Disclaimer: I do not own the copyrights to Gundam Wing, Endless Waltz, or Episode Zero. All Copyrights belong to their respective owners.

Reader's Note: This is a re-post.

Gundam Wing Episode Zero:

Johan Peacecraft Rodriguez

Part 1: The Mission

"We all have our beginning, an episode zero I think one would call it. How many of you have your own episode zero?"

Johan Peacecraft Rodriguez

Gundam Wing & Sailor Moon: X Pi

Name: Johan Peacecraft Rodriguez

DOB: September 18, AC 178

Place of Birth: Colony L-7

Ethnicity: Half Spanish & Half British

Talents: Music, Martial Arts, Painting, and Piloting

Occupation: Gundam Pilot

G

Year: A.C. 192

Johan brushed away the sweat from his brow as he made his way through the cramped ventilation system. He looked down the long shaft with his green eyes and felt his own skin rubbing against the cold metal while at the same time feeling the air blow past him like a gale. He still kept pushing onward for what was at the end of this shaft would be the goal of this mission.

Johan felt his shortly cut hair begin to be blown slightly by the gale that was going past him. He felt the aggravation of what it feels like to be trapped, but he kept on moving through that confined and cramped space. Even though he started through the crawl space a few minutes ago it felt like he was in there for a year.

"Relativity." A teacher once told Johan, "When you're with a beautiful woman, a day can seem like a second and when you're bored a second can seem like a day. It's all relative."

Johan kept pressing when he saw the wire mesh at the end of the shaft. He pressed on harder and harder to get to the end, feeling all the objects in his pockets poke and prod him. He felt his own elbows against his sides, his sweat feeling like water in a shower, and still he kept going.

He came to the wire mesh and shoved it out, it came down with a vibrating crash as Johan crawled his way out of the shaft.

"I thought I was going to suffocate in there." Johan said to himself, he brushed his hands through his shortly cut hair getting rid of all the excess sweat.

"I think you will suffocate when facing me." A voice from behind said

Johan spun around and found a kid of twelve and dressed in a Chinese white robe. He looked at Johan with deep brown eyes while his black hair was swept back.

"It's been a while Johan." He said

"I know, Wufei. I have been training like you."

Wufei scoffed, "I don't practice martial arts these days."

Johan stood speechless he couldn't think of a thing to say, until he decided to try to get this mission over with. The room he was in was filled with control panels, like a data bank. This was the top of the mountain the goal that Johan was trying to achieve. He stepped over to one of the consoles.

Wufei placed a firm grip on Johan's shoulder, "I know what you're here for." He said, "I'm here to try and stop you from taking it."

"I wouldn't call it taking." Johan said, "I call it borrowing."

He reached up to Wufei's grip and grabbed his wrist and flung the Chinese warrior over his shoulder.

The fight began, Wufei got back up to his feet taking off his white rob to show his blue tank-top underneath it. He made the first move, he dashed at Johan with a punch to the face, Johan dodged, then a kick to the side, but Johan caught it. He held onto Wufei's ankle and shoved him onto his back.

Wufei threw him self back onto his feet at he made another assault at Johan. This time he jumped up towards the ceiling and tried a flying kick from there, but it was no use. Johan jumped up towards Wufei, he took his legs and clamped them onto Wufei's left wrists. Then took the crook of his left arm and clamped Wufei's right wrist. He had one hand free and made his punch to Wufei's stomach as they tumbled to the steel floor below.

Wufei was now out of breath, he gasped for it as Johan got up and typed frantically through the computer while Wufei was trying to regain his strength. He found what he was looking for, he saw the plans for the Gundam that was to be built here at this colony (colony L-5). While he was looking it over, he listened to Wufei slowly regain his breath, while Johan saw something else on the screen. Other sets of plans for this same Gundam, the first Gundam had only one Dragon Fist where the arm extends outwards, the second had Dragon Fists on Both Arms, and the third had Dragon Fists on both arms but the extended farther outward then the last two.

Johan reached into his pocket for a blank disk, he marked it before he came to the colony. He marked it "L-5", he shoved into the slot as it was being copied, he watched the progress bar growing longer and longer while Wufei was just a few breaths away from regaining his strength.

Johan spun around to look at the struggling Wufei as the files were being copied, he kept looking back and forth to see which one would be done first. Wufei, the screen, Wufei, the screen, and this cycle kept going back and forth. Until Johan looked back and saw that the task was done, he reached down and took out the disk and shoved into his pocket. He spun around and saw Wufei back on his feet blocking his only way of escape, the ventilation shaft.

"If you want out Johan," Wufei held his fists up, "you'll have to go through me."

Johan smiled, "You still resent the fact that I've been accepted as part of the Long clan?"

"Yes, no one other than our family blood should be allowed to train under Master Long."

"Very well, then."

Johan charged at Wufei and shoved his fist into his stomach, Wufei landed on his side once again gasping for air.

"Expect no mercy." Johan said as he climbed into the ventilation shaft.

Wufei laughed a little bit still trying to regain his strength.

"He's more like me than I am." Wufei thought.

G

A few hours later, Johan was inside of Colony L-4, which was a colony belonging to the Winner family. Johan could feel the dust coming from the nearby resource satellite that the colony was attached to. Then again the Winner family did become this rich by investing themselves in space resources, even though they never invested in mobile suits. At least not that they know of, this was the next one that Johan was after. The Gundam, known as Sandrock. He looked from the control room out into the mobile suit construction area. He saw the suit there, it was barely finished with pieces still missing from it and thankfully there's no one around to see if Johan was there to catch him, or so he thought.

"You there?" a voice called from behind him,

"Oh damn," Johan thought, "I have to get better at sneaking in."

He spun around taking out his twelve inch knife and pointing it at whoever was there, the lights came on and Johan saw this short pudgy man with this thin mustache and a unusual smile. Johan looked at him with his knife out ready to attack him, because if anyone is going to be in his way he's willing to kill.

"Are you with Oz?" The man asked, "You look like you have the hair for it."

"Who are you?" Johan asked with the knife still out

"I am, Instructor H. Who are you?"

"That doesn't matter."

Instructor H shrugged, "You're here for the plans for the Sandrock aren't you?"

Johan didn't answer as Instructor H moved towards the console, he only said, "Don't make me kill you."

"You won't need to." The Instructor smiled, "I'm handing the plans over to you."

"Why?" Johan sneered, "Give me one good reason to trust you."

"I can't give you one, but I have a good reason to trust you with these plans. My reason is that I can see that you are the kind of boy who can be a Gundam pilot. So please, take these copied plans, I also entrust you with the plan for the most dangerous mobile suit ever conceived; the Wing Zero."

Johan looked at the instructors' face as it seemed to melt from its abnormal smile to a distressed expression of fear and anxiety.

"Wing Zero?"

"Yes, I would advise you not to use it only keep it." The instructor pulled out a disk from the console and handed it to Johan, "Take them, Gundam pilot."

Johan had let down his knife only for a moment as he took the disk nimbly from the instructors' hand.

"May God be with you." Instructor H said as Johan dashed out of the control room.

"What was that all about?" Johan thought

He never dwelled on it, but he felt that if there was such a suit that could be that dangerous then it would be best to leave it achieved on the disk and never to be touched. He proceeded to the next colony, Colony L-3 for the plans for a Gundam that will be known as Heavyarms, which wasn't a bad mobile suit in Johan's opinion. He looked at the nearly complete mobile suit, at first it didn't seem like much until Johan saw it's gattling for an arm.

"Now I know why they'll call this thing, Heavyarms."

He took the plans and escaped to the next colony, Colony L-2, he made his way through the colony interior down into the Gundam plant. Through the darkness he looked to find the place that would hold the plans. Eventually after treading through the darkness he found the control room and took all the plans for the Colony L-2 mobile suit.

While he went in search for it he found another mobile suit, it looked like a combination of Darth Vader and the Grim Reaper himself. This is the Gundam DeathScythe.

"I wonder what kind of psycho would pilot this thing." Johan wondered,

Suddenly, Johan felt a sharp edge pressing against his throat and a cocky voice whispered, "Who the hell are you."

Johan's eyes were now accustomed to the darkness of this mobile suit hangar. He knew where he was standing and that he was in a clear space to fight. He reached up for the knife and grabbed the wrist and threw whoever it was over his shoulder. In the darkness Johan saw a boy with a long braid going down his back. The boy got to his feet, Johan saw the knife in the boys hand. He came at his with full force with the knife out and ready to stab Johan wherever it landed.

Johan could only rely on his other senses, it was too dark to fight using his eyes. He heard the steps stampeding towards him, he did see the knife in the little light that there was in the mobile suit bay. He waited like a praying mantis waiting for it's prey, the boy came within range of Johan and he drew out his knife and held it to the boys throat as he felt the cold sharp edge against his throat.

"I'm really in the habit of getting into these kinds of situations." Johan thought

He suddenly heard a slight laugh, "What's your name, buddy?" The boy asked

"My name is unimportant."

"Well, in that case I should tell you that I am known as the God of Death."

"We might meet again, God of Death." Johan said, "But I don't think you'll know me, but I'll know you."

G

Johan finally made his way into the last Colony for the plans, Colony L-1. This was it the last of them all, soon he'll be able to go back home to Colony L-7 and create his own Gundam. He walked through and on into the mobile suit bay. At first when he got to the mobile suit bay, he only saw darkness, like the last step of the mission at Colon L-2. Yet, Johan didn't know it he was being watched. A pair of Prussian blue eyes was watching him in the darkness; they watched him make his way to the control room of the mobile suit bay.

They watched as Johan took the plans for the Wing Gundam, they saw him copy the files and place the disk into his fat pocket that had the plans for the other Gundams. The pair of eyes looked to the light switched and the owner of those eyes reached out to turn the lights on.

"Freeze." The voice behind the Prussian blue eyes called to Johan

Johan turned around to look at the owner of the voice, he stood within the square steel room looking at a boy of 13 years pointing a gun at him. The boy had that pair of Prussian blue eyes and had brown hair that tapered down over his eyes in thick bangs. Johan went to his knife and held it out at the boy.

"You know you're an idiot to bring a knife to a gun fight." The boy said

"I don't like to use guns." Johan stated, "I think that it takes away the honor in fighting."

"There's honor in fighting, but this is a time of war and in war honor has to be dropped in facing the enemy. If your enemy has a bigger and better weapon then you have to get a bigger weapon. It's basic tactics of war."

The boy looked at Johan's green eyes and suddenly realized something; "You're a Gundam Pilot aren't you?"

"In training, but how could you tell?"

"It's something that a Gundam pilot can sense in another."

"Now that you've discovered me, aren't you going to kill me?"

The boy still held his gun at Johan.

"You're really going to kill me aren't you?" Johan asked his eyes with open with fear looking down the barrel of the gun.

"If that's what you want me to do."

"I can't let you do that," Johan refuted, "I have too much to do."

The boy let his gun to his side, "I'll let you go this time." He said, "But don't cross my path again, or I'll kill you."

"Mission accepted." Johan stated as he left the square steel room with the plans in his pocket. He thought back to that boy and about the things he said, "There's no honor in war, then I'll have to refine my tactics and use the gun more often if I want to survive. I like that guy." Johan felt his hair as he made his way back to his ship to Colony L-7.

"I think," He thought, "That I should have my hair longer, like that kids, even though I don't even know his damn name. If we do meet, I'll be better and I'll show him the power that I'll harness."

To be continued…

Author's Notes: A while after I wrote "X Pi", I had heard of this comic book series where it tells the pasts and stories of each Gundam pilot. I thought that if they can have a past then Johan damn sure better have one. It took me a while to think of a past for him but eventually I had thought of one. Especially when it came to the contact with the other pilots. Such as, as you've read, Johan's hair was much shorter when he was younger. At least until he met Heero Yuy, after his fight with him Johan gained so much respect for Heero that he decided to grow out his hair like Heero's.

Come back again for the next chapter of Episode Zero