So this chapter is slightly short and went through a LOT of revisions. Honestly I am still not totally happy with it, but I am less happy with missing an update. Due to a dead AC converter block I was without my computer for a few days and had a friend's wedding to help out with.

Inserting Shameless Plug

(Its like an entry plug but in really bright colors and only compatible with those skimpy test plug suits from REBUILD)

I have also started a new story. Well I posted a prologue anyway. Assassins Of A Counter Earth is an Assassin's Creed story set on John Norman's Gor. I like Gor's setting but I hate the authorship due to his annoying style and focus on the small enslaved population to the exclusion of the rest of a cool setting. The Fandumb surrounding much of the Gor RP out there also doesn't help. Despite the setting, the story will be trying to stay M rated and not pass into MA since that can't be posted here.

Removing Shameless Plug

I would be honored if y'all wouldn't mind checking it out and maybe leaving a review. Now back to what you all are here for: Trishula, the story of of gods in the shape of man learning to cope with humanity and kicking ass.

Edit: 12/17/14 formatting issues

Chapter 16

A gout of burning light lanced out across Tokyo-3 and with a flash of orange light deflected into a mountainside miles away.

I AM CREATED SHIVA, THE DESTROYER…

The purple giant stepped over the charred and smoking form of Unit Zero, roaring at the cracked and broken crystal drilling into the earth. Light flashed from the great cracks in the angel as it prepared to fire again. Unit One planted its feet and raised both open hands towards the enemy.

THIS GROUND, THIS CITY, THIS NATION, THIS PLANET…

The angel's attack shot out and stopped dead in the air as it hit the wall of light. The AT field shone in expanding circles, like ripples through a sea of fire.

THIS WOMAN, ALL OF THEM ARE UNDER MY PROTECTION!

With shaking but undeniable progress, Unit One started to move forward. The beam intensified and the further from the center of the field, the greater it flexed, forming a great spike with Unit One's hands at its point. With thundering steps, the evangelion closed in and with a final mountain moving push, the AT field and the beam of light flashed as they eliminated each other.

With a shrieking sound, Ramiel realized the drill it had sunk kilometers into the ground was now keeping it from retreating from the walking death before it.

THOU ARE AN ENEMY OF THE RIGHTNESS OF THE UNIVERSE!

Unit One plunged its hands into a fissur and with a roar and flash of its AT field, started to pull. The angel let out a deafening shriek as one building sized of the blue crystal came loose and fell to the ground.

The core exposed, Unit One drew back one arm wreathed in burning orange light and drove down to end the battle.

YOU PERVERT THE-

Shinji was cut off as a flash like a H-bomb lit up Tokyo-3 and sent evangelion Unit One flying. Before the giant had even hit th ground, Shinji was cursing himself for his mistake. As the eva crushed a building on impact and skidded through several more, he could feel how dim the energy of his body was. He had put everything into the assault and had barely enough left to stay awake.

Displays and sounding alarms filled the plug, telling him the eva's status echoed his own. Past them all, he could see the angel still stood, more of a craggy ball than the crystal it was when it arrived.

Well damn, he thought. Maybe we beat it up enough they can hit it with an N2 mine or something. I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Things were going to well, my life has never and will never be that good. Hell, I doubt its going to last much longer anyway. At least if everyone dies nobody will be around to tell me what a loser I was…

As his vision faded and breath began to leave him, Shinji heard something that raised his soul and made him smile.

I AM CREATED, KALI, THE END OF ALL THINGS!

Two days ago…

"Are you sure about this, Rei?"

"Yes."

"O-okay. Just like you do me, right?"

"No. If I say stop… don't."

"I don't know if I can. I need you to stop when I say so, and if I don't it feels like, you know…"

"Please, I need your help. I am so close but… I can't make myself say it, I need you to make me. Force me to tell you and I will finally feel better, I promise."

"Okay."

Elsehwhere…

"Oooooooh that was good."

"Mmhm"

"Hey Maya?"

"Yeah?"

"Why is 'science' stitched across this blindfold?"

"Cause she blinded me with science doo da doo, she hit me with technology…"

Ritsuko Akagi slapped her own forehead and groaned. Puns were not sexy.

One day ago…

Shinji Ikari ceased sleeping a moment before the first light of dawn touched his bedroom window. There was no red eyed wild flower in this room, which made the morning less than perfect. Their first "intensive", and Sensei had said there would be more, had been incredibly exhausting, but spending nearly every moment with Rei had made him used to her presence. Since they had shared sleeping space as much as possible. Never a bed, and never in each other's arms. They had tried it, but couldn't get comfortable. Looking at each other meant nobody was watching the door and after years of sitting up to sleep, Shinji adapted quickly to getting his rest in the lotus position.

That had been six months ago now. They had ended up missing nearly a month of school after the little incident with the AT field, and Shinji's grades never recovered. He didn't know how Rei's were in the first place, but she had turned into a voracious reader, spending most classes reading something other than what was assigned.

Rei had barely reacted when Misato told them they would have to do summer classes, even though Shinji had been furious. He wanted to go back to how things were that first crazy month. Every day with Remo and Vitali, every night spent in the company of his girlfriend.

His girlfriend. Still felt weird even in his mind but he liked it.

Shinji stood from his place in the corner and began to stretch as he had been taught. He began with his core and worked his way out to his limbs, finishing by touching his fingertips to his wrists, first forward than backward.

Shinji easily pulled the bandages from his arms and inspected his wounds. Burned without actually being burned, his skin appeared to be deeply tan from his hands to above his elbow. It was all the more noticeable against his otherwise pale skin. Dr. Akagi had told him while the color would stay, his subdermal wounds should now be healed.

Shinji undressed and pulled away the wrappings on his torso. He had been more happy to be released from those, as just breathing he had felt the tightness in his chest. Shinji wrapped his towel about himself and strode across the living room to the shower. As the water warmed, he looked at himself in the mirror.

Unlike his arms, his chest had not darkened, but the white naga scar left by the last angel stood out even against the pale skin around it. Rei was the one who told him it looked like a snake, and he had to agree. During a night time visit, Vasuki had told him in past lives the naga had hung itself around his shoulders to accompany him and so Shinji decided it was a naga scar.

As steam began to gather, Shinji moved himself through another stretching exercise and watched how the serpent mark moved across his skin in the mirror as the muscles beneath it flexed. Well, if nothing else, it looked really cool.

Shinji stepped into the hot spray and hissed to himself. This was the first real shower he had been able to take since his injuries, having had to carefully sponge himself clean while stuck with the bandages. He had made the water too hot, but it felt incredible to feel something again.

He had finally asked Dr. Akagi about it during one of the daily check ups she insisted on during the intensive. If he had suffered no surface damage, why did he have to wear bandages? She had told him bandages had helped to insulate and protect the medication that would hopefully help him regain some sensation and fine motor skills you ungrateful little shit. Shinji didn't know if it was medicine or training with Remo-sensei, but his dexterity had returned and he could feel things again. Not as well as he had of course. Well, except for Rei.

The morning before they had began lessons, Rei had helped him with his bandages and they had discovered that when she touched him he felt it like nothing had ever happened. Compared to barely feeling anything at all, that felt amazing. She had helped him change his bandages every morning after they spent the night together since.

Shinji shivered, but it was a pleasant thing. Rei had really changed since they had met Remo-sensei and Vitali-sensei. She smiled and laughed now. When they were alone, she called him hunter. When he finally asked why during a rest break on the third day, he had felt stupid for waiting. She had called him the hunter of angels, like he was some hero in a story.

Of course he had killed two monsters in a giant robot, so maybe she was not so far, he thought as he washed himself. Not robot, Shinji corrected himself "Synthetic Humanoid Cyborg". During breaks for their muscles to recover, Dr. Akagi had drilled them on knowledge of the evas and how they worked. She had been very insistent on it not being a robot, obsessive really.

If he was the hero though, she was definitely no damsel in distress. When she and Shinji sparred, it was hard work to keep up. She was bigger than him, and he had to focus to keep up with her speed and precision. He had better hurry up, he thought, else he might miss her and he liked their time spent talking on the way to school.

Shinji turned off the water and stood in the hot steam for a moment, enjoying the little sensations of the hot moisture. One does not think much of those things until they are gone. Now mindful of that, he enjoyed these little pleasures all the more.

After brushing his teeth and drying off, Shinji went back to his room and got dressed. He could hear Misato's alarm going off for the first time as he passed through the living room. She would be up in another forty five minutes or so he knew. As he dressed he felt discomfort in the familiar school uniform. It had fit perfectly before, but now the shirt was just a little too snug, and he didn't like how the pants bound up around his knees as his legs bent.

He had finally bought new shoes, canvas slip-ons with rubber soles. He saw some people wear them fashionably, but Shinji just liked that he could feel the ground through them and get them off quickly. Remo-sensei had approved.

Shinji made rice for breakfast and coffee for Misato. While he had usually shared with her, Remo-sensei had been very insistent that he no longer consumes it. Something about a dependency interfering with his own body's rhythm, Shinji had just been irritated he could not have coffee anymore. What he was told he should make for breakfast irritated him more. Raw rice cooked and topped with a bean curd. Something about protein for growing muscles. Shinji had asked when he could have his Chinese food back, and Vitali-sensei has laughed at him. The teachers told him he could eat that stuff "off-peak" whatever that meant.

The food they ate while they were training around the clock had been good, though Vitali had refused to share the recipes unless Shinji taught him how to make peking duck. Negotiations were ongoing.

By the time Misato finally made her way into the kitchen, Shinji had almost finished his second helping. A few minutes later he was out the door.

Shinji started walking but he was anxious. He wanted more time with Rei before they got to school. So he began to run. He found Rei where their paths came together, also running.

"Hunter." She said as they stopped together on a street corner.

"Wildflower." He replied. That was his name for her when they were alone, just between them. Nadeshiko was a flower and a word that Shinji associated with good girls. He wasn't sure why or what a common plant had to do with nice young women, but he liked how it sounded and Rei seemed to like it.

"Race?" Rei said with only the slightest inflection indicating it was a question.

"What?" Shinji responded like an idiot, caught up by the out of context challenge.

"Go." She said and bolted down the street towards their school.

"Crap, hey!" Shinji said as he ran after. It had been like this since their masters had allowed them to spar. If there was a way to test themselves against each other, she wanted to do it. He had asked her why, and she had told him she wanted to test herself against him, the one who had killed two angels. She had not fought one yet so he was the closest thing she could compete against.

They were getting closer now, on the far side of the ground from the gate, and Rei still had 50 yards on Shinji. She had had to slow down to bob and weave through other students walking and riding bikes. Shinji would have to do the same though. He looked around for another way and an idea came to mind that brought a smile to his face. It was stupid and silly and if it worked one sensei would congratulate him and the other would call him an idiot for showing off. He wasn't sure which would say what but both would laugh at him if it didn't work.

Shinji jumped and landed one foot on a planter than launched himself higher to land on the steel tube that topped the cyclone fencing surrounding much of the school. He lost time as he found his balance but as he began to run again, He could see his gamble had been worth it.

Shinji sprinted along the fence top, feeling and gripping the tube through his thin shoes. As the fence transitioned to concrete wall he picked up more speed. Rei had not bothered to look back and check her lead and as Shinji passed her he conceived of what would end up being his moment of folly.

At the gate to the school the wall would end. As he reached the end, he twisted as he launched off his right foot and as he turned in the air he waved to Rei. Her face was priceless, anger at being bested and shock at his bold move. As Shinji realized his legs were not under him, it occurred to him that look could have been worry and anger at him for being an idiot.

Shinji landed on his right shoulder and slid several feet across the dusty path that led from the gate to the front of the school. His head bounced off the ground and when his vision cleared he saw his three friends standing over him.

Toji Suzahara had his big arms crossed across his chest, shaking his head.

Kensuke Aida was bending down and telling him how awesome that looked.

Rei Ayanami looked down at him with those big beautiful red eyes and said one word.

"Cheater."

Shinji laughed. Having friends was good. Having a girlfriend was good. Being an assassin giant robot pilot was not bad either. It was good to be Shinji Ikari, no matter how weird it felt to even think.

School was routine at this point. Shinji looked out the window but answered any questions asked; he just didn't like doing the work. He caught the pieces of chalk the elderly teacher threw at him. Rei read her books and usually ignored being called upon. No teachers tried throwing chalk at her after she threw it back the one time. The little stick had burst into a cloud of powder when it hit the board.

Shinji did not think of it as being disrespectful really. He just had more important things on his mind, he just wasn't supposed to talk about them. It didn't stop him from having conversations that bordered on code with Ken and Toji of course but that was different, they got it.

Well, "got it" was relative.

Shinji felt like he and Rei had a bodyguard in Toji, not that they needed it of course but it was still nice. Shortly after they returned to school, Rei had found tacks in her shoes and had been getting ready to use the offender as a practice dummy. Toji had said he would take care of it and the next day the poor girl had apologized.

Ken had set off and fed Rei's newfound love of books, especially her more recent love of pulp. The weird tales collections and detective novels filled her book bag daily. Shinji still loved the memory of the first time Rei went to the library and asked for pulp fiction. She had brought over a VHS tape of some weird American movie, but it was really funny and people laughed when they repeated the lines.

"Whatcha reading today, Rei-chan?" Shinji asked between periods.

"A collection of works by one Mr. Lovecraft, an American."

"Any good?"

"The parallel to humanity's current situation are unsettling. I do not think I will continue with his work, I prefer something with an escapist element."

Outside of class, before school and at lunch, they gathered at 'their' spot beneath a tree in the field of the school. They had sat down and begun to unwrap lunch when Shinji sighed and started putting his away.

"What's wrong man, not hungry?"

"Oh no, I'm hungry…" Shinji pulled out his NERV cell phone from his pocket and held it up, resting his chin in his other hand with elbow on his knee.

"In 3…2…"

On cue, the phone began to ring. Shinji grinned at the trick Rei had taught him. NERV used their own tower network and the tower was in site of their spot under the tree. If one looked closely, a red light on the tower began blinking when priority calls, like those during an attack, locked out all other frequencies in the area. He had thought she had sensed the last angel coming but felt stupid when she told him the truth.

Shinji flipped the phone open and and laid back on the grass as he answered.

"Ikari Shinji, hit man to the stars, who or what do you need dead today?..." He said. He had heard Remo-Sensei answer that way and thought it was clever.

"…Okay, yeah, see you there." Shinji flipped the phone shut, the whole call having lasted perhaps thirty seconds.

"Oh man, another one? I just got my new camera, when is it gonna be here?" Ken asked, almost giddy.

"Dude, call down…" Toji said and stopped Kensuke from getting too much more frantic by pulling him back down to the ground by his shirt collar. "… So what is the word?"

"They are going to announce the evacuation soon. Misato said they think this one is slow enough they can get everyone out of the city, not like last time." Last time Shinji had had to worry about the populated city behind him and had ended up burning ninety percent of the eva's armor off.

Shinji waited until Rei had packed her bag again before rising with her.

"Hey samurai, good luck." Toji said and gave a respectful bow from the ground.

"Yeah, go show'em the power of the human race!" Ken said with a salute.

Goodbyes were said and the pilots walked through the lunch crowd towards the front of the school.

"Do you ever wish you could tell them?"

"Tell who, wildflower?"

They were alone now, waiting on the sidewalk for Misato to pick them up.

"The children who go about their day assuming the things which keep them safe will simply happen and giving no thought to the people who do them."

"You mean do I ever want to tell them what what I've done?"

"Yes. You are not regarded with the respect and awe which you deserve."

Shinji shrugged.

"Never thought I deserved any."

Rei grabbed his arm to hook her around it.

"I will share a secret with you, but you must promise not to tell anybody."

"Of course wildflower." Shinji had confided many secrets in Rei, he would never break her trust.

"After last night, I remembered something."

"Oh?" Shinji said as the whine and roar of a straining engine approached.

"My name… but I will tell you later, in private." Rei responded as the sound got closer. They both knew the sound. Even after three months Misato still claimed to be "putting the car through its paces".

Misato Katsuragi had grown impatient in her search for a replacement for her Renault. She loved European cars but the Japanese market for vintage sports cars was so small. Thus the selection was small and the prices for good examples high if one wanted original equipment. Misato Katsuragi did not give a damn about original equipment. She cared about going unreasonably fast, preferably in a direction other than the car was facing.

Every tire squeal from the Nissan 280Z rallysport made her smile. All the real rally cars had been the two seater model, but this one had been built from the four seater. Candy apple red with yellow streaks across the hood and a set of rally lights contoured into the nose, it was loud in so many more ways than simple noise. The noise it did make was glorious though. Between the various modifications, the original one-hundred and eighty horsepower of the turbocharged six cylinder had been bumped to nearly two-hundred and fifty. Beyond that Misato had a switch covered by a red plastic hood marked CAUTION near her right hand. She hadn't dared try the nitrious oxide boost yet. If she was going to blow up the engine she was going to make it worth it.

And who said Japanese manufacturing was boring?

The tires barked as Misato came to a stop in front of the pilots.

"Heya kids! Learn anything good in school today?" She said and laughed as they got in the car, Shinji in the back and Rei up front.

"So where is the angel Misato? Is there a file on this one?"

"What, no hi Captain katsuragi, how are you? So impatient, kids these days! No rush briefing this time, we got a while before this one gets here. New policy is to bring you guys in as soon as we confirm one."

Confirm one they had, though one what puzzled Shinji as they sat with most of the operational staff in the briefing theater. It was big and blue and kinda beat up was all Shinji could say about it. Misato and Ritsuko shared a podium in front of the tall screen.

"Alright everyone, listen up! This is what we know! At approximately eleven hundred today, the fifth angel, which we are dubbing Ramiel, was detected eight hundred miles east of Sri Lanka. It is proceeding very slowly in our direction but has been extremely aggressive if approached. These images have been enhanced from high altitude spy planes. Anything that got any closer was immediately engaged and destroyed by a beam weapon from the angel."

At this point Dr. Akagi cut in. "The weapon appears to be a charged particle beam, not a laser or an appendage like we observed with the fourth angel. The energy output observed through the EM spectrum varies erratically when the beam is active, which we believe is due to the angel's damaged state."

The angel did indeed appear damaged. The now familiar stone faces looked to be attached to each of the eight sides with gigantic bolts and long black rods passed through the blue crystal at several points. Cracks and fissues covered the thing and the struts looked like they might be the only things holding it together.

Even though estimates did not have the angel arriving until tomorrow, and despite complaints to that point, Shinji and Rei were directed to suit up and prepare for an extended start-up with the new F-type equipment that now covered the arms and shoulders of the evangelions. Unit One had been repaired in its original colors, while Unit Zero was covered in a patchwork of the yellow testing colors, unpainted grey panels, and even some of Unit One's armor in purple and green.

I AM CREATED, KALI, THE END OF ALL THINGS!

The black and charred body of Unit Zero began to shake and convulse. A dark, pulsing bass tone shook Tokyo-3 down to the geofront. When it reached the NERV bridge it was barely audible, but deeply unsettling. Smoke rose and shards of blackened armor and tissue fell to the ground as the evangelion stood. Its single red flickered then glowed brightly as another booming note shook the city.

The angel began to screech and shudder as light filled what remained of its body. One more attack to put down this wounded foe, and then it could complete its task.

Unit Zero raised one hand as the angel prepared to fire.

ETERNITY BEFORE WHICH ALL FALLS TO DUST!

Armor cracked in clouds of ash as black tendrils broke free from Unit Zero's raised arm, clouds of ash all that remained of burned armor sections. Like whips they lashed , some burying themselves in the angel and others in fallen piece of blue crystal on the ground. The angel began to scream.

IN ME IS THE SUBSTANCE OF ALL CREATION!

The fallen piece of Ramiel was lifted from the ground and pulled back, slamming into Unit Zero hard enough to make it rock back on its heels. The hard crystal turned to bubbling blue magma and flowed over the torso and raised arm of the burned giant. It settled and solidified and where once the chest and arm of the eva were burned flesh, they were now restored in deep blue and black.

I AM THE DARK MOTHER OF THE UNIVERSE! YOU WHO PERVERT THE DHARMA BY YOUR VERY PRESENCE WILL BE THE SACRIFICE TO MAKE ME WHOLE!

Red lightening arced through black tendrils that had pushed deep within the angel. The blue thing's screaming was broken by the cracks like icebergs and the tearing of crystalline flesh like a thousand nails on a chalkboard

Down within NERV, the collected staff had no input but the cameras above. Both evangelions had stopped transmitting when Unit Zero had been shot the first time. They watched as Unit Zero tore chunks from the trapped angel, first with those black tendrils, then with its hands. The screaming was broken only by the sickening sound of the angel being torn apart and that horrible unsettling roar from Unit Zero, that deep pulsing noise that made the hair on the back of the neck stand on end and stomach clench.

After what seemed like an eternity of the carnage, Unit Zero stood in the center of the city. All that remained of the angel was the glowing red core, to which only tiny shimmers of blue crystal stuck. The evangelion held the core above its head in one hand, regarding it with its single red eye.

The giant had been restored and was covered now in armor in deep blue and black. While the shape and mechanisms had been restored, the form was not the same. The edges were harder, the points sharper. The wedge shaped blades on the knees and elbows had been formed into steep triangular spikes and the fingers were wicked claws with great spikes rising from the knuckles.

The horrible tone filled the air once more and the great muscles clenched and rippled. Unit Zero threw back its head, like the terrible sound was laughter, and crushed the core to dust between its fingers as if it was nothing.

Pathetic.

End

So Rei remembered her true name. Whether or not that is a good thing remains to be seen.

Sorry about the late update! Should probably have another chapter Friday or Saturday. AOACE will not be on an update schedule as I will be confining the story to 10 chapters plus the prologue and will just be posting them as they are finished. The story will follow the old AC formula of nine targets plus the leader, so each chapter will end with a major target's death. Speaking of which…

Reinserting shameless plug

Would really love it if you guys checked out my other story, Assassin's Of A Counter Earth. Trying to write a Gor story that breaks the stereotype and…

"He has clearly gone insane, increase the pressure within the plug."

Hey I wasn't finished yet! I also think it neatly solves the AC gun problem because…cause… caaa…