Chapter 4 - Dream An Elastic Little Dream

Later that night, Brainy and Mammoth Mutt were at the alien Chihuahua's room. Even if she was naturally a small breed dog, and MM would be fine with just a little room, her powers made necessary for her to have a fairly large one, and therefore adequate for the sleepover, especially since MM had also made it quite homely, unlike Brainy's room, that had a much more sober decoration.

"So, Brainy..." Mammoth Mutt commented while serving some ice cream for them both.. "you like your new powers?"

"Yes, I do. It's kinda... enjoyable." Brainy admitted while eating her ice cream, pausing after tasting. "Wait... this is chocolate? Dogs shouldn't..."

"Brainy, we're not Earth dogs. We can eat some chocolate once in awhile." Mammoth Mutt rolled her eyes while smiling.

"Oh, right." Brainy shrugged. "Anyway, yes, I like having these abilities. With my mental powers, well, I need a lot of self restraint so I don't end up reading private thoughts by accident or giving myself a migraine from reading several minds at once. However, with the elastic powers..." Brainy grinned while grabbing her own nose and stretching it a bit, "... I can allow myself to be a bit silly and relax... and play Pinocchio with my new nose. Nice, isn't it?" Brainy released her nose, that returned to normal size with a 'boinging' effect.

"Heh, I know what you mean. I often do silly stuff with my powers too." Mammoth Mutt grinned before inflating herself. "Hey, look, I have to eat less ice cream! I'm too fat."

Brainy rolled her eyes yet chuckled a bit at this, and then followed with the joke and inflated herself.

"Oh, you're right. We must start counting calories." Brainy joked, talking in a deep voice. Mammoth Mutt laughed loudly and deflated back to normal size; Brainy then did the same.

"And also, I must admit, I used to... underestimate Stretch-O-Mutt's abilities at times. Now I can see they can be quite handy in a battle." Brainy commented while changing her canine paw into a hard, large, humanlike fist.

"Well, it's like when you first asked me to join the Dog Stars. I didn't know how I'd be able to contribute with my own power, that's just inflating myself, when the team already had a psychic, a firebreather, and a dog with a super long tooth."

"Yet you proved yourself once and again, just like Bulldog and the others who joined after you." Brainy nodded at her. "Besides, this is something I wouldn't admit too frequently, I needed another female on the team for... interpersonal contact. Being the only female in a team of males, plus being the team leader, could be quite stressful."

"Yeah, I mean, how would you bond with the guys? A burping contest?" Mammoth Mutt chuckled before the whole spaceship rumbled at the sound of a loud burp. The Chihuahua just groaned at this. "Great. They got Streaky to compete again. Nothing like the burps of a Kryptonian-powered cat to evacuate a room."

"You said it. Males have their own bonding methods, just like sleepovers work for us." Brainy commented before pausing. "You know, now that I think about it, this is our first real sleepover."

Mammoth Mutt nodded, really appreciating this; usually, whenever she and Brainy wanted to bond, they just spent a little time in each other's room for a short chat.

"So, what has Stretch-O-Mutt taught you so far?" Mammoth Mutt asked her.

"Besides the fist and inflation tricks, you mean?" Brainy grinned before changing back to her ball form. Unlike the simple inflation, this also made her body much denser and therefore resistant to impacts.

"Oh, yeah! Fat Sumo Fight!" Mammoth Mutt giggled before changing to her super inflated form herself. Brainy smirked slightly and then both females started pounding/bouncing on each other, the impacts sending them against the walls and making them to ricochet around the room.

"Okay, this is fun, but how do we stop?" Brainy asked before getting an idea. "Oh, wait."

Brainy used her telekinesis to get a hold on both her body and Mammoth Mutt's bodies and make them stop bouncing. However, the whole 'ricocheting around the room' gave her another idea.

"Stretch wants me to be creative with my powers, so..." Brainy grinned before expanding her body and then morphing it into a bounce house.

"Ah... may I come in?" Mammoth Mutt grinned.

"I'd be offended if you didn't."

The Chihuahua chuckled before jumping inside the bounce house aka Brainy, and started jumping and boinging inside. Brainy couldn't stop herself from laughing loudly.

"Mammoth Mutt, you're... HAHAHA... YOU... HAHAHA... you're TICKLING ME..."

"Heh, just be glad I don't have cold paws." Mammoth Mutt giggled while still jumping inside. "And it's fun to bounce around without needing to inflate myself."

The two females continued laughing and playing like this for a couple of hours; after playing with the bounce house, Brainy showed MM some of the other, more advanced shape-shifting tricks Stretch-O-Mutt had taught her, including morphing herself into a mermaid dog, with a REALLY long hairdo, and an upper torso that would be the envy of more than one human supermodel. While MM chuckled at this, Brainy made a mental note about having sleepovers on a more regular basis... and then used her mental powers to make a literal note, writing it by telekinetically controlling a pen and paper from Mammoth Mutt's desk.

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Brainy walked down the aisle, everyone smiling while looking at how beautiful she was in her wedding dress. Mammoth Mutt, unsurprisingly, was her maid of honor, while Krypto was the best man… or best dog. As she walked next to her groom, he took her paw and kissed it tenderly, Brainy smiling back while the priest started the ceremony. The rest of the world stopped existing for her… except for the very loud sobbing courtesy of Streaky.

"I'm sorry… I ALWAYS CRY AT WEDDINGS!"

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Brainy looked at the two pups in her paws, a male and a female; she then changed the paws into hands to hold them better. The proud mother kissed and licked their heads while her husband caressed the pups with his own hand while kissing her forehead.

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Brainy morphed her arm, making it quite muscular, and then used it to throw a ball at her pups, the both of them turning their limbs into springs to bounce after the ball. Brainy also gave the ball a psychokinetic push in mid air, sending it even further. It would be funnier for the pups, and would give her a bit more private time with her husband.

"Awesome throw, Brainy Baby."

"Thanks, Stretchy."Brainy looked back at her loving mate, and kissed his lips long and tenderly.

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Brainy woke up, gasping, and spitting out the pillow she had been hugging and kissing. The purple canine looked around, and made both a visual and mental scanning of her surroundings. She was still at Mammoth Mutt's bedroom, and her teammate was sleeping soundly, not more than 2 feet away. Brainy took a deep breath and touched her lips while thinking about her dream… and then had to cover up her own mouth when looking at her own body; she was wearing a princess bride outfit, exactly like the one she was wearing in her dream wedding.

"My dream… I was dreaming with Stretch-O-Mutt…" Brainy wide-opened her eyes. "I was dreaming with myself getting married to Stretch-O-Mutt! Having his pups! Starting a family… and… we were happy!"

Brainy took some deep breaths to calm herself down, and then changed her outfit back to normal. As usual, she made a mental note about this, realizing that, at times, she'd morph without realizing it, reflecting her own thoughts or instincts, or, in this case, her dream. Then, she made a second mental note.

"I can hide this from others… but… I can't hide it from myself. I really have some sort of feelings towards Stretch-O-Mutt; a feeling beyond companionship or friendship… and… talk about 'shipping', as earthlings say… This feeling is a romantic one."

Brainy never thought she'd have romantic feelings for anyone. She always put her career and responsibilities beforehand, and her love life was pretty much nonexistent; she also thought no male would put up with her Dog Star duty and the risks that came with the position, not to mention many males were intimidated by a powerful female. Still, it was obvious Stretch-O-Mutt didn't mind any of this, and actually respected and admired her work; not to mention he was nice, funny, brave, and a very competent superhero.

"And he's handsome and sweet too." This time she thought out-loud, smiling. "I've fallen in love with Stretch-O-Mutt, and I like it."

Unknown to Brainy, her newfound object of affection was going to the kitchen right then. Apparently, Brainy wasn't the only one with intense dreams that night. And, as usual, whenever he had to think deeply about anything, he decided to take a snack.

"Nnnngh… this is… weird… good yet weird." Stretch thought out-loud. "Usually, all my good dreams involve food… but this one involved eating with Brainy… and she was the focus of the dream, not the meal."

"No focusing on meals? Then you're at the wrong place."

Stretch arched an eyebrow when finding Streaky in the kitchen, making himself a 'hero sandwich'; meaning, one so big it was a good thing Streaky was invulnerable or he'd have a very serious indigestion.

"Oh. Streaky. What are you doing here… besides making yourself a sandwich that would choke a grizzly?"

"Hey, I can ask you the same thing, and I think you'd tell me the same; you couldn't sleep and came here for some midnight lunch." Streaky chuckled while covering the sandwich with some chocolate syrup.

"One, if it's midnight, it can't be lunch, and two… chocolate?"

"Hey, I'm a cat; I do the night shift, so this is lunch for me. And yes, I know cats and dogs aren't supposed to eat chocolate, but hey, as long as it has no kryptonite, I can feast on it." Streaky chuckled before licking some chocolate. "Heh… 'feast'... food for thought."

Stretch chuckled a bit and started making a sandwich for himself, making it very similar to Streaky's, just with less tuna and chocolate, and much more bacon.

"So, wanna share? Not the sandwich; the reason you couldn't sleep." Streaky asked him as they both started eating.

"I… well, I had this dream… uh… Streaky, have you ever liked… someone…"

"Yes, the milkman. Very nice guy."

"I mean… a girl…"

"Andrea. She might drive me crazy sometimes but I love that little gal."

"I mean, romantically!" Stretch decided to cut to the chase before Streaky ended mentioning every friend of his, animal or not.

"Ah, that kind of problem, uh?" Streaky sighed and stopped eating. In other words, Stretch knew he was having a very serious thought right then.

"Oh…. you've had girl issues too, uh?"

"Well, not in the sense of choosing a dress or make-up, but if you talk about issues with a girl in particular… Yeah." Streaky rubbed the back of his neck. "I fell in love with a princess; literally. And… that kinda… ruined everything. Sure, she said it was because the long distance relationship wasn't working for us, but, come on, I fly at super speed; I go to Italy every wednesday for pizza!"

"Why the wednesdays?"

"That's when they get fresh anchovies. Anyway, back to topic… princess and I… you see, her family rules over a whole country, so she's expected to be a very serious gal… and dating a goof-up like me wasn't good for her image. She didn't tell me that, of course, but the long distance thing wasn't a good enough excuse, so it had to be something else. And that something… who am I kidding? It's obvious I was the problem."

Stretch now was feeling very bad for Streaky, but also thinking about how the cat's relationship problem was VERY similar to his own. Sure, he and Brainy weren't dating (yet), but what if he tried to confess his feelings, and she gave him a similar answer? After all, she did most of her work in space, while he usually worked on Earth, and that was a really long distance relationship. Not to mention that, even if Stretch and the super cat were competent heroes when focusing enough, he was as much as a goof-up as Streaky, others often seeing them as nothing but a pair of fools who got lucky enough to get their powers in freaky accidents, and this image would be a very big obstacle for any relationship with a serious, responsible gal; even if he had seen Brainy having fun, she had told him how everyone expects her to be serious and level-headed at all times.

"I would hate if she has problems at work because of me." Stretch thought out loud. Streaky sighed and finished his sandwich.

"So, you also fell for a serious, dignified, responsible leader-like female, uh?" Streaky rubbed the back of his neck again. "Well, see the bright side; nobody sees you as nothing but a sidekick of a more responsible, better hero. I think your girl might see you as a much better option than Princess did with me. Heh, too bad we can't date other heroes that might understand us a bit better."

Streaky patted Stretch's shoulder before flying out of the kitchen. Unknown to the cat, his last words actually made a world of difference for Stretch.

"Yes… understanding… She works on other planets… but she also has a super cool spaceship, and I help with the missions sometimes… I'm here already! Long distance isn't an issue. And… and she respects me as a teacher… or mentor… and she thinks I'm a good hero… She doesn't see me as a fool goof-up, even if I might be one! And… yes, sure, I got my powers in an accident, but, well, she got elastic powers in an accident too! We have stuff in common already."

Stretch, now feeling much better, finished up his sandwich, cleaned up a bit, and when passing next to the fridge's door, that was a reflective, mirror-like surface, Stretch gave himself a good look and then, morphing one of his paws into a comb, changed his hairdo to the one Brainy gave him previously. The elastic hero smiled and admired his work… and jumped back when seeing Ace's reflection next to his own.

"YIPES!" Stretch almost hit the wall with his back at the very high jump he did. "Are you half-cat or something? Seriously, I've seen butterflies much noisier than you!"

"Must be quite interesting butterflies." Ace opened the fridge, grabbed some chicken, and then looked back at Stretch. "Streaky's not the only one who does the night shift."

"Heh… guess you… heard me, uh?" Stretch gave him a goofy, nervous smile.

"A bit. And, by the way, I think Brainy will like the hairdo."

"You think so?" Stretch stretched his neck to move his head in front of the fridge to see his reflection again. "Yeah, I think it's a good hairdo… how about… Ace?"

Stretch realized he was now talking alone. The elastic canine looked around and sighed as he started walking out of the kitchen before talking out-loud again.

"Ace, wherever you are, seriously, you amaze and scare me as you have no idea. Really, you're like a living rollercoaster."

Two seconds later, the fridge door opened again, Ace sighing a bit.

"I always forget the milk."