Thirty-four
 With care, Cyclone set four gleaming-blue Snapsicles⢠in the pile next to a box of Big Ones. Their passive instability elicited discretion, and one of them had set off a cache of Rover's Firecrackers earlier. The Snapsicles were a creation of the Future Leek Works shared with them in generous number, but when distributed among the... eighteen of them? - they suddenly seemed sparse.
 Cyclone felt a tap on his shoulder, and turned around. He corrected his number. They were nineteen, including Stromling Cyclone.
 "I'm just wondering what I should do to help." the other Cyclone said. 'Stromling Cyclone' was just what they called him, since he was infected when they picked him up from Strange Odd Shadow's dimension, but thanks to Future Leek Works's Ben, Red, and Ryder, he was completely Maelstrom free now.
 As Maelstrom free as me, Cyclone thought. Genetically Stromling Cyclone looked like Cyclone, with the same styled brown hair and bright blue eyes, just two years younger. Cyclone looked around to find something for him to do, when Kate bounced over.
 "Here, Cyclone," Kate was saying, and she pointed at Stromling Cyclone for disambiguation. "You can take over for me here, I'm going to see what else the girls, and Ben, have belowdeck. We could use more Thirst Quenchers, and other imagination replenishables..."
 She gave the two Cyclones a knowing look, flipped her hand up, and casually brewed a miniature lightning storm in her palm. "The three of us, especially." Then she descended the steps into the closest bunker.
 "We have powers." Cyclone explained. "A byproduct of our overcharged imagination sparks."
 "To what extent?" Stromling Cyclone asked.
 "I'm not sure yet." Cyclone admitted. "I suppose since it's based on imagination, anything should be possible."
 They stood pondering, and Stromling Cyclone inquired, "What can we do so far?"
 "I can conjure lightning, I haven't tried anything else, like..." he recalled what Kate had just done. "...forming a cyclone."
 Stromling Cyclone went to between where Kate had five backpacks with sets of consumables to add to and the Figdroid's pile of unsorted goods, and he spoke while he worked. "Can I ask you more about you?"
 "Sure." Cyclone responded. "Ask away."
 "How did you meet Kate?"
 "On Avant Gardens, we were infected as Stromlings, and amazingly we both remained sentient. So we had a plan to break into Nexus Tower, and ask the Faction Leaders to disinfect us. Along the way we met Cheerful Power Rover, and Master Blade." Cyclone paused to consider something.
 "I wonder where they are now, my versions of them." Stromling Cyclone finished the thought.
 "There's also the matter of yours, and Kate's, imagination alter-egos where you're from. You've got a lot of work to do. The way things turned out, it's really thanks to my friends that I got through it all." Cyclone voiced his musings. "If I hadn't met my friends the way I did, I'm not sure if I ever would have."
 It bothered Cyclone to imagination his friends how they were two years ago, not as his friends, for each of their sakes. Rover had been infected as a result of their meeting, and was probably fine; but Kate and Blade, the halves he knew of them, were both Stromlings, and entirely alone. He cared for them, and he grimaced remembering the pain of infection. But despite the tug of war, slipping down the slope to preserve his mind and individuality; the constant whispering of the Darkitect in his subconscious, infecting his dreams; and the muddling of his thoughts, the heavy weight on his brain of the telepathic link with his imagination half -- Cyclone knew he would do it all again, even if it meant being infected, if it meant protecting his friends.
 It was how things were meant to be, and the traversing of dimensions, the meddling with future-history, their fates, and their lives - Cyclone believed it was wrong.
 He set a principle for himself. When this was over, and they'd completed Future Intrepid's mission to destroy the Maelstrom's interdimensional network, and smash the Darkitect, and the polyverse was safe - he would go with Strange Odd Shadow and Stromling Cyclone to their dimension and set things right for him, and the minifigures supposed to be his friends: Rover, Blade, and...
 "Do you like Kate?" Stromling Cyclone asked.
 Cyclone looked up and opened his mouth to protest, but didn't- couldn't find the words to voice that train of thought, because it hadn't occured to him. She had saved Stromling Cyclone's life, but he would do the same for a Stromling Kate.
 Cyclone laughed. "We care about each other." he said. "We've been through some tough places, and we've always been there for each other. She's a great person, she has the best jokes, and you should really meet her."
 "Well," Stromling Cyclone said, looking like he was remembering something, perhaps a past conversation in another dimension, "We have met, and Kate has talked to me, and I know when she looks at me, she's actually looking at you. And there's a way she speaks about you."
 Stromling Cyclone said at last, "I think Kate likes you."
<ac_metadata title="Song of the Swans - Chapter 34"> </ac_metadata>