I looked around and I am sure that the nurse is gone. Phillip just finished wallowing in tears after Diane screamed at her about them never getting back. Jessica is sick of it all and she's on the verge of tears as well. They trained for months and all of it was destroyed in a single day. Who wouldn't fall in despair? Among it all, I couldn't stand seeing them this miserable. My powers may be nefarious but I think this is the best time to use it. Like how a superhero would save the day.
"Don't be alarmed," I said. "But I can help you guys."
Both of their heads perked up, "How?" Phillip asked.
"Yeah, how?" Jessica butted in.
"Before I help both of you, swear to me that you'll never tell anyone about my powers."
They nodded in unison.
Between the three unconscious bodies in the stretcher, I thought that Jerry would be the safe bet. His build is similar to mine except that he's a bit taller and bulkier. He's also on the lighter shade of brown as opposed to my pale white skin. I moved over to his stretched and caressed my hands on the surface of his skin. He plays baseball so there's defined muscles here and there. He also has this button nose that I have a fancy off. I bopped it and felt my fingers slightly phase through him. Jessica and Philip are looking at me with anticipation.
I didn't waste any more seconds admiring Jerry's body. I grabbed the stretched handle and used it as leverage as I jumped inside his body. In one moment, I was disappeared into Jerry's body. Jessica rose from his seat and nearly pulling the IV tube while Phillip has his mouth agape. In another moment, Jerry rose from his bed, breathing heavily and his eyes dilated before returning to normal. There's still sleep spores in his bloodstream and that's making me drowsy.
"Jerry?" Jessica said. "Oh my god, are you okay?"
"I'm not Jerry," I said. Jessica's left eyebrow raised and Phillip looked at me with confusion. "I'm Josh and this is my power."
For the next minute or so, I explained to them the nature of my powers. I told them that I use the unconscious body of others as my puppet and I could make them do anything as I please. I don't have their memories but I do have their powers. In Jerry's case, I could run very fast and vibrate my arms until whirlwinds come out of them.
"So what you are saying is that you will act like Jerry and play in the race?" Jessica said.
"I nodded."
"No! I will not allow it. You don't even have control over his powers and you don't even know our formations." Jessica pulled back her hair and sighed. "We're going to lose."
"We're going to lose if we don't join anyway. Add to that, they're going to brand us as quitters. And you know what they do to quitters?" Phillip said.
Quitters have a bad track in this university. Most students studying here have some sort of superiority complex just because they are studying in the best university in the region. Most want to be at the top and the multiple competitions hosted by the school body aren't helping either. When everyone wants to prove their worth to others and somebody doesn't let them by quitting, eh- things turn messy.
Students would try and prove themselves outside of competition, in most cases, an all-out brawl in the courtyard.
Jessica gave it a thought and she eventually agreed. "Okay, Josh. You don't have to do anything but run straight to the finish line. There are others with powers like Jerry's and it's up to me and Phillip to get them away from you."
In the next few more minutes, she gave a rundown of their basic strategies, what the obstacle course would be and their potential opponents. We discussed things until the nurse arrived. By then, we bid our goodbyes but not before checking whether Tom and Kyle are alright. Their vitals are fine but they seem to be in a deep mental trance that's barring them from waking up. The nurse expressed a mild surprise at how Jerry managed to break out of it. I gave her the 'willpower' excuse which seemed to satisfied her curiosity.
As we were going home, I realized a problem I haven't noticed before. I don't know where Jerry's home is. I asked Phillip and Jessica but they don't know either. In this case, Phillip invited me to his dorm. Jessica doesn't want to, well because I'm a boy. And a guy going inside the girl's dorm would be a source of many malicious scandals.
Then suddenly, something hit my mind. Why am I overthinking this when I could just stay at my own dorm. I live alone except for Gray who lives next door. But, Phillip's offer still stands. So I picked....