The door's hinges were simple to tamper. The Fox and Hedgehog turned to their chained-up blue friend. He tugged on the chains and even rolled into a spin dash. They wouldn't budge. With caution, Amy approached him and examined them. Tails flew around Sonic and checked the wall behind him. No locks were to be seen. Amy held the chains and felt their large, heavy, metal links.

"Could it be magic keeping these from breaking?" she questioned.

Sonic sat on a boulder and rested against his fists. He stretched and replied, "More than likely. That lady did use magic to capture me and Tails."

The pink Hedgehog frowned.

Sandy could do magic without an issue. I wonder...

She reached into her dress pocket and pulled out the small leather book. Her emerald-green eyes narrowed and fixated on the letters. If only she still had that medallion.

"Oh...I wish I could reach magic notes. It might really help."

A voice called out from the darkness, "Magic notes?"

The three friends immediately turned and glanced around the dungeon. Amy answered, "Who's there?"

"I'm over here."

Tails squinted his baby-blue eyes until he pointed at another cell and said, "I think I see him."

He ran over to the cell's door. Sonic, who still remained in his strange new form, watched his adopted little brother approached the locked-up stranger. Amy stepped behind the Fox for a better look.

Tails asked, "So, do you know anything about magic?"

An elderly Fox stood at the cell's doorway, holding onto its rusty iron bars.

He sighed and shook his head, "The only thing I'm good for is reading the magic language and bits of information here and there. I've been trapped here for ages. Back in my day, I was a great powerful wizard..." The old magician paused when his ruby-red eyes met Amy's emerald-green ones. "Is-is th-that you? Amy! It's been years. Oh, I'm grateful that you haven't been harmed."

"Uh...I don't know how to tell you this, but uh..." she answered, rubbing the back of her head, "I have no memory of this place after somehow teleporting into another world. I didn't even know I came from this world until recently."

The magician sighed once more. "Do not fret. It's my fault for telling you to go to another world even though you were so young. And even if you were successfully dimension hop, there's no telling what you will encounter inside a magic portal. It's filled with dangerous things like flying boulders the size of houses."

"Sorry if this is awkward, but could you tell me your name?"

"No apology necessary, my dear! For I'm the great powerful wizard Merlin! Back when you lived in this world, you were both my charge and my finest pupil."

"I was?"

Sonic and Tails exchanged glances, and Tails asked, "You can do magic, Amy?"

The blue Hedgehog crossed his arms and smirked, saying, "Okay, sweet. Hey, Merl, mind doing something about these chains?" He lifted the thick chains for everyone to see.

Merlin replied, "I'm afraid I cannot help you there. As you can see, Sandy's trapped me here. Years ago, when she was on her own, she begged me to teach her magic. Of course, I've never had a problem teaching you and your sister, Amy. However, she used to be unable to use magic. That all changed though. You see that ordeal of running for her life triggered her magic powers. I taught her whatever I could. She was a good student and had so much potential. I didn't realize all of her motivations. We wizards have many rules, but there one important one Sandy broke. Never harm a living person with your powers.

"You most likely don't recall this, but we used to have a horrible king who was also the head wizard. He had three daughters. They were nasty, but no one was permitted to attack them no matter what. It was suicidal to mess with a wizard possessing of such large power. Those girls had hurt Sandy and caused their father to hunt us. Sandy was never the same after all the damage they created because they wanted to be petty. She was filled with so much rage. When she was older, she sought the King Wizard and ended his life. She took over and became the new queen and banished his daughters.

"However, from the very first moment she used her magic powers to exact revenge and take a life, dark magic entered her soul. It slowly consummed her until it choked out whatever good remained within her. I begged her to stop because I feared how the magic was affecting her. She refused to heed my warning. In an effort to keep her from doing more harm to herself and the kingdom, I refused to teach her anymore magic. I wasn't anticipating how powerful she had become, and she used her magic to create these shakles. They possess the abilty to prevent one from using any kind of power. She had put them on me and locked me down here to force me to continue teaching her.

"Of course she knows that I'd rather give up my life than allow evil to continue. So she threatened to destroy half the kingdom if I continued to refuse her requests."

The three friends stared as they listened.

Sonic stood up and said, "Okay, I've made up my mind. That Sandy is going down. Ames, get Merl to tell you how to get these chains off. He said you can do magic. So let's not put this off anymore."

Amy nodded and looked at Merlin.

The magician said, "Do you still have that notebook I gave you, Amy?" She pulled out her small book and handed it to him. Merlin looked it over and flipped the pages until he reached a spot. He pointed at it and motioned her to look. He told her what to say and do. "It's a rather simple spell. Now close your eyes and concentrate."

For a moment nothing seemed to happen until a faint pink energy glowed around Amy. She opened her eyes and looked at Sonic's chains. She yelled, "Chains...Unlock!"

The pink Hedgehog pointed at them and the shakles released Sonic. At once, the chains fell around him. With a smile, he rubbed his wrists and said, "Alright, Ames! Come on, guys! We've got a queen to dethrone."

Amy unlocked Merlin's chains and used her mallet to knock over the door.