That night, Jimmy had set up the Neutronic Dream Transporter; he lay Kieran down on a cleared lab bench and secured him to it using a firm, weather-proof material. He then positioned the helmet on his head correctly and pressed a few buttons on the screen over by the machine's entrance.
"Gee, Jim," Kieran chuckled nervously as he used a free finger to feel the material keeping him secure, "Is this necessary?"
"Of course it is!" Jimmy replied, "It's not uncommon for the dreamer to respond to their dream in the real world, so to prevent you accidentally destroying my lab in your sleep with all that may happen in your dream, I've had to tighten my finest constraints around you. Don't worry, though – I can get 'em off afterwards."
"I wonder what we may find in Kieran's dream!" SpongeBob wondered aloud.
"Perhaps we'll get to fight some aliens, or killer zombies!" Timmy began to chant.
"Maybe there will be a fountain of cheese!" Cosmo busted out, as Wanda held her head in the hands.
"Guys," Danny dismissed, "We're going in to defeat Axel. Not take over whatever lives in his dreams."
"Subconscious, to a certain degree, technically." Jimmy corrected.
"Whatever," Timmy deadpanned, "Can we just get this over with, please?"
"Just step in here, guys." Jimmy motioned the other three to enter the machine, before stepping in himself. He gave Kieran the signal to begin falling asleep, to which the teen complied. Pulling out a remote, Jimmy pressed the central red button on it as the four of them were whirled away into Kieran's dreams.
Jimmy, Timmy, Danny and SpongeBob had entered Kieran's dream successfully, but only to find themselves falling.
"What's going on, Jimmy?" Danny asked, before Going Ghost and flying down with the others.
"You'd be surprised to know how common it is for people to dream about falling!" Jimmy yelled back.
"Yeah, and right now I need a barf bag!" SpongeBob proclaimed as he began to turn green.
"Don't puke over me, dude!" Timmy shouted, "Do it over Jimmy!"
"Hey!" Jimmy exclaimed.
"Never fear, falling citizens!" a familiar voice cried out in the distance, just barely recognizable to the Nicktoons, "I shall help you!"
"Ooh, is it MermaidMan?" SpongeBob asked.
"No way!" Timmy said in disgust, "That geezer couldn't even catch his pudding if it fell from his tray! It's Crimson Chin coming to save us!"
"How dare you!?" SpongeBob said, taking offense, "MermaidMan is timeless!"
"Guys…" Danny hushed, in a sing-song voice.
A figure came out from the clouds, revealing himself to be, in fact Kieran. He grabbed Jimmy and Timmy's hands whilst SpongeBob found himself latching on to Danny's back.
Both Danny and Kieran flew smoothly to the ground with everyone else in tow.
"Thanks." Timmy said as they got back on their feet.
"But how'd you get in the dream, Kieran? I though we'd secured you to the table." Jimmy pondered, as he examined the teen.
But suddenly, Kieran vanished without a trace, startling the four.
"Aah!" they all screamed in unison.
"He's gone!" SpongeBob began to cry, "Oh no! That means Axel has him in his clutches already! OH, WHY NEPTUNE, WH-"
SpongeBob was interrupted by a slap around the back of the head, "C'mon SpongeBob, that's not even close!" a voice, who had slapped the sponge, said reassuringly.
The three other Nicktoons recognized the familiar figure, "Kieran!"
But then, the teen placed a hand on his hip and with the fingers on the other hand tapped his nose twice, "Eh, close enough. I'm actually the living embodiment of his sub-conscience, present only in his dreams."
"So…" Timmy said, perplexed, "That means you're…?"
"His dream self? Why, yes, indeed I am!"
"What do you do, then, exactly?" Jimmy asked.
Kieran's Dream Self smiled, "I serve as a form of camera within Kieran's dream, and project an image as to what he is able to see in the dream." He then snapped his fingers, causing multiple screens to show footage of what was happening in the dream, along with a few others, "Here, you can see the four of you on that screen in the center, the lens for that camera being my own two eyes."
"Fascinating…" SpongeBob said in awe as he approached Kieran's Dream Self and waved his hands in front of his eyes, looking over at the appropriate screen to see the motion being captured.
"Please, stop." Kieran's Dream Self bluntly commanded as he gently pushed SpongeBob's arms away, "That'll affect the quality of the lens."
"So what was with the Kieran that saved us?" Danny asked.
"Oh. He was a piece of 'dream data', as I like to call it. Being in full control of my real self's dream, I'm able to create dream data and use it in whatever way I can to give him some cool dreams!"
"Well, can you whip something up, then?" Timmy asked, looking around to see nothing more than an empty space going on for miles and miles without end, "It's really blank here so far."
"Of course." Kieran's Dream Self happily chuckled as he made a bright colorful landscape arise with a few simple hand and arm gestures. The dream itself was a vibrant city, albeit with a few tweaks, such as several toy stores and fast food restaurants in the form of the Krusty Krab located on nearly every visible corner. A very large house was located in the center near where the Nicktoons were standing, a scarlet red in color with a brown door, likely to be Kieran's own.
"This is what he dreams about?" Timmy asked, blankly, "City life?"
"Indeed, I know it's not much, but it's all I'm capable of." Kieran's Dream Self confessed, "However…"
He snapped his fingers, causing the ground to shake slightly. A large quantity of the ground then transformed into a field of roses, which grew rapidly and began to grow around the buildings in the city.
"And?" Timmy said, still skeptical.
"Watch this." Kieran's Dream Self went over to the head of one of the nearby roses and knocked on one of its petals. This caused the flower to softly rumble, and it spat out what looked to be a burger and a portion of fries.
"Ooh!" SpongeBob exclaimed in amazement, "Lemme try!" he reached out for the burger and fries.
"SpongeBob, wait!" Jimmy cried after him, "It came from a flower! Dream or not, I highly doubt-"
He was shushed by Kieran's Dream Self, who used the wind to silence him, "Relax, Jimmy! Why on earth would I harm you guys?"
"Mmm!" SpongeBob let out as he finished the food, "That was a nice Krabby Patty!"
"Indeed!" Kieran's Dream Self agreed. "Now, would you guys like to come in and discuss this concern regarding Axel?"
"Sure…" Danny nodded, but making sure, along with Timmy, to get a few Krabby Patties from the roses before entering.
Kieran's Dream Self sat cross-legged on a black leather chair, as the Nicktoons sat on a red couch, similar in appearance to SpongeBob's couch. The room itself was a variety of shades of red, with the odd touch of black, beige and white, a theme that seemed to be recurring in each room of the house (except the bathroom, which was pale red in color with touches of blue and green).
"So," Kieran's Dream Self began, "If I have my facts correct, you four are not part of Kieran's dream, but rather are from the real world, and you've come to his – this- dream in order to stop Axel, who is plaguing the dreamworld with his mere presence."
"Yes," Jimmy nodded, "Uh, how did you know that?"
Kieran's Dream Self made a cup of tea appear, took a sip, and put it down on the coffee table in front of him, "Have you forgotten I am connected to the real Kieran? I share his memory, and that is what I use when creating these dreams. Well, that and his imagination, but you get the picture."
Timmy walked over to the window and looked out of it, seeing the city as it was when it had been initially crafted, "Axel's not here, so what gives?"
"You see," Kieran's Dream Self explained, "Axel's appearance is, of course, not a part of this dream, but rather he is intruding. I have no control of when he appears nor am I allowed to kick him out myself. Believe me, I've tried several times, with no avail."
"I'm wondering, now," Jimmy spoke up, "Are there any major effects to Axel's intrusions on Kieran's dreams?"
"For the most part, no." Kieran's Dream Self shook his head, "But look over there," He walked over to the window by Timmy and gestured Jimmy, Danny and SpongeBob to come over. He then looked over in the distance. The others gave each other looks of confusion, but Kieran's Dream Self clarified what he was looking at by removing a few of the buildings in the way, revealing a patch of black, green and purple in a corner, surrounded by rotting roses, "There." He said, flatly, "No matter what I conjure up each time, I've noticed a dark corner each time. It always appears, and starts to slowly corrode its surroundings. I have no power within me to stop it. I think that's Axel's gateway into this dreamworld."
"Do you think it could be removed, though?" Danny asked.
Kieran's Dream Self sighed, "That depends, really. I suppose if we somehow weakened Axel upon his arrival or something along the lines of that."
"So...we are simply waiting for his arrival?" Timmy asked, "Cuz that sucks."
"Yeah, well, what are YOU gonna do about it?" Kieran's Dream Self deadpanned.
"Why don't we go take a closer look at the path of darkness?" Danny suggested, "It might be worth examining it."
"Great idea, Danny!" Kieran's Dream Self congredulated, "With Jimmy's brains, maybe I'll finally find out what it's actually doing!"
"But what if there are monsters being created by the darkness?" SpongeBob began to whimper, "Like in that video game?"
Kieran's Dream Self scoffed, "Now, I could certainly handle a bunch of monsters if that's the case."
"Look at them." Kieran's Dream Self spoke up as the five of them walked along the streets to the corner, acknowledging the townspeople walking on the very same streets,
"Look at how blissfully unaware they all are at what's happening. Aren't they lucky, to just 'reset' for the next dream?"
"Why, are you the only one here that remembers?" Jimmy asked.
"Of course. These townspeople are just another prime example of dream data, and of course, I am not dream data, meaning the rule do not apply."
"Well, duh!" Timmy deadpanned, gritting his teeth, "He's already told us about being close with Kieran's memories."
"Well, some people also like a refresher, thank you very much!" Kieran's Dream Self hushed the buck-toothed boy.
"Is this it, then?" SpongeBob asked as they approached the blot, and proceeded to reach out for it.
"No!" Kieran's Dream Self used the wind to swat away SpongeBob's hand from coming in close contact to the blot, "We don't know what it's doing!"
"Hmm…" Jimmy pondered aloud as he examined the mysterious blot thoroughly, keeping a close eye on it to see if anything came out, but nothing did; all that was happening was that the ground was starting to turn a dark gray, "This doesn't exactly seem to do much."
"Like it?" a voice echoed loudly in the dream, everyone instantly recognizing it to be Axel.
"Axel!" Kieran's Dream Self cried out, forming a fireball and an iceball in his hands, "You better tell us what the heck this weird thing is or I swear…"
"-swear…you'll do what, exactly?" Axel's voice interrupted, mockingly, "But perhaps you might want to know what it is anyway."
"Well, yeah!" Timmy agreed.
"For your information, it is my gateway into this dream." Axel's voice explained, "Had to keep it here, though, as a little momento for the final stage of my plan."
"'Final stage'?" Danny asked, "What are you talking about?"
The voice did not answer, but the Nicktoon were met with a rumble in the ground. At once the ground began to crack and a large rock emerged.