Chapter 1: Remember
Author's note: Well, I've decided to just take every opportunity I can to upload, so hopefully uploads will come faster from now on. Thanks again to XilianXFan for her review AND support!

"I still don't see why we have to do it," sighed Kenichi. "There hasn't been an attack in eighteen years!"

It was hard to believe to the older members of the new Earth Defense Force, but eighteen years had indeed passed since the kaiju apocalypse. Since then, the world had largely been rebuilt. Most of the major cities were still something of a mess, but Tokyo, where most of the survivors (and by now their descendants) lived, no longer remotely resembled the mess it had been so recently. To the older citizens, it was hard to believe they'd come so far in so short a time. Some even felt as though it had only been yesterday when they watched their homes being destroyed by drones. These were the watchful citizens, the ones who were still fearful it could happen again. They were also the ones who worked hardest at their duties at the EDF.

To those who had been born after the apocalypse, or those who didn't remember a time before the war, it seemed perfectly natural. Most of them, such as free-spirited young Kenichi, were frustrated with their cautious elders and didn't understand what was so important about their jobs.

"Don't get your boxers in a knot! It's our duty, remember?" snapped Emiko next to him. "It might be a little boring to endlessly run scans, but the boredom of one is a necessary sacrifice for the safety of many."
"Book one, page one, paragraph three of 'explanations of your duty as an EDF personnel' written by Ana Gordon," Kenichi smirked, picking up the offending book from off his desk. At least the higher-ups realized the younger EDF workers' feelings. "You can quote it, I can identify it."

"And we should both get back to work," Emiko pointed out and returned to her scanner.

Kenichi sighed again. Of course he had to be stationed next to Emiko, one of those rare exceptions. She might not like her duty, but she at least had the maturity to suck up and do it. Or rather, that was how it seemed. In reality, she simply had her own agenda that this fit right into. Everyone knew it. Her reputation for being a snob and the adult version of a teacher's pet was the most major gossip topic in the department.

Honestly, Kenichi thought irately, what else is there to discuss? It was his belief that he worked in the most boring department in the universe. All everyone did all day was run scans to make sure that nothing possibly dangerous was currently hurdling towards the earth. Kenichi almost wished something would happen to endanger them. Just having nothing going on was driving him so crazy that he even occasionally considering reporting that something was hurtling towards them to cause some panic.

"I wish you'd stop being so childish," Emiko mumbled. "Our commander deserves better." A dreamy look came into her eyes as she contemplated the extremely handsome Commander Ozaki.

"Emiko!" Kenichi snapped in response, seeing her blank expression. "At least I don't pretend to be interested in my job solely to get the commander's attention!"

Like most young women in the EDF, Emiko had quite a crush on their commander. What did it matter that most of them were half as old as he was? What did it matter that he was already married? Several of them had attempted to flirt with him over the years, much to his amusement. He hadn't so much as looked at any one of them, however. He was married to his soulmate, and he desired nothing more in the realm of romance.

"He's due for inspections soon," Emiko continued dreamily. "Maybe he'll bring his son with him."

Kenichi shook his head. Recently, many of them had begun going after Ozaki's eldest son, Hideto. He was considered just as handsom as his father. And besides, he was available.

"Why don't you just shut it?" Kenichi snapped at last.

"Make me!"

"Fine, I will! Nothing better to do, anyway!" Kenichi lunged at her, knocking her out of her seat. Soon, her inner frustration came out as well, and the two were soon rolling around on the ground near their stations.

"Stop it, you two!" snapped the head of the division. They ignored him. Even the perfect Miss Emiko had her limits, evidently.

Eventually, the chaos spread. The entire department was engaged in a melée. In other words, the perfect order was broken and the twenty-odd young adults who were sick and tired of the normal, humdrum lives they led were engaged in a brawl. Most of them didn't even know what they were fighting about. All that mattered was to punch the living daylights out of whoever got in their way.

"Okay, what's going on here?" a voice suddenly demanded from the doorway. Standing there, ready to conduct his routine inspection of this department, was none other than
Commander Ozaki. At that point, everyone stopped injuring one another for no reason and stood at attention. The women even grinned flirtatiously. All the men rolled their eyes.

"What is going on in here?" Ozaki demanded. Though it had been eighteen years since he had fought X and won, his skill and sheer luck had never truly worn off. And he was still just as imposing of a figure as he had been, if not even more by now. Being the commander of EDF certainly had benefits. One of them happened to be that people listened to him. And no one called him "soft" anymore, either.
"Are you out of your minds?" Ozaki asked. To an outsider, he would seem as calm and gentle as he always was. To them, however, he was quite frustrated. "Getting into a fight on duty?"

"He started it!" Emiko pointed at Kenichi.

"She was making passes at you!" Kenichi snarled.

"He was getting on my nerves!" Emiko pointed dramatically. "And he was shirking his duty."

"We just joined in!" everyone else cried. "We're sick and tired of our duty!"

"Nothing ever happens in here!"

"I'd rather be janitor than this job!"

"Hell, I'd rather be fighting Godzilla or something that this!"

Ozaki raised a hand as level of noise increased, with everyone shouting out complaints at once. Instantly, everyone fell silent once they saw his hand. Or they realized their neighbors were not complaining any longer.

"Now listen!" Ozaki began, his tone soft despite his harsh words. "All of you! Your duty might be boring, I know. I feel for you. My own duties are boring. Almost everyone here at EDF has some job they'd rather not do. Yet you are the loudest complainers! Why? You have possibly the most crucial jobs in the entire EDF! Last time the Xilians attacked, we had little to no warning. Thanks to you and your jobs, we will have warning enough next time. So if you hate your jobs so much that you won't properly do them, please don't come crying to me when they attack and we aren't prepared. You got me?"

Everyone nodded. Perhaps their willingness to agree with him had something to do with the fact that he was the most powerful humanoid known and could blast them all to bits.

"Remind me to give you a raise if you can perform your duties without complaint until next month," Ozaki finished. Nodding to the now slightly brighter faces, Ozaki stepped out.

Gosh, what was with them? They were so troublesome. Ozaki understood their frustration, but even the janitors (the ones in charge of cleaning sewage) and desk-jobbers, who probably had the worst or most boring jobs in existence, didn't complain so loudly.

They're young, a voice said in his head. You were that way too. Remember the day you met Miyuki? You could certainly complain loudly when you wanted to. And look where it got you!
Kazama was worse, he thought back. He once threatened to go on strike when he was told to do paperwork. So he basically then forced it onto me. Gosh, my hand was sore for days afterwards.

At this point, thoughts of his fiery teammate and the years of bullying he'd inflicted on him were no longer hurtful. Rather, they were somewhat pleasant. How far he'd come since then!

Smiling at the thought, Ozaki returned to his office. He had a lot of work to do yet.