Act 40 Dream 2 - Mercury Dream

The second chapter of the Dream arc keeps Usagi and Chibiusa trapped in their swapped ages while Fish Eye sets his sights on Ami. Through sheer force of will, Ami reaches for her own Sailor Crystal, the Mercury Crystal, and its paired treasure the Mercury Harp, ascending into her Super Sailor form.

Mamoru wakes in the hospital to the shock of Usagi and Chibiusa with their ages reversed, and the Inner guardians are just as baffled as they weigh the new threat. The attending doctor, who happens to be Ami's mother Saeko, warns Mamoru of an unfamiliar shadow clouding his lungs. Back at home, Chibiusa uses Luna-P to keep the Tsukino family from noticing the change, and Helios visits her, alarmed at her altered form, insisting he needs her to break the seal on the Golden Crystal. At Mamoru's apartment the mood is strained, yet Usagi and Chibiusa talk through the girl's loneliness, and Mamoru, worn down by pain, confesses he fears he is holding Usagi back.

Working late, Ami detects a strange aura settling over the Azabu-Juban shopping center, the mark of the Dead Moon Circus. Her thoughts drift to the painter father she has not seen in years, whose birthday postcards she still keeps. In the circus tent, Nehellenia's voice orders Zirconia to crush the White Moon's people, and Fish Eye volunteers, drawn to the beauty of Ami's dream. Passing a new fish shop in the rain, Ami buys a tropical fish resembling one from her father's last card, sold to her by a disguised PallaPalla.

Asleep beside the tank, Ami is drowned in illusions of a mother who rejects her, a father who blames her, and friends who need no one else, until Fish Eye tempts her with the promise of love. Realizing the vision is false, she is set upon by Lemures and nearly lost to despair, until she hears Guardian Mercury calling her back to her true wish, to shield everyone. The Mercury Crystal appears, and with the Mercury Harp she unleashes the stronger Mercury Aqua Rhapsody, shattering the spell and freeing her mother. Usagi and Chibiusa arrive, their ages restored on transforming, and destroy Fish Eye with Moon Gorgeous Meditation. Watching through her mirror, Chibi Moon at last understands that the maiden Helios seeks is not herself but Princess Serenity, and she withdraws, dejected, as Pegasus fades.

Naoko Takeuchi both wrote and illustrated the chapter. It brings in Ami's mother Saeko Mizuno, her father, and Guardian Mercury, and marks the first appearance of Super Sailor Mercury together with the Mercury Crystal, the Mercury Harp, and the attack Mercury Aqua Rhapsody.