Defeat Rubeus: The Battle in Space

Having seized most of the Sailor Guardians, Rubeus issues an ultimatum: hand over the Silver Crystal and Chibiusa, or the prisoners die. Aboard his spacecraft, Esmeraude berates him for failing to strike when he had the chance, so he displays his hostages bound to crosses and unable to move or speak. A guilt-ridden Chibiusa, meanwhile, returns Usagi's brooch and puzzles over why her key never carried her home.

Refusing to let her friends perish, Usagi resolves to go alone. Luna and Artemis dream up a decoy scheme with a counterfeit crystal and a fake Chibiusa, but it never gets off the ground. Both girls slip away before Mamoru can stop them, and when the transformed Sailor Moon appears in the streets alongside Chibiusa, the ship pulls them up into space.

Inside the vessel, Sailor Moon tries to pass Chibiusa off as her cousin, but Rubeus does not fall for it. Her Moon Princess Halation fizzles when he warps the gravity, first pinning her to the floor and then flinging her into the ceiling. Steeling herself against the crushing force, she fires again while he retaliates with a Black Energy Beam.

Chibiusa spots the black crystal feeding his power and strains to wrench it loose. As Sailor Moon lands another blast and the recovered Guardians add their own, the girl finally dislodges the stone, draining Rubeus and shaking the ship apart. The freed heroines reunite, but the vessel is now minutes from exploding, and Rubeus chooses to burn along with his enemies.

On Mercury's urging the team teleports clear with Chibiusa. Rubeus staggers out of the flames and begs Esmeraude to return him to the future, only for her to swat his hand aside and abandon him to die in the blast. Safe in Tokyo, the group celebrates while Chibiusa asks Usagi for pancakes.

The manga diverged sharply: there Rubeus is slain by Wiseman and outlives Esmeraude, and Sailor Moon frees her comrades while a prisoner on Nemesis, cracking the planet and teleporting everyone to Crystal Tokyo. The English dub, titled Rubeus Strikes Out, cut every shot of the Guardians hanging from crosses until after Chibiusa releases them, along with Esmeraude's dismissive slap.

Far off on Nemesis, Esmeraude reports the defeat to Prince Dimande, and her superior warns her not to repeat the same mistakes. From this episode onward the DiC version also renamed Sailor Moon's attack from Moon Scepter Elimination to Moon Scepter Activation.