AUTHER'S NOTE: Hey everybody. This fic is about the life story of Johnny Ridden and what happened to him after he went MIA. Did he die or did he make it out alive? The things that take place are a lot of stuff I just made up for fun. It's basically an extended story using facts and stuff I added. Enjoy, Johnny Ridden fans and/or Gundam Otakus!

In the fierce battles of the One Year War,
There were individuals known as an "Ace."
One shined as a comet,
Others known for there experience,
While others died nameless.
"Ace"
A name given to those who

fought bravely through the fierce battles.

The Crimson Lightning

Chapter 1: Crimson Lightning

The year is Universal Century 0079. The Principality of Zeon has just declared war on The Federal Forces and three seconds after, they attacked all simultaneously on side 1, 2 and 4. Sides 1, 2, and 4 were heavily damaged and all inhabitants were wiped out from the nuclear weapons and gassing. Not long after the attacks, Operation British takes place. The dropping of a side 2 depopulated colony on the Federation HQ, Jaburo. On the final day the colony broke up over the Persian Gulf and hit around North America and Australia. Though the Principality failed to strike Jaburo, they did wreak havoc on Earth and it's environment.

January 15, 0079, the Zeon's have now gone for another try at striking Jaburo by trying to drop a side five colony at the Battle of Loum. They met fierce resistance from the Earth Federation Space Forces led by General Revil. Dozel decided to abandon the colony drop and attack the Federation fleet directly showing them the true potential of their mobile suits…

"Ready?" Sarah, a female operator, ready to launch the Zaku.

"I'm ready." Johnny Ridden was in his read and black MS-06 Zaku F. He hung on the ceiling launch pad above another Zaku who was laying down on the floor launch pad. "Johnny Ridden, launching." He was instantly launched out of the ship and he readied his Zaku Bazooka for combat and flew forward.

Johnny watched Dozel's small speech on their current situation on one of the monitors above him. "The Zeon's first plan to drop a colony failed. I decided to give it another chance again by doing a surprise attack on a side 5 colony. Since we met heavy resistance from the Earth Federal Space Forces, I decided to abandon the dropping of the colony and let's show the feddies what we can do! Hail Zeon!" Dozel threw his fist into the air. Johnny looked at the monitor and back at his screen.

Johnny flew straight ahead along side many other Zaku pilots who were new a lot like he was. Even though they've been through training this was the real deal. He saw the huge fleet in rows and columns all over the place ahead of him. He got a feeling of scared and at the same time excited.

"Johnny?" His operator, Sarah, came up on his monitor. "Make sure that no ships pass the line of defense. If you need back up, there are other Zakus around."

"I don't think I'll need any help." Johnny replied seriously.

"Well do it if you need it, ok? No heroics."

"Alright. Alright. No heroics." I still don't think I need the help of taking down the fed's ships. Johnny thought to himself.

He looked around for the closest ship to the defense line. "There you are." Johnny locked onto a ship. He fires at the ship hitting it on the side. The ships cannons turned at him and returned fire. He barrel rolled out of the way and shot at the ship again destroying one of the cannons.

'Sir!" A young male yelled. "This Zakus really good!"

"Shut up!" The captain yelled at him. "Turn the ship and fire the missiles."

The ship continued forward and shot its missiles right at him.

"Heh heh heh, that's not going to work." Johnny chuckled and flew forward at full speed and turned side ways in the open space between the sets of missiles. He flew right up to the ship and landed on it looking right into the bridge, his Zaku's eye glaring at them. "Die Feddies!" Johnny slashed out his heat hawk into the bridge. He turned and flew away while the ship exploded little by little.

"Ah ha!" Johnny headed for another Salamis class from behind, that got a little past him almost through the defense line. He landed on the back of the ship right next to the boosters. He laid three crackers on their sides and flew away.

"Shit! Sir, there's a Zaku that snuck up right behind us!" A female operator on the radar yelled at him.

"Fire the cannons at him from the back!"

Johnny turned around and saw the cannons turn and aim at him. They started firing at him and he dodged around them. He then fired his bazooka right at where he set the grenades and caused a huge explosion destroying the engine. The ship had a chain reaction of explosions throughout the ship, breaking it apart.

Johnny looked around real quick to find another ship. He saw some Zakus having trouble taking down a ship and getting killed in the process.

"Damn." He saw the ship shoot up a Zaku to pieces. "Good for nothing FEDDIES!" He flew toward the ship dodging through beams coming from all around him.

"Get ready to Fire." The captain of the ship called to his own smaller squad of Salamis class. His squad contained several Salamis ships.

"That would be against orders." A male lieutenant looked at him.

"I don't give a damn!" The Captain screamed at him. "I'm going to give those damn zeeks what they deserve!"

"Sir, there's a Zaku headed right for us."

"Shoot it down. And prepare to fire!"

The lieutenant just shook his head.

The Salamis returned fire at him and he started dodging around. Johnny got clipped from one of the mega particle cannons on his right shoulder.

"Um…sir? This Zaku won't go down." A female operator looked over at him.

"Forget the damn Zaku, idiot. Tell the ships to fire in five seconds." He yelled at her.

"All ships, fire in five…four…three…two…one…"

"FIRE!" The captain screamed and pointed forward.

"Fire!" The operator called to the other ships. All of the ships near him that were part of his squad fired. Johnny was coming in from the side when he saw the ships all fire.

"Holy shit!" Johnny dodged away from all of the shots. After the firing ended, since he couldn't get closer anyways until it was done, he flew down toward the main ship. He shot his bazooka destroying one of the missile pods. He flew at the ship and landed on a cannon and shot another point blank.

"This damn Zaku won't leave us alone!" A guy controlling one of the cannons fired at Johnny. Johnny got his left arm shot off when the cannons shot catching him on surprise.

"You bastards!" Johnny flew forward toward the ship. He shot his bazooka at all of the cannons he saw destroying a few. He then took out his heat hawk and flew himself onto a cannon hacking into it with the heat hawk. Right then another cannon turned to him and shot blowing off his Zaku's head.

He opened up his cockpit and knocked off the door using his mobile suits hand. "I don't need my head to kill you!"

"Holy shit! Captain! This Zaku is unreal! It's still fighting even after losing his head and his left arm!" The guy was now afraid. He realized that these mobile suits are invincible with the right pilot.

"What? A Zaku is fighting with no head?" The captain was just as surprised as the guy. "If the Zeons can make that kind of thing with pilots like those, then were in for one hell of a war."

Johnny flew forward shooting his bazooka and then kicked into one of the cannons, crushing it. He threw a bunch of cracker grenades destroying a set of smaller cannons on the side of the ship. He flew to the front and hovered on front of the ship's bridge. The crew could clearly see Johnny in his cockpit with his space suit on.

"He has…no cockpit…door…" One of the female operators was slightly scared.

The captain stared hard at Johnny. He could see the anger in his face from where he was. The captain knew his fate now, and the fate of his crew.

Johnny flicked them off and pulled back a little to where they saw the glare of his Zaku's eye. He whipped his heat hawk to the side and slashed into the bridge. He kept hacking into the ship until he had no more breathe left.

He turned to look at where the colony was. He notice that they weren't going to get the colony. He turned away to head back to his ship. He couldn't fight any longer in his suit the way it was. He had to get a temporary Zaku until his can be repaired. He flew back to his ship.

When he got to where his ship should be it was ripped in half. There was debris everywhere. He thought of what could have happened. Then he thought of the ships that fired at the Zeon fleet. He sat there and started to cry thinking of Sarah. His girlfriend who launched him into this battle. He looked up at the Federation Space Forces. Then he saw the Zeon Forces backing away. He flew along side other Zakus and ships leaving.

As he was flying he saw a Zaku fly up toward him and the pilot's cockpit open and he jumped in it's hand. The Zaku pilot neared Johnny's Zaku and the man jumped into the opening of Johnny's cockpit. "Excuse me but are you Johnny Ridden?" He was talking to him through the speakers in there space suits.

"Yea, why?" Johnny was a little confused on why a guy just jumped into his cockpit and asked who he was.

"Ms. Kacyllia Zabi wants to meet with you. Immediately. She has been trying to contact you but couldn't get through."

Johnny nodded and the guy jumped back to his Zaku. He then flew away and Johnny flew to the ship ahead of him.

"Three ships?" Dozel was surprised. "So there's someone else who can destroy three ships other than Char? Impressive."

"Yes." Kacyllia nodded. She was over a screen talking to Dozel from Granada Base. She told him about Johnny and what he accomplished, "He took down three Salamis Class ships."

Dozel nodded with his eyes closed. "Very impressive."

A soldier walked into Kacyllia's office and saluted her. "Ma'am. The pilot, Johnny Ridden, is on his way to see you."

"Well Dozel, the pilot is on his way. I will talk to you later."

"Right." They ended the transmission and she turned back to the soldier. "Let him in when he gets here. You are dismissed."

"Ma'am." He saluted again, turned around and walked through the doors.

Johnny got onto a Musai, that was ordered to take him to Granada Moon Base. Johnny just relaxed in the cafeteria until arrival. He grabbed a drink and thought about Sarah. He then started to cry thinking of how he lost her.

A soldier came in awhile later and greeted him. Johnny was at a table away from all of the other soldiers on the ship. "We have arrived at Granada and you are ordered to go straight to Kacyllia's office."

Johnny looked up at him and got up, pushing him out of the way. The soldier looked at him puzzled as to why he's so pissed. "Wonder what crawled up his ass and dies." The soldier mumbled to himself.

Johnny entered the lobby area outside of Kacyllia's office. He saw two soldiers standing by the door on both sides. "Ah, Johnny Ridden I assume?" The same soldier that told Kacyllia he was on his way, greeted Johnny.

"Yea…" Johnny nodded.

"Right this way." The soldier directed him into the room.

Johnny entered the room when the soldier held the door opened and closed it behind him. Johnny walked to Kacyllia's desk and stood straight and saluted.

"Ensign Johnny Ridden, ma'am. You wished to see me."

"Yes. Yes I did." Kacyllia turned around in her chair. "I notice your great performance. A lot like Char Aznable. Fast. You destroyed three ships. So did he."

"Yes, ma'am I did."

"You know what that means?" Kacyllia smiled.

"No, ma'am…I don't."

"That's ace pilot material. You did what not many could do. Yes, we have had a few others like Shin Matsunaga and the Black Tri Stars, Gaia, Ortega and Nash. They caught General Revel. But you are ace pilot material for what you did."

"I am?"

"Yes. And why couldn't I get to you?"

"I had my head and cockpit missing. I don't think I could have retrieved anything."

"Ah, I see." Kacyllia sounded very pleased. "Even after you lost those parts of your mobile suit you still fought. I like that. You fight no matter what. That shows your true colors and devotion. You do know when a mans life is threatened in battle, it shows their true colors?"

"I never really thought about it."

"Well it's the truth. You are now promoted to Major… Johnny Ridden. An ace."

Johnny stood there shocked but at the same time very proud that he is an ace pilot. He can have his own name and everything.

"Well, that's all I need to say. If you'll excuse me…" Kacyllia stood up and headed to the door."…I have a meeting to go to. You are dismissed."

Johnny saluted her and walked out. As Johnny was walking, he thought Where do I go? My ship was destroyed. I need to find somewhere to go. Johnny stopped. He turned around and stopped Kacyllia and the two soldiers in the hallway as they escorted her to her ship.

"Ma'am." Johnny saluted. The two soldiers stood there in front of her. She stepped forward pushing them to the side.

"Yes?" She was slightly pissed from seeing him again after he was dismissed.

"Where do I go? My ship was destroyed in the Battle of Loum."

She thought for a second. "The ship you came on…tell them their orders are to take you to Earth and go to a base in Southeast Asia. There are some things going on over there with the Federation forces."

"Yes Ma'am." Johnny saluted and headed back to his ship.

Johnny told the men that he was to go to Earth in Southeast Asia. They were direct orders from Kacyllia Zabi. The captain nodded and like that, took Johnny to Earth. Johnny was transported to the base there and began his fighting under the new name he gave himself as an ace, "Johnny Ridden, The crimson Lightning!"

AUTHER'S NOTE: Hey guys. Hoped you enjoyed Chapter 1. Like I said, if there is anything that didn't happen for real aside the true facts that are used, I made it up for the story.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Mobile Suit Gundam or any of the characters used. Even though I wished I did because Gundam RULES!