frank aggressively confronts jack, explaining to him that the pen in his pocket is a dangerous weapon in the cool world. he also informs jack that cool world has existed long before jack created the comic series, and warns him that sexual intercourse between "noids" (humans from the real world) and "doodles" (the inhabitants of the cool world) is forbidden, as this can break the fabric between the two dimensions. despite this, frank himself is in love with the doodle lonette, but limits himself to platonic advances. holli, wanting to become a noid, seduces jack and has sex with him. holli becomes human and secretly steals jack's pen, which she uses to entrap frank's partner nails. jack and holli leave for the real world, where holli finds herself experiencing real sensations. due to the damaged interdimensional fabric, jack and holli spontaneously flicker in between their doodle and noid forms. while contemplating their situation, holli tells jack about the "spike of power," an artifact placed on the top of a las vegas casino by a doodle who crossed into the real world, and admits she wants to use it to become human permanently. the spike would also release the denizens of the cool world into the real world, as well as turn all noids into doodles. when jack displays skepticism about the idea, holli abandons jack to search for the spike on her own.