Official Solicitation
Burning hot with power, Blaze the Cat has lost control of her mind to the conniving Blackwood the Ermine, who commands her to hunt and battle Silver the Hedgehog. Now, Silver and his new companion Dapple must race through the ever-changing hallways of the Castle Colossus to stop Blackwood, save Blaze, and free the townspeople trapped as servants!
With the very ground they step on working against them, can our heroes save the day this time? This spooky arc on the Road to #100 closes with a dramatic issue focused on fan favorites Silver and Blaze!
Featured stories[]
Story one[]
Synopsis[]
Ascending from below the caverns after a large metallic foot crashes near them, Silver and Dapple discover that Sylvania Castle has transformed into a colossal mechanical dragon. Blackwood resides in the dragon's head as its control module with levers and a large purple orb at the center. He blames Silver for having him rush to the last phase of his plan thanks to him and his friends' interference before challenging him to a duel for the fate of Sylvania. With Dapple determined to help Silver in any way she can, the hedgehog uses his psychokinesis to have them both fly towards the ermine's weapon before they are intercepted by one of Blackwood's "servants" barely dodging a fireball.
Blackwood sics his newest pawn on Silver.
To Silver's shock, the person in question he sees is Blaze donned in knight's armor, holding a rapier in one hand and a ball of concentrated fire in another. She is turned into Blackwood's powerful knight under his thrall and sees the hedgehog as her "master's enemy". Dropping Dapple off on a section of the castle dragon, Silver tells her to find cover while he attempts to get through to his feline friend. Dapple feels powerless and decides to lay low, believing Silver can handle himself, but immediately reminds herself like before that she still needs to save the townspeople, not wanting to be left out of the action. With this resolve as she avoids more fireballs, she comes out of hiding and enters the transformed castle.
Dapple overlooking the transformed castle interior.
As she frantically descends the building's interior of large turning gears, she can hear Blackwood telling to Silver the truth behind this colossus: his great-grandfather had built the new Sylvania Castle and its dragon form to represent his dreams of dominion over the country, and entrusted the people to power and control it with him. Time passed and no one ever came. Eventually, Blackwood saw to it himself in the present, with the gifted gloves from his "benefactor", to force everyone into running the castle for this very moment, hoping to bring his ancestor's fantastical dream to fruition and have the castle dragon take flight.
Dapple makes it to a giant engine room at the center where she finds her Auntie Lichen ordering her friends to loading coal into a furnace. Looking around, she spots circular devices nearby that are shining an eerie green light over them, which she believes are the external sources of Blackwood's mind control throughout the building. Just as she thinks about trying to tear one off, she sees one of her friends collapsing in exhaustion from the room's overbearing heat, but Lichen and others are too deep under Blackwood's control to even care about their own wellbeing, with Lichen nonchalantly saying that being used by their "master" is an "honor". Dapple starts feeling Blackwood's hold on her yet again thanks to the devices but resists long enough to run and jump out of a large hole made by the ongoing battle outside, promising that she will still save her aunt and everyone else... and regretting her reckless escape in the process due to her being several stories above the ground.
She falls and finds Silver, who catches her midair, and he flies them both through the forest below with Blaze pursuing behind them. After telling Silver what she had seen, the doe whipsers to him of a plan to stop Blackwood directly so the "staff" stops working on the furnace, thereby depowering the castle dragon.
Silver flies back up and drops her off near the dragon's head this time, where Blackwood is manning the controls, before he keeps both him and Blaze busy. Dapple breaks through the window of the head dome and tries to fight Blackwood herself, demanding he let everyone go, but to no avail. Blackwood tries to justify his actions by declaring she and the villagers were "lost" without him and had used his newfound power to give them all "purpose" and to "put them in their place". He then uses his glove on her again to render her helpless, appearing to finally bring her back under his thumb after wondering how she broke free in the first place.
Dapple chomps Blackwood`s glove.
As he returns to his controls and prepares to deliver a final blow on Silver before declaring victory, the doe gets close enough to bite his gloved hand hard as a distraction before teasing how the glove has likely lost its effect on her after too many uses. Thanks to the doe breaking the glove's circuits just a bit, Silver outside sees Blaze start to slowly fight back, while Blackwood feels a violent electric feedback on the control orb when he places the damaged gloved hand back on it. Dapple finds out that the power throughout the castle is draining and so the ermine's mind control devices are likely shutting down. She warns the ermine that since no one is fueling his colossus anymore, willingly or otherwise, he won't get it to fly as he wanted. Remaining determined and stubborn, Blackwood tries to electrocute and crush Silver with the castle dragon's forelegs, only for Blaze to finally free herself to rescue him while discarding the armor placed on her earlier. Blackwood then tries to launch the castle dragon, making it airborne for only a few moments before it comes crashing down thanks to its fuel quickly running out. Blaze delivers a fiery final blow of her own near the dragon's head with Silver's help.
Though the castle is reduced to a mountain of stone and metal, many of the townspeople inside are miraculously recovered by nightfall and no longer under Blackwood's control. Dapple finds and introduces her freed Auntie Lichen to Silver and Blaze, with Blaze commending the older reindeer for her niece's bravery. Despite their victory, the duo is surprised that Blackwood managed to somehow escape in the chaos unnoticed, as well as curious about the ominous "benefactor" that he kept mentioning. With Dapple's encouragement, Silver believes that he and his friends will find Blackwood and solve the mystery of the "benefactor" and their main goal, seeing this turn of events as a sign of why he is back in the present this time around.
Blackwood expresses thanks to his Benefactor.
In another direction, it is revealed that Blackwood was retrieved by the alleged benefactor, who has been attacking Silver and Blaze's allies. Defeated and weary, he begs the mysterious stranger for another chance and a bit more power. The stranger comments on how alike they both are due to feeling their talents had gone unappreciated and his eyes opened to their predecessors' mistakes. He promise that he will give the fallen ermine everything he needs; "only the best".
Blackwood can only express his gratitude to the stranger for his generosity as he is bathed in a blinding green light coming from the opened coffin they brought, eager for another chance to prove himself.
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