a/n: the hiroshi hunt was inspired by top gun maverick. in the au, elemental powers don't exist, but our favourite gang are aviators at HIROSHI, the ninjago equivalent of TOPGUN. because I'm lazy, I'm reusing my codenames from sod with slight tweaks, so here's a little recap:

Kai: Forge, Zane: Lato, Jay: Fritz, Cole: Arete, Lloyd: Junior, Astra: Reaper, Skylor: Bica, Pixal: Roiya, Morro: Vortex, Harumi: Kesho, Nya: Raven

this oneshot has the potential to turn into a spin off, I'm already writing the second chapter and have a cover (per usual) so we'll see how it goes. enjoy!

- dommie

There were only two people who could boast as much swagger as Kai Smith: one was his enemy, and the other would shoot him down before she admitted they were even alike in the slightest.

The letter had come in the mail a week ago, right when his leave was about to end. Nya had been the one to spy the mail van trundle away, two envelopes sticking out of the mailbox. One addressed to him, one addressed to her.

They'd opened the cream envelopes right then and there in the garden, ignoring their parents' shouts of inquiry.

"You're kidding me," Nya's eyes met his, dead serious. "Please tell me they're joking."

Kai reread the few short lines of information and shook his head, a short laugh escaping his lips. "Son of a bitch."

"Starting off a mission brief with impossible really doesn't make me want to fly all the way to HIROSHI and sign my death warrant." Nya remarked flippantly, her facial expression matching her words.

"I don't think we have a choice," Kai pointed out, underlining the large red words that said obligatory attendance as under Section A-37. "They want us back there."

He'd grown bored stuck on the ground, though visiting his parents had been a nice touch to his leave, he wasn't ashamed to admit that he was an adrenaline junkie. That HIROSHI had been the best part of his school days, and now his missions seemed boring in comparison to the old tales his commanders had to tell him. Stories of dogfights and death, where real danger materliased itself in planes and missiles instead of looping around archipelagos looking for non-existent trouble.

So yeah, this mission impossible shit seemed interesting.

Nya, on the other hand, was busy dialling her dumb boyfriend Jay Walker to see if he'd received the same vague letter as they had. As much as he could infer from the few lines of information, it would be a large group stationed in HIROSHI for this mission. The school was small, and he knew his classmates were the best - that was the point of HIROSHI, its whole existence was to groom the next generation of pilots to be the best - so it wouldn't be a surprise if he saw some old faces.

Just last year, he'd flown beside Junior and Arete on an ISR around the Serpentine Valley, looking for any sign of life there. Void of life, it had been boring to say the least, but at least he'd had a good time with his friends at the tiny airport nearby. HIROSHI's program was designed to weed out the weak and brutalise the strong, with renowned Admiral Mystake, and Admiral Jitzu leading the way. Kai wasn't concerned about the mission itself, if anything, he was concerned about the people he'd see there.

What if Skylor's there?

Two hours later, Kai and Nya had packed their things, trained in the efficient military way of stuffing everything in a few duffels and throwing them in the back of Kai's beaten-up pick-up. Maya and Ray, both retired NAF pilots, had waved them goodbye with the usual stern warnings to stay alive and not kill each other on the way. Short and snappy, but in an Air Force family, you got used to cutting things down to the barebones and getting on with it.

One hand resting easy on the wheel, Kai pushed his foot down on the gas, aviators shielding the worst of the sun as he followed the deserted road towards HIROSHI. Beside him, Nya was going through a battered copy of an N-14 flight manual he'd left in the glove compartment, underlining the out of date bits (most of the book) in red pen. The drive to the base had only taken a few hours gunning through the offroad paths, relishing the feeling of the cool wind streamlining past the window.

Security remained as tight as ever, impassive guards checking their IDs and the trunk before letting them through. Kai parked the truck in the lot closest to the barracks, the nice ones they'd envied as baby-faced officers, slinging his bags over his shoulder as he spotted the tall figure of none other than Cole Brookstone.

"Oi, Arete!" Kai's bellow attracted the attention of the fellow HIROSHI pilot.

"Ah, you're kidding, I'm stuck with you for the next three months?" Cole's smile broke through his protests, clapping Kai on the back as they headed into the barracks to unpack.

"Nya's here too, and Jay Walker should be arriving soon. The rest, I have no clue."

"Fritz?" Cole seemed genuinely surprised. "Jeez, after the Floating Ruins mission, I didn't think he'd be back so soon."

Kai stopped shoving his shirts into his allocated wardrobe. "What do you mean?"

"You didn't hear? He and Lato were sent out to investigate activity near the Floating Ruins, but the electrical storms around there messed up their controls. They both crashed and had to hike back to the city half-dead," Cole paused, a small frown on his face. "At least, that's what I heard. I'm surprised Nya didn't tell you."

Kai coughed awkwardly. "Well, she knows I'm not the biggest fan of, you know, her and Jay being a thing. I don't hate Jay, it's just weird, he's like a brother to me. Maybe that's why she didn't tell me."

The door opened with a creak.

"Speak of the devil," Kai flashed Jay a smile, and the pilot returned it with anxiousness. Cole was right, then, judging by the multiple bandages still wound around Fritz's arms and neck. What the hell are they doing, pulling a pilot out of recovery just for this? "How you doing, Fritz?"

"Pretty good for a dead guy." Jay joked, but his laugh forced a wince of pain he badly hid. Kai wasn't sure whether or not to press on the issue, but before he could make the call, Zane walked in. The pilot nodded to each of them in turn, his usual silent greetings, before marching over to his chosen bed. The male dormitory was divided into six compact bedrooms for each pilot, leaving two more empty beds to be filled. Off to the left were the bathrooms, and to the right kitchen facilities and the common room. Not exactly roomy, but at least they weren't stuffed in here like sardines.

Lato's arms were covered in identical bandages to Jay, stark against his dark skin. Jay started up his typical nervous chatter, drawing Cole into conversation whilst Kai tried to figure out who the last two pilots were. Potentially Titanium or Aslec, but as far as he knew they were stuck near the Frozen Wasteland to monitor Chen's Island, Saltu. That left Junior and Vortex from their cohort, and seeing as the others had been in his group, it was unlikely that any younger or older pilots would be involved. This much unnecessary thinking was hurting his brain.

The door swung open once again, and in walked none other than Lloyd Garmadon, AKA Junior. The blond's face lit up at the sight of the four guys, dropping his bags in excitement. Lloyd was a bit like a golden retriever but in human form.

"Thanks the Gods, I thought they'd called me here to stick me in protocol training again, but if Zane's here, I must be wrong." Lloyd's quip earned him a middle finger from Kai, but he wasn't wrong. Zane stuck by the rules the most. If the five pilots were on the spectrum, it would go from Zane, to Jay, to Cole, to Lloyd, then Kai. That was just how their dynamic worked. Jay launched into a stream of chatter with Lloyd, relentlessly asking Junior about his recent missions.

Kai was about to suggest they go for drinks when the door slammed open a bit too dramatically, stopping Jay's line of blabber. You've got to be kidding me.

"Hey Morro!" Jay said brightly, but the greeting fell on deaf ears as the pilot stalked through the room and promptly drew the curtains around his section.

"Well, someone's in a bad mood," Kai said loudly, trying to see if Morro had any reaction to that. Nothing. "Anyone want to hit up Steep?"

"I'm down." Cole pushed the final drawer closed. Jay and Zane both nodded, the former now silenced by Morro's grumpy attitude.

Lloyd was more hesitant. They'd spent a lot of time at Steep whilst they were training, and for a bar, it had revealed more secrets than one would expect. Lloyd's father had raised him and Astra on his own, and as far as Kai knew, Lloyd had never known his mother. One of their last nights at Steep had seen to that.

Steep was the local HIROSHI bar for the small NAF population that lived there, fighters and family alike, you could count on Steep for a good time. From the barracks, everyone (minus Morro) piled into Cole's truck. Kai had spotted a few more cars in the lot but he didn't have the time to try and read the plates.

"I'm going to ask Nya if she wants to tag along." Jay announced from the backseat. Kai nodded vaguely, trying to remember if Skylor's car had been black or blue.

Cole pulled the car into the parking lot behind Steep, where loud music and talk seeped through the wooden cracks of the bar. Kai pushed the door open and immediately felt at home. The pool table where he and Zane had battled every night off they'd had was still there, the large bar island in the middle manned by Misako, who waved hello to the boys, the dartboard, the piano, and the Ninjago Air Force paraphernalia plastered to the walls.

"Have you boys gotten yourself into trouble again?" Misako had already slid their usual orders across the countertop. Lloyd immediately swiped his drink and practically sprinted for the pool table without saying a word, leaving Jay to fill the awkward silence.

Kai grabbed his glass and walked over to Lloyd, picking up his favourite cue from the battered rack by the window.

"You're going to have to talk to her at some point." Kai pointed out as clearly as possible.

Lloyd took a long draught from his glass and set it down. "Nope."

"Ah yes, healthy, clean denial. You're worse than Astra."

"I don't think anyone is as bad as Astra." Lloyd countered, tentatively poking the triangle of billiard balls.

"True," Kai conceded, but he wasn't about to give up. "You know, it's gonna be awkward if we're stationed here for a while. We spend a alot of time at Steep."

"Maybe I won't." Lloyd thrust his cue a little too hard, sending a spray of billards rocketing around the table.

Kai opened his mouth to speak, but before he could come up with an ingenious way to get Lloyd to talk to his mother, the doors to Steep swung open.

"We've been back for two hours and you guys are already staking out Steep?" Astra's lips curled into a familiar smirk. Kai rolled his eyes, trying not to stare at Skylor. She looked good. Better than good. He'd never been able to put Skylor in words, and after two years of nothing, it seemed like things were still the same. To Skylor's right stood Pixal, who was already searching the bar for Zane, and to her right was Nya.

Completing the quintet was Harumi. She stood as stiff as a board, clearly uncomfortable with the group of people here. Kai was surprised the girls had managed to drag her here. Back in their school days, Harumi hung out with a different group of people - Morro's gang, to be more specific - but time had passed. Their last night at HIROSHI changed more than they'd have liked.

"Where else would we go?" Kai returned the smirk with one of his signature smiles, a flash of teeth and a wink. They never worked on Skylor, but if he stopped trying he might miss his chance, right?

"Is Morro here?"

"Yeah, he is." Kai answered Harumi's question slowly. "Back at the barracks. A bit grumpy though."

Harumi nodded and promptly left the bar without another word.

Kai cleared his throat to fill the silence. "So, how have you guys been?"

"Astra and I were in our first dogfight." Skylor said casually.

Even Lloyd perked up at this, abandoning his one-man pool game to join the conversation. "Really? Where? When? Why? Wait, who? Astra, why didn't you tell me?"

"Shadow Bay," Astra seemed to relish in everyone's shock. "HIROSHI made us report directly to HQ, so I'm afraid that's why you weren't given a play-by-play. Two weeks ago, we were sent on a recon mission to Iluna, you know, the Dark Island. The usual shit, monitor activity every three hours, report back to headquarters. Before we know it, three I-35s are requesting a comm line."

Skylor continued the tale. "They said we were too close to Iluna waters according to the treaty, but we were in undisputed airspace the entire time. They shut off comms and two seconds later, our system pick up infrared missiles."

"I don't think I've ever jammed for flares that fast," Astra gave a hoarse, almost pained chuckle. "Training doesn't prepare you for the real thing, let me tell you that. It was a complete shit show. I'm surprised we even made it out alive."

"Even with Astra's relentless optimism, I'm won't lie, I thought I was going to die." Skylor said softly, a dark gloom crossing her face. Astra fell silent as if she couldn't conjure another wicked quip out of nowhere. Jeez, first Fritz and Lato with the storm, and now Bica and Reaper with I-35s.

"Do you think whatever it is we're doing has something to do with Iluna?" Cole asked.

Astra and Skylor glanced at each other. "It's the only thing I can think of. And I really wish it wasn't."