paths to follow. Neptune uses her Deep Aqua Mirror to decide which way they should take and Mars does the same with one of her ofudas, however, both items "choose" different paths, which forces Mars to accept Neptune's mirror chosen one. They start to run, but midway Nehellenia finds her, ready to use her magic against the two Sailor Senshi: A circle of purple fire is now surrounding them and at a slow pace begins making itself smaller.
International Dub Titles
- European Portuguese: Guerreiras em apuros ("Warriors in Trouble")
- European Spanish: ¡El Destino se Decide en una Noche! El Sufrimiento de las Guerreros ("Destiny is Decided in One Night! The Suffering of the Warriors")
- German: Hilfe für Mamoru ("Help for Mamoru")
- Brazilian Portuguese: As Sailors estão com problemas ("The Sailors are in Trouble)
- Latin Spanish: Las Sailor Scouts se Encuentran en Problemas ("The Sailor Scouts are in Trouble")
- Polish: Wojowniczki w tarapatach ("Warriors in Trouble")
Changes
Changes From the Manga
Dub Changes
Gallery
Uranus and Mercury
Neptune and Mars
Trivia
- Usagi finally manages to transform into Eternal Sailor Moon by herself, without the help of the other Senshi and without transforming into Super Sailor Moon first.
- Once Usagi is before Nehellenia, she has her school uniform complete, except for her shoes, even though she was wearing them before her transformation into Eternal.
- When Usagi is shown after Uranus's and Mercury's capture, she is missing her socks, which she was wearing when she was last shown.
- When Sailor Neptune and Sailor Mars find themselves pointing at opposite directions, part of Neptune's chest bow is missing.