Dipper's head hurt badly, and his body was crying out for a nap, but he wasted no time in scrambling to his feet.

I've gotta find Mabel, he thought to himself. He looked at his surroundings. He was in the forest, and it was still night. How far into the night, or where exactly in the forest he was, he had no idea. If only I still had my watch, he thought.

Wait… I probably do still have it!, he concluded with a laugh a second later, realizing that the encounter with the orange figures that had resulted in the watch's destruction had only been a part of the dream. He looked down at his wrist.

5:27, huh? It'll be sunrise soon. Dipper sighed. How am I supposed to find her?, he wondered. He needed to find her and get back to Stan quick, before another dream demon found and re-possessed him, or before Mabel's dream demon took complete control of her body like the one in his own mind almost did.

"MAAABEELLLL!" Dipper called out. He did not expect much of a response, since it'd be unlikely for her to actually be able to hear him in the state she was in, but he tried anyway. He didn't know what else to do. The forest was big, and he had no idea how he was going to track her down.

Might as well get started, he thought, and set off in the direction he was facing. It was as good as any, as he also had no idea where their camp was anymore.

Oh man oh man, this sucks, he continued thinking. He grew more and more worried as time went on, especially after he realized that he had absolutely zero recollection of ever being initially possessed by the first demon. If I got taken again, I wouldn't even notice it! he thought. I could have already been re-possessed, for all I know! He had to find Mabel fast. That's all he was sure of. So he kept walking.

Then, Dipper heard what he thought sounded like someone talking in the distance. And then, a scream. That's Mabel! he thought, instantly recognizing her voice. And from the sound of it, things aren't going too well for her either! He picked up the pace, and ran in the direction of the shout.

Then came the sound of branches breaking. She's not far now. He kept running, and soon found her. She looked to be sleep walking. Her eyes were closed, and she was stumbling aimlessly about the area.

"Don't worry Mabel, I'm going to get you out!"

He pulled out the Journal, and flipped to the page on the demon and the spell to exorcise it. Mabel had walked off by the time he found the page, and he had to shuffle back up to her.

"Daemones nutrientibus multum," Dipper began. Mabel stopped walking and began to tremble slightly. "vade post me pal cerebrum tibi furcifer," he continued. Mabel's shivering became more violent, and she started to moan as well. "Et replebor doloribus usque in aeternum. Recedemus recedemus recedemus!". As Dipper finished, Mabel's eyes opened and emitted a bright yellow light. Her mouth opened, but no scream came out. Instead, a gush of orange smoke was released, along with a sound that could only be compared to rushing water. When the smoke had been exhausted and the sound ceased, Mabel's eyes stopped glowing and returned to their normal state before closing as she dropped to the ground with a tired "ugghhhh". Dipper ran up and caught her fall.

"Oh my gosh, Mabel, are you okay!?" he rushed. "Can you hear me?"

"Oh geez, what just happened?" she managed to moan back. Her eyes opened and closed as she gradually reawakened.

"Do you… remember anything?" Dipper asked. "You've been under the control of a dream demon for the past several hours. I only just managed to escape myself about half an hour ago."

"Dream demon?" Mabel said. "Well, that would explain a few things, now that I think about it. I was in the woods, looking for some animals to take pictures of for my scrapbook. Or at least that's how things started out, because by the time you woke me up just now, I was being attacked by a giant squid, but a purple cat mutant and his mega-ultra paws of destruction came to save me! The fight was just getting starting when everything exploded into dust and I woke up here with you."

"That… sounds like something that would happen in a dream of yours. Think you missed a couple of the details in between though, Mabel?" Dipper laughed. He was relieved to see Mabel was okay.

"Ehh. Probably. I'll fill you in on the details later if you want. You say we were possessed by some kinda demons, huh? What happened in your dream?"

"Well, I wandered the woods with you as we were stalked by orange ghosts, who for some reason kept disappearing every time they were about to finally kill us. Then you turned out to have super powers and helped me banish the dream demon from my mind so I could wake up!" Dipper humorously replied.

"Yeesh, and you said my brain was weird!" Mabel said back with a laugh. "I will admit though, I am pretty awesome!"

Dipper stopped at the familiarity of the phrase. "Yeah..." he halfheartedly said back. "You know, I've got a whole story to tell you about all the stuff you did in there."

"That sounds cool and all, but…" Mabel put her hand to her head. Dipper realized she must be having a headache as well. "… let's just get back to camp first and rest. We can share our stories tomorrow."

Dipper looked at his watch. Sunrise would be soon, and the sky agreed. It was gradually getting brighter. "Well, technically it already is tomorrow. The sun's going to start rising any minute now. I don't even have a clue where our camp was, either, so-"

"Don't you think it would be near that smoke?" Mabel pointed out both literally and figuratively. Dipper turned around in the direction she indicated. The new light in the sky had made visible in the distance black smoke that Dipper hadn't been able to see before. "Huh. I guess it would be," Dipper agreed. They set off for the smoke.

"Wonder what the Stan Man's been up to all night," Mabel asked.

"Hope he doesn't expect that cane back," Dipper said as he realized he was no longer holding the 8-ball stick his uncle had sent him out with. Although he had witnessed its destruction himself hours earlier, that was only what had happened to it in his dream. In the real world he must have dropped it in the woods while sleepwalking around.

"Woah, Stan actually gave you his cane?" Mabel asked in amazement. "He would never let me so much as touch that old thing back at the shack! Wonder why he's so protective of it."

"Well, in my dream he had a knife in it!" Dipper replied. "It turned out pretty useful when fighting the demon, too. Just think, if Stan hadn't been so worried about us we both might still be stuck in the woods living those nightmares!"

"Wait, you beat that demon with a knife that was just another part of your dream thing? How exactly does that work?"

"Well, Tyrone said in a letter he wrote me that us defeating him was more like a symbolic representation of my mind's rejection of it. If the strength of my mind overcame its strength, it would be purged and destroyed as I regained control."

"Tyrone was in there too? That one clone of yourself you made who died that same day? Man, you really do have one heck of a story to tell me!"

"Yeah, you got that right," Dipper responded with quick laugh.

"Got what right?" Stan said as he hopped out from behind a tree, armed with a stick that had been sharpened into a spear. Dipper and Mabel simultaneously jumped back in shock.

"Grunkle Stan!" they both shouted after recovering.

"Where have you two been?" Stan asked. "I was about to come hunt you down. It's almost morning, for Pete's sake, you've been gone all night!"

"Well, I personally got attacked by squids," Mabel started, "and Dipper over here fought ghosts and demons along with me and my newfound super powers!"

Stan sighed. "You know what, nevermind. I don't really care." He turned around and led the twins through some bushes. The sun had really started to rise by this point, and the sky had begun changing from black to light blue and orange. "Come on back to camp you two. I've still got some hotdogs left if you want breakfast. I ate all the smores though."

Dipper and Mabel turned to each other, shrugged, and then laughed. "Good ole Stan," Mabel said as they turned back to camp and followed. It had been a long night, and they were both ready to return home and spend the better part of the coming day in the attic, sleeping through dreams that involved neither demons nor large squid. The Mabel that Dipper spent the previous night travelling the dreamscape with wasn't lying, he realized, when she said she would see him later. She was alive and well in the real world, ready to accompany him on the rest of the adventures this summer had in store for the Pines twins. His twin sister had never left at all.