A/N: Bit of foreshadowing in this one since the 'fun' will really start in next chapters. Kowalski's lucid dream was based on my experience with such dreams.
NGR - New Generation Reactor (something like the nuclear reactor from Madagascar 3 but smaller).
Title of this chapter inspired by the song Earthquake by Labrinth ft. Tinie Tempah (personally I prefer the dubstep Noisia Remix of it, it's darker and simply has this something).

An earthquake up in the air

"Rico, hold on those titans back there! Private, close your eyes and beak! Kowalski, get ready to turn on the NGR." Skipper ordered, getting a nod from Rico and Private. Kowalski, however, had objections: "I haven't got an opportunity to test the NGR yet. The system may be not stable and it can-" The flipper of silence came across the scientist's beak followed by a familiar glare that said 'shut up and do your thing, don't make me slap you again, soldier'.
Rico could feel the Mohawk on his head twist and turn in every possible direction under the force of the wind. The tornado was coming closer and with it the burning hot sand which hit his body. The grains hurt him like needles on fire as he concentrated all his will not to open his beak to scream or his eyes to see if the hell he found himself inside would be gone soon. The plates quivered underneath him which seemed like a warning that they wouldn't put up a resistance for too long.
The rest of the team wasn't in a better position since the scooter started to rise, losing the fight against the power of nature. The birds needed a way to flee away and they had it. Unfortunately, there was also a high risk that during the escape the energy of the reactor could slay them into pieces. However, so could also the tornado.
Skipper's left flipper hold Private in place so the younger penguin wouldn't fall off or, even worse, fly up with the tornado. His right flipper shifted to jab the scientist's side to give him a sign. They had no more time to waste and the idea of dying without using their last chance made Skipper jab Kowalski once again.

Through the half-opened eyes the scientist looked ahead. It all depended on his driving skills because once the NGR would be activated nothing would stop it. They were surrounded by sand dunes or better said sand hills since the average height of them, to Kowalski's mathematical eye, could even reach 2000 metres. No child's play. Adding the fact that he got out of shape because of all the wasted time they had been sitting down in the HQ, it didn't give him any courage. Besides he was never a Dakar Rally fan anyway. But of course an order was an order and he understood that it seemed like the best and only reasonable option. Removing the cover, Kowalski slammed his flipper down onto the NGR button.

At first nothing happened and he started to think that, although it sounded ridiculous, so just...maybe...theoretically...the invention could not work. But in the next second it turned out that the reactor just needed to gain momentum and gather force to set it against the tornado. Skipper and Private held onto the scooter which speeded up and within seconds left the tornado behind but also within seconds was heading up a sand hill to finally face the problem of coming down from it. Kowalski's grip on the handle bars didn't lose as he wondered about taking the risk to jump. He didn't know how steep the slope was, how high the hill reached and how fast they moved. In one word – he lacked data and that made him chose the safer option, so to take a sharp turn to avoid going down the sand dune. However, he didn't take into account that the flying boards didn't have a reactor and the centrifugal force caused by the inertia of the plates and Rico on them worked during the turn to the analyst's disadvantage, pulling the whole team down the slope.

The dune proved to be a barchan and the birds were falling down its slip face with no control of the scooter and boards. Kowalski didn't want to see their sad end hence he didn't turn his head, holding the handle bars and keeping his eyes on the sky, he could only hear Skipper's voice ordering something.
"Rico, awe me!" The weapon expert had better ideas than to die there and then. He threw a rope to Skipper, choking up a mattress. Since he would be the first to reach the ground the others would land on it but under one condition - they had to tie themselves to the rope and aim at the soft material. Casting the rope around himself and the two other penguins on the scooter, the commanding officer made a provisional lasso which did its work and provided a quite safe landing on the mattress. Unfortunately, the scooter crashed few metres away from them but didn't explode which meant that the engine could still be operative.

For a couple of minutes no one said anything, just lying on the soft mattress in the shade of the barchan, enjoying the fact that they were still breathing. Even Skipper allowed himself a moment of relaxation. Kowalski didn't fight away the drowsiness, dozing off. Earlier the adrenalin wouldn't let him close his eyes but because of the situation the whole globe was in, he learnt to appreciate the short moments of blissful peace. Besides they wouldn't continue their mission anyway until he would fix the scooter and he could do that in the plate shelter they would install before the sunrise. But until that a nap seemed necessary.

As the scientist had lucid dreams quite often he wasn't surprised that also this time he found himself in one of them. Aware that he was sleeping, most of the times he could rewind an event that he didn't like and change its course. However, this dream seemed different. He knew it wasn't reality but he didn't have a saying in the case of changing the scenery. And he would definitely change it since a lava river with no beginning and no end didn't seem very welcoming. He also couldn't find anything which would help him cross it. Over his shoulder, the penguin could see only black sand and stones. Something told him that it was no use to check this hypothesis. The river happened to be the answer and on the other side he could spot the sweet reward – another river, this time full of water. Real water, well as real as a dream water could be.
The solution to the problem emerged from the lava, literally, although technically lava in normal circumstances would melt everything. But it was a dream, no logic there, go with it. So, the solution seemed like a black stone, followed by a white one and another black piece of rock. They had different size and shape, forming a strange path to the other side of the lava river. Kowalski shrugged, thinking that even though it could be a trap there was no other way whatsoever. So, he jumped on the first 'stone', then on the second and finally on the third one. The oddity of the rocks didn't put his mind at ease and caused that he looked back at the two other 'stones'.
The 'stones' moved, emerging even more and reveling their true nature. The white stone turned out to be Rico's stomach. Kowalski could even see the weapon expert's beak and rather peaceful expression on his face with closed eyes. Next to him the scientist could make out Private's silhouette since only the Brit's back had surfaced. Analogically, Kowalski already knew on whose corpse we was standing or rather had been standing because the bird got shaken off Skipper's head, falling into the lava which changed into a river of blood. Apparently, the leader's head stuck out of the blood and started calling his name. In the river of blood, the scientist chaotically moved his body away from the other penguins, not sure what Skipper's intention was – to drown him in that cursed river or help him out of it. As the tall penguin had already drowned in the immersion of the dream, he was only aware of his erratic heartbeat, constantly interrupted by rough yells of his commanding officer:

"Kowalski!"