Author's Notes on Wars Are Won By Those Who Dare Family, Friends, and Foes

"You were expecting maybe turtles?" -- Modo

I don't remember when I first saw "Rock 'n Ride." I must have started watching Biker Mice From Mars at the end of their Saturday morning run and the switch to weekdays--which Fox put on in the mornings; Disney Afternoon filled the after-school hours--but I was hooked. I don't remember what episode I saw first. Not that it mattered when I got up a half-hour earlier than I needed to just so I would be dressed and could watch them. That's how I got up every morning my senior year of high school.

The first time Modo uttered that line, all the "what if" receptors fired in my brain. When I saw the following exchange in "Chill Zone"

Throttle: "Oh no, man! You don't really want toys that look like waterlogged reptiles, do you?"
Vinnie: "Yeah! Fuzzy and buff is where it's at!"

it was cinched. This crossover was destined.

Biggest problem with destiny is it never gives you a clue of how much work is involved.

So in the summer of 2000 when I started rewriting "Jack-of-All-Trades" into Shatter Your Illusions, I also took notes on the stories I was dreaming up that would become the Wars Are Won By Those Who Dare series. I initially had the crossover as the second story, set before Reunions and after Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Ronin. Laughing at my own notes, this is a great example of how ever when you write it down, the story is not carved into stone until is is written. And even then it's up for revising. This story had four outlines before it was finished.

Initial Outline of Ideas for BMFM/TMNT crossover

• Set in between "Jack-of-All-Trades" (before I rewrote and renamed it) and "Reunions"
• Set after "the Ronin"
• No more Sparks/have Vinnie captured
• Limburger took out Mutate opposition keeping Val Tech out of Chicago in exchange for her taking care of the Biker Mice and mutating his goons
• Val wants alien DNA
• Use Limburger's aquarium to break in

My initial idea was always to have Sparks kidnapped. It was the scene I had envisioned. I guess I was afraid of plopping him into the hapless victim role too soon. The second outline continues with this thread.

Ronin's Reemergence/Fusion/Val Tech's Vengeance

• Plot: Turtles, Black Bones, Zack, and Di meet up with Allie, Mona, the Biker Mice, and Tala in Chicago. Val Tech and Limburger have teamed up but for what purpose? Zack is mutating; Donnie and Di are captured. Allie has to pull the different teams together to rescue them.
• Allie compartmentalizes her emotions
• Characters
  • The Turtles
    • Leo
    • Mike
    • Raph
    • Donnie
  • Zack
  • Di
  • Snake-eyes
  • The Black Bones
    • Trash
    • Smarts
    • Eight
    • Ryan
  • Allie
  • Mona Lisa
  • The Biker Mice
    • Throttle
    • Modo
    • Vinnie
  • Charley
  • Tala
  • Limburger
  • Tabitha Val
  • Dr. Karbunkle
  • Dr. Arkson
  • BatWing
• Detailed outline
  1. Section 1: Allie and Mona; Allie's turning point remembering why she became a hero ends with their arrival in Chicago
  2. Section 2: Zack is tagged in New York because Val Tech is chasing Turtles; Snake-eyes advises leaving town with Black Bones and Di; travel and fight; Donnie starts falling for Di
  3. Section 3: Something with Biker Mice
  4. Section 4: Turtles, Black Bones reach Chicago; Fight with Limburger goons; Zack, Donnie, Di are captured
  5. Section 5: Allie and Mona split up, Mona takes a cell phone and the bike, Allie goes to Pete's place; Allie meets Biker Mice; Sparks is captured by Val Tech goons; Are followed back to Limburger's Tower
  6. Section 6: The prisoners' tales; Zack and Sparks break out
  7. Section 7: Allie breaks in and rescues baby
  8. Section 8: Turtles and Bones cause mass destruction; Allie has to rescue them; retreat to Tala's building
  9. Section 9: Allie's planning session
  10. Section 10: The attack
  11. Section 11: Curing Zack
  12. Section 12: Heading home
• Throttle is at Pete's drowning his sorrows
• Part of Allie's plan is for her and Turtles to swim up the aquarium
• Vinnie is kidnapped by BatWing from the bar instead of Sparks
• Limburger is getting genetically enhanced goons for helping Tabitha Val get Martian and Turtle DNA

After all that, I have a note to myself. "Changed mind again--want Sparks there so he and Zack can become friends." And after that I began to structure the series, formalizing different stories' places in the timeline. I realized for Turtles' side the crossover would have to take place three months after The Ronin, making it the fourth story for the series. The third outline is from this point.

BMFM/TMNT crossover - 3 months after Ronin

1. Limburger took out Mutates opposition keeping Val Tech out of Chicago in exchange for Tabitha taking care of the BM and mutating his goons
2. Val wants alien and Turtles DNA
3. Use Limburger's aquarium to break into the Tower
4. Not sure of title yet. Possibilities: Ronin's Reemergence, Fusion, Val Tech's Vengeance
5. Allie compartmentalizes her emotions
6. Plot: Turtles, Zack, Black Bones, and Di meet up with Allie, Mona, Mice, Charley, Sparks, and Tala in Chicago. Val Tech and Limburger have teamed up--see above. Zack is mutating; Donnie and Di are captured; Allie has to pull the different teams together to rescue them.
7. Songs: "Ninja" by Europe = Allie's theme
8. Characters
   • The Turtles
   • Zack
   • Di
   • Snake-eyes
   • The Black Bones
   • Allie
   • Mona Lisa
   • The Biker Mice
   • Sparks
   • Charley
   • Tala
   • Limburger
   • Karbunkle
   • Dr. Arkson
   • Tabitha Val
   • BatWing - a Vex
9. Detailed outline
   • Section 1: Zack is tagged in New York while Val Tech chases the Turtles; Snake-eyes advises leaving town with Black Bones and Di; travel and fight; Donnie starts falling for Di
   • Section 2: Allie and Mona; Allie's turning point remembering why she became a hero; ends with their arrival in Chicago
   • Section 3: Vinnie and Modo lost Throttle, ask Charley where her is; they leave Sparks at Garage and go to Pete's and find Throttle
   • Section 4: Turtles and Black Bones reach Chicago; Fight with Limburger's goons; Zack, Donnie, Di captured
   • Section 5: Allie and Mona split up; Mona takes cell phone and bike; Allie goes to Pete's; Allie meets BM; Sparks is captured by BatWing; follow them back to Limburger's Tower
   • Section 6: The prisoners' tales; Zack and Sparks break out
   • Section 7: What is Mona doing?
   • Section 8: Allie breaks in
   • Section 9: Turtles and Bones cause mass destruction; Allie has to rescue them; retreat to Tala's
   • Section 10: Too many heroes--everybody snappish until Mona defuses; Allie's plan
   • Section 11: The attack
   • Section 12: Curing Zack
   • Section 13: Heading home

I'm sure this is way more info on the creation of the story than anyone anticipated. Course I have a notes list for things that occur to me no matter when they fall in the series. The crossover notes that were eventually incorporated:

• BatWing’s description – she’s covered in coarse, dark brown fur – make sure this is added to TMNT/BMFM: Family, Friends, and Foes
• Novel Revisioning:

  Premise:

  All relationships must be built on trust.

  Beginning

  Setup the problem.

  Middle:

  Make the problem worse. Resolve one threat to focus on the more dangerous problem.

  End:

  Everything is resolved and friendships formed.

• Limburger plans a doublecross trying to find out what Val Tech wants with Allie. Leaves a message at the Last Chance saying he’ll get an antidote for Zack is she surrenders to him; Throttle, Charley, and Leo decide not to tell her; Raph overhears and uses it to goad Allie; Zack and Allie’s “shadows” scene; Allie goes
• Shadow is an old nickname Allie had for Zack
• J’onn J'onzz – Martian Manhunter
• After Allie gets back and to Raph – “You yelled at me after one of my brothers died. The first thing you ever said. Please respect Zack enough not to do it again while he dies.”
• Ryan over hears between Mike and Vinnie –
  Vinnie : “Must be love.”
  Mike: “Why do you say that?”
  Vinnie: “She didn’t even look twice at me.”
• Zack names the second-gen baby Kōun (Japanese for “chance = luck”)
• Throttle keeps everything bottled up inside until it explodes; concentrating so hard on being the dependable leader, getting the bad guys, saving Mars and Earth is all more important than his personal feelings. Vinnie and Modo have much healthier expressions of emotion ironically because Throttle has always been there for them. Not that they wouldn’t be there for Throttle but when he needs them, he shoves them away. He keeps putting himself last and eventually it catches up with him.
• Allie bottles everything up because she’s afraid of being vulnerable. If you’re vulnerable, you’re taken advantage of, you can’t fight back effectively. She’s afraid that the people she cares for about will get hurt because of her. She’s afraid of her own intensity of emotions, so she compartmentalizes—tries to give space to only one at a time. Mike helps her with this. But she tends not to express grief/pain when she should because of the vulnerability. And she’s afraid because she can so easily follow and create a criminal plan, can give into vengeance and rage so easily, that she will become the monsters she fights. Especially the Shredder.
• Raph blames himself for Zack and Donnie’s capture and takes it out on Allie.
• Raph: “Just like before, rushing off to solve the problem all by yourself without getting any help.”
  Allie: “When did you ever want me to be part of the team?”
• Guitar scene for later in Family, Friends, and Foes
• Tala's precog dreams are a psychic gift from Ntah when he saved her life. "It's something that runs in my clan, my family. They say my father dreamed true dreams."
• Scene between Allie and Charley in Chapter 21 of the crossover
  Allie: "I know who you are. And I heard what happened to your father. I can see it still upsets you."
  Charley: "Please don't tell Throttle and the others. They... they don't know."
  Allie: "Wouldn't they understand?"
  Charley: "Of course, they would. But I promised a long time ago that I wasn't going to stress them out with my problems. They're doing enough."
  Allie: "it's your choice. My advice is to level with them, especially Throttle. Because I made a similar promise and it led to Mike throwing himself t the man trying to kill me. That's how he got the nick across his shell. And how I almost got him killed because of my keeping secrets. (Bitterly shakes it off) But it's your life and I have no right poking my nose in it. Just think about it, okay?"

I won't bore you with the formal entire thirty chapter outline, which is what the fourth outline is. I'll just show you Chapter Twelve, which you can see by the prior notes I came up with during the writing of the novel and it bent the fight and the ending a bit.

1. Chapter Twelve: And Everyone Else
   chp12-everyone.html
   Word length:
   
1. GreasePit reports to Limburger
   1. recaps the events from his POV
2. Di and her father
   1. Di’s POV
   2. Learn that Arkson is her father
3. Limburger learns about ninjas
   1. Limburger’s POV
4. Val learned about the Hounds attack
   1. Arkson’s POV
   2. Plans to capture people to use as a shield
5. Capturing the prisoners
   1. Manuelo’s POV
   2. Limburger goons and Val Tech guards attack
   3. Wife, sister. a couple of nieces, and his son
   4. Manuelo escapes though injured and follows the vans

All in all, it only took a little over three years to complete. Probably wouldn't have taken that long if I hadn't insisted on stopping and working on other projects.

Other issues: Another story everyone uses to put me in the Carbine Haters club. No, I'll be nice after posting so many notes, and not post the comments made by those who put me in it. I'm supposed to let stuff like that slide off, but it irks me especially after I've done told the person I'm not and then have to explain what I'm doing. Oh just wait for the series conclusion already.

I want to thank Morning, Kira, and Jazz for the beta reading often under the pressures of needing to post the next chapter that night. I finished writing the rough draft on February 20, 2003 and started posting it at FanFiction.Net the next month. That posting finally finished on October 6, 2003. Wars Are Won By Those Who Dare: Family, Friends, and Foes was posted to the Library on June 27, 2004.

Last but not least, the soundtrack details:

1. "Biker Mice From Mars" by Will Anderson Cartoon Theme
2. “Remember the Heroes” by Sammy Hagar Wars Are Won By Those Who Dare Theme
3. “Family” by Riff Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Theme
4. “Running Down a Dream” by Tom Petty
5. “It’s My Life” by Bon Jovi The Black Bones’ Theme
6. “Ninja” by Europe
7. “Want Somebody to Love” by Jefferson Airplane Trash’s Theme
8. “I’ll Be There For You” by Bon Jovi Donnie and Di’s Theme
9. “Listen to Your Heart” by Roxette Raph and Mona Lisa's Theme
10. “Live and Let Die” by Guns ‘n Roses
11. “When It’s Love” by Van Halen Ryan and Trash’s Theme
12. "Enter Sandman" by Metallica Mentioned in the story
13. “Straight From the Heart” by Bryan Adams
14. “Fall Back into My Life” by Amber Pacific Mike and Allie’s Theme
15. “Aw Dip” by Cobra Starship Party song

To download the zip file, click on the album cover images.