Ozaki jumped into the air while spinning his body, directing his leg into an aerial spin kick. His kick clashed against his opponent's, who had done the same move in order to counter it. Ozaki grunted as he landed on his feet and sent out a barrage of punches, all of which were expertly blocked or flung aside by his opponent. His opponent ended Ozaki's attack by intercepting an incoming elbow with his wrist, stopping the barrage dead in its tracks. Ozaki turned his head and found himself face to face with his opponent, his friend and sparring partner Katsunori Kazama.

Kazama grunted as he and Ozaki launched themselves away from the other, giving themselves space in order to prepare their next moves. Kazama had always enjoyed being in the thickest of the fighting, and prided himself in giving it his all no matter whether he was in actual combat or just training.

The two fighters circled each other inside the small, close-quarters sparring pit, or "The Grave Pit" as it was joking called by the other mutants. Kazama was the first one to act, launching himself off of the metal grating that covered the Grave walls and swinging his leg downwards into an aerial axe kick. Ozaki reacted quickly and brought up his hands to catch his foot, grunting in effort as the kick landed heavily upon him. This one had caught him by surprise, Kazama almost never went for the axe kick, especially an aerial one. Ozaki gripped Kazama's foot before using it to flip him into the air, causing Kazama to let out a shout of surprise as he was sent flipping back towards the wall.

Before Kazama could crash against the wall, he regained his bearings and used the momentum to brace his feet against the grating. He grunted in effort as he propelled himself off the wall, corkscrewing through the air. Ozaki gasped in surprise as Kazama landed behind him before attempting to land a kick, aiming towards Kazama's head to end the battle quickly. Kazama was ready for this however, and dropped to one knee, allowing Ozaki's kick to sail over his head. Kazama didn't skip a beat, throwing a flurry of punches into Ozaki's stomach and launching him away. Ozaki crashed against the pit wall and groaned before quickly moving his body, just narrowly avoiding a devastating kick that Kazama planted into the wall. He wasted no time in grabbing his planted foot, using his enhanced strength to smash Kazama into the wall before throwing him off into the air.

Kazama cried out in surprise as he crashed into the wall and was sent sailing into the air. He redirected himself into landing on his feet before he could crash down onto the ground, and turned to Ozaki, striking a martial arts pose as he did so. Now on opposite ends, the two combatants threw themselves at each other, entangling themselves in midair and falling to the ground with a great crash as their light armor collided with the floor. Kazama was briefly stunned, looking up just in time to see Ozaki grip his arm and dislocate it! He gave out a shout as pain filled his arm, but forced himself to bring it up in order to defend his head from an axe kick that Ozaki had tried to drop on him. He threw his leg off before quickly jumping to his feet, glaring at Ozaki while ignoring the pain in his arm. Kazama dropped down, attempting a leg sweep to knock Ozaki off his feet, but Ozaki would have none of it. Ozaki leapt into the air as Kazama's leg passed where he was standing moments ago, landing atop of Kazama and bringing his arm down to chop at the side of Kazama's neck.

Ozaki stopped himself right before his chop made contact, holding his hand in place before Kazama's neck. He had hesitated.

Kazama looked up in surprise, Ozaki had had the advantage, why was he just giving it up? Kazama cleared the thoughts from his head as he knocked Ozaki's hand away and kicked him away. Ozaki grunted as he crashed against the pit wall, turning around in time to see Kazama lunge at him and force him against the metal grating. Ozaki exclaimed in surprise as Kazama made a grab at Ozaki's throat, closing his windpipe and choking Ozaki! Ozaki coughed, unable to get air as he struggled to force Kazama off of him in vain.

"That's enough!"

Both mutants looked up as the lights were brought to life, revealing the form of their mentor and superior, Commanding Officer Kumasaka above them. Kazama got off of Ozaki as both mutants headed to the center of the pit, with Ozaki grabbing as his throat and taking in gulps of air as his windpipe was freed. Both mutants snapped to attention as other mutants filled in the surrounding observation space from above the pit, filling the training facility's observation deck. Kumasaka looked at Ozaki, "If this were real you'd be dead by now." Ozaki wasn't quite sure, but he thought he heard a slight hint of disappointment in his commander's voice. If he felt something or not, he didn't show it, as his face was nothing but stone cold and emotionless. "Luckily, it isn't," now it seemed like his tone had softened a bit. It could've just been Ozaki's imagination, but-

Ozaki's thoughts were interrupted as Kazama chuckled to himself, but he was apparently a bit too loud as Kumasaka turned to him.

"Kazama," the commander said sternly, "No need to be proud." Kazama debated on if he should hold his tongue or not, but felt that he had deserved that right, "But I won the combat, sir." The other mutants merely watched in silent amusement as Kazama once again tried to show off again. "Kazama. The aim of this practice is not to defeat your opponent," Kumasaka said as he reprimanded the mutant. Kazama stayed silent briefly, he knew where this was going, he had heard it countless times before. "Then what is it, sir?" Kumasaka didn't miss a beat, "To become stronger than you were yesterday." He must have told Kazama this thousands of times beforehand whenever he let his victories get to his head, and he would do it one thousand times more if it came to it. At this, Kazama stayed quiet.

"Alright now. Ozaki," the mutant looked up and snapped to attention as his name was called. "Report to me in thirty minutes." Oh no. Had he performed that badly this time? He thought he had done pretty well considering the circumstances. Regardless, Ozaki acknowledged the order. "Dismissed!" As the mutants in the observation deck turned and filed out of the room, Kumasaka regarded both Kazama and Ozaki with a quick glance before leaving the room. Ozaki sighed as he started to take a step towards the exit, but Kazama wasn't done. "Hey, wait." Great. He knew what he was going to say.

"Why did you hold back?" There it was. "You think you would beat me?"

Ozaki would really rather not deal with this right now. "No," he said, not turning to face him, "No, you're the winner." Kazama didn't buy that for a second, but he ignored it and continued on, "Hey, listen. Just remember one thing" Here we go. He knew where this was going. "In real combat it's all about killing. You can't listen to your conscience on the battlefield." Yep. Bloodthirsty Kazama as always, but Ozaki felt that he should say remind his friend on what they were fighting for. "If we don't have a conscience," he began, "how can we protect people?" Kazama stayed quiet for a second before he gave a grunt of anger and gripped Ozaki's shoulder, forcing him face him. Well his words seemed to have an opposite effect on Kazama, only making him angry. "You're trouble is you're too soft", Kazama spat, "Look we're mutants okay?!" Ozaki stayed silent. "We were born to fight and that's it. We're not here to protect," Kazama scowled.

Kazama turned away, "You'd better remember that." The mutant then gripped his still dislocated arm, and popped it back into place, before walking out and leaving Ozaki alone in the pit.

"I've been told two mummified monsters have been found off the coast of Hokkaido," Kumasaka informed Ozaki, who was now dressed out of his battle armor into a more casual black uniform. Ozaki stood before his superior's desk, hands behind his back as his commander sat viewing a report. He glanced at Kumasaka's desk, spotting various pictures of what appeared to be two gigantic, rock-covered creatures being lifted out from the ocean, with both creatures having odd features. Before Ozaki could try to make them out, his superior continued. "A UN biologist is being sent to examine the remains." Ozaki lifted his eyes to his superior, and silently begged that this wasn't going where he thought it was going. "You'll be going," Please don't say it. "As a bodyguard." Ozaki blinked, hoping for his superior to say more. When he didn't, his heart sank. "Is that all I'll be doing, sir?" Kumasaka looked up, not missing the disappointment in the mutant's voice, "That's correct. Should be easy."

"Oh come on, please!" Ozaki whined, "Our unit doesn't do babysitting, sir!" Kumasaka was aware this wasn't really something that Ozaki was ecstatic about, but it was out of his hands for now. "Listen, the Gotengo will have to undergo repairs," he said as he read from the report. What he read next didn't surprise him in the slightest. "Captain Gordon is presently in a cell," he raised his eyebrows once he turned the page, "...for striking a superior officer." Kumasaka sighed. It seemed that the good captain was doing everything he could to get into trouble. He held a great deal of respect for Gordon, he had a good combat record but his stubbornness and headstrong attitude meant that it was a given he would constantly clash with the chain of command. Kumasaka suddenly shut the report. "So you won't be going anywhere, Ozaki."

Ozaki sighed in disappointment. "So I've gotta look after some old egghead from the UN." Ozaki scrunched his face up, "Honestly, sir. Do you know how cranky these old farts can be?" Kumasaka said nothing as he looked away, but he held a slight smirk of amusement on his face. Ozaki sighed again while turning to the door, "So where will I be meeting this bio-" He froze once he saw the person in the doorway.

"I think you'll find," the woman said, not amused in the slightest, "I'm not cranky at all." Before Ozaki could even think of muttering an apology, Kumasaka stood up, "The biologist from the UN. Miss Miyuki Otonashi."

Wait they found two monsters instead of just Gigan? Whaaaaa? Who could the second one be I wonder? Until next time!