This is a work of fanfiction. I do not own the rights to either Neon Genesis Evangelion or ACECOMBAT 04: Shattered Skies. (A damn fine game, by the way.)

ADMIST THE BLUE SKIES, A LINK FROM PAST TO FUTURE,

 THE SHELTERING WINGS OF THE PROTECTOR….

THE FLAMES OF HATRED SCORCH THE SKIES,

IGNITING GAIA'S FUNERAL PYRE.

Wings of the Protector

"Shinji! Hey man! What'd you get assigned to?" asked Touji Suzihara, Shinji's academy roommate.

Shinji tossed the papers on their room's desk disgustedly. "Some new dead-end squadron. They assigned me to an F-4 group! I'm stuck in a Phantom! They put me in the absolute worst carrier-based fighter ISAF has! And get this. The squadron won't even be together. They'll just use us to fill holes in the TO&E of the rest of the air force."

Touji winced. "That's rough, man. What's it called?"

Shinji kicked his bed. "Mobius Squadron. There isn't a single veteran in the bunch." He calmed. "What about you? You can't have done worse than I did."

"No, I actually got pretty lucky. I got placed in a Eurofighter squadron."

"You got a Typhoon? That's great, Touji!"

The other newly-graduated cadet looked at his feet. "Yeah, but I feel really bad, considering what you got. You're the better pilot."

Shinji shook his head. "I might be pissed about my assignment, but I can still feel happy for you. Who's your wingman?"

"Some guy named Kensuke Adia."

Shinji lay down on his bed. "I remember him. He could tell you the stats on any piece of military hardware the Erusians or ISAF has. Fair pilot."

"You?"

"You mean my wingman? Some girl named Rei Ayanami."

"Never heard of her."

"I know. It's strange. She's supposed to be in our class." Shinji put his dress uniform in the duffle that lay packed on his bed. "Dude, it was great being roomies with you."

"Same. I hope I see you again."

"With my stupid Mobius assignment, you just might." Shinji slung the duffle over his shoulder. "Good hunting, Touji."

"Good hunting, Shinji." Touji sighed as Shinji stepped out the door.

Shinji sat down in seat 4A of Istas Air's Flight 745 to North Point. It was nice of ISAF to shell out for first-class civilian tickets for the graduating cadets. Shinji made himself comfortable before a woman sat down next to him. She had shaggy, light-blue hair and very pale skin. Like Shinji, she was wearing a flight officer's undress uniform. He looked over at the girl. "Where are you going?"

"VF-213. I am part of the first detachment."

213? That's… "You mean Mobius squadron?"

"Yes." She turned to look at him. "And you?"

"I'm also part of Mobius. I'm Shinji Ikari."

"I am Rei Ayanami. I believe I am to be your wingman."

"Yes, that's what my orders said. Speaking of that, don't you think the orders were a little strange?"

"How so?"

"Well, making a squadron and never having it together is kind of weird, ne? Besides, why assign us permanent planes if we're going to be hole-fillers? Especially crap like F-4s."

"I do not know. I also fail to see the point in questioning the orders. One needs simply to follow them." She looked forward.

Shinji kept looking at her profile. "Wouldn't you rather know why you were doing something?"

"If I am told, I am told. If not, I will remain ignorant."

The rest of the flight passed in silence.

"Welcome to North Point. You must be the final Mobiuses," said a woman with short brown hair. "I'm Maya Ibuki, quartermaster for VF-213. Let's get you your gear and planes."

"Thank you, ma'am."

"No need to be formal, both of you. Just call me Maya."

After getting standard pilot gear… "Well, here's the tarmac."

Twelve rusted, banged-up, unloaded F-4 Phantom II's sat on the concrete.

Shinji groaned. "It's worse than I thought. We have to fly those things?"

Maya smiled conspiratorially. "So one might think."

The pilots looked at the brown-haired woman. "Please explain, ma'am."

"Actions speak louder than words, Mobius 2." The woman led them through the two lines of rusted junk piles to a hangar behind the relics. She opened the door and gave a theatrically sweep of her hand. "Pick and choose."

"Oh my god," were the words that escaped Shinji's mouth. Rei's too.

"Like `em?" asked Maya with a smile. "This hangar contains ten of every fighter or attacker ISAF fields. We used to have six AWACS in here too, but the others left with their detachments. So. What do you want?"

"I believe an F-22A Raptor is the best plane for my skills."

Maya winced. "Yeah…I should've mentioned that. The other pilots all chose the Raptors. We only were given ten of them. We don't have any of those left. Sorry."

"Unfortunate. Do you have any suggestions?"

"Well, we do have a couple of planes that should be better."

"I was informed that the F-22A was ISAF's premier fighter."

"It is, as far as standard fighters go. We've got a couple of experimentals here. Hey, where's Mobius 1?"

"What is this?" asked Shinji quietly as he traced his fingers along the black painted wing tip of one of the planes. Almost in a trance, he walked towards the fuselage, his hand still on the edge of the wing, moving towards the tail of the fighter as he moved towards the wing root. (A/N: Yes, I know for standard wings that is impossible, bear with me.) The plane he was touching was painted matte black except for a few small areas of white, the ISAF crest, and a Mobius strip on the tail. It had two tails, two engines, and two missile bays. Sitting behind the cockpit were two canards, in the shape of an F-22's wings. The engines were obviously afterburner equipped, and they had articulated plates around the exhaust. Vectored thrust. But what was strangest about the plane was its wings. They were flipped exactly the opposite way for normal wings. Forward-swept wings. FSW, the most maneuverable fixed-wing design. Shinji looked at Maya. "I think I'll take this. What is it called?"

"The S-37A."

Hey ho! I just bought and beat AC04: SS three times. Great game, great stories. (Mobius 1 and Yellow 13.) As soon as I got it, the S-37A became my fighter. I rarely fly anything else. (Every once in a while I fool around with the ACTIVE, F-14, and F-22.) I seriously love this game, but it cuts into my fanfiction time like a mofo. I don't really like how Mobius 1 lack personality, so I decided to write a fanfic. Guess what? There isn't an Ace Combat section on FFN. Therefore, crossover! This was originally going to be with RK, but I like EVA. The little poem in the game was just to perfect for Shinji or Kenshin, so I used it. Sorry for any OOCness, but this is a different world, and fighter pilots have a certain 'spirit'.

By the way, Shinji is Mobius 1, Rei his wingman, Mobius 2, Asuka is Halo 10, and Touji is Viper 9. SkyEye will be revealed next chapter, along with the real deal on VF-213: Mobius, Rei's plane, and Mobius Detachment 1's first sortie. Please read and review, no matter what the review might be, excluding flames. I like an idea of what I'm doing wrong. And prepare for high-flying action in chapter 2 of Wings of the Protector: Sitting Duck.