Author's Note

First, I'd like to give the disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans or Slade. If I did, the show wouldn't have ended at season five and this story would be an actual book or show in its own right and not just a fanfic.

This story was my first fanfic and by far one of my most successful. In starting this story I was asking myself several key Slade questions. Why does he want an apprentice? How did he get the Ring of Azar? How did he get so skilled at what he does? And what is with that mask? The Ring of Azar question was what really gave me the idea to write this. Slade said that the ring was "Forged by the same order that imprisoned Trigon." It only made sense that he should be part of that order.

The Scath came from the episode, "The Prophecy" when Robin, Starfire, Beast Boy, and Cyborg were walking through the caverns beneath the library. In the show "Scath" was another name for Trigon.

There are several references to Naruto in this story. The name Shinobi is another name for ninja, Kyuubi is the name of the nine-tailed fox demon, Haku is the name of the tracker ninja from the Hidden Mist village, and the Water Dragon is a technique that Kakashi used once.

I put the three chapters about the Old One after I saw the episode "Forces of Nature" and I thought I needed some way to explain how Slade learned to create that monster. It also gave me a way to finish the story. The water controlling ability is a slight reference to Avatar: the Last Airbender. These powers were given to Slade because he never does anything without having a back up plan, and you don't create a giant invincible monster without having a way to destroy it first incase it gets out of control.

The part about Slade going to train with the True Master was really just to burn time. I didn't want to go strait from the Old One to Arella so I slipped in this little bit about the True Master. Plus I talked about the Masked council back in chapter three but I didn't show them until chapter 10. Originally, the five chapters with the True Master were supposed to be an exact redoing of "The Quest" but some reviews asked me to make the story more original so I brought in the Fire Scath early. See, your reviews are important. The Fire Scath has the same power that Slade had in season 4, that's not a coincidence.

Some of you noticed that chapter 16, when the Fire Scath offered Slade to join his, was from Spider-Man. But it fit real well with the story I couldn't replace it.

"The Prophecy" also inspired the Cycle of the Gem when Beast Boy was choosing a door to go through and he said, "Ennie, Mennie, Minnie, Moe." The 4 symbols shown above each door became the Cycle of the Gem. I had to stop, rewind, and play, pause, and rewind again over and over to get it right. Making Malchior a Gem was simply a spur of the moment thing. I just thought "hey wouldn't it be cool if Malchior was a Gem too?"

Putting Arella into the story was something I had planned on since day one as a way to close the story out. But making her be Jericho's mother wasn't. I had that added because everyone knows that Slade is Jericho's father and I needed to explain it somehow.

Some of you thought that Shaun was going to be the Fire Scath. A good guess, but not quite. Marth was always going to be the Fire Scath. But since he wasn't in the story much as Marth, I slipped him in, in Chapter 21.

All and all, this is one of my best stories. But it's not over yet. This one is, but Slade still has more to say, there will be a sequel. "Slade: Revenge of the Scath." I know it sounds a lot like Star Wars. The first chapter will come sometime around late august or early September, and will begin during "Things Change" when Terra returns and will continue on from there. I can't tell you more than that without spoiling the story.

Look forward to it. Until then, I am Master of the Red Eyes Black Dragon.