Their first plan was to return to the location of the Foot Clan, where the portal was built, but when they got there, everything was just a cold place. There was no trace of any human presence in the building. They almost questioned CJ, wondering if he had given the wrong address, but the boy was right.
So they were given a new task, so they searched for the current location of the clan. Days passed in the meantime. CJ fit in well with the turtles' everyday life. Although he never said much about himself, he found common ground with all four brothers.
"You're quite at home in the sewers" Donnie remarked one day. "People usually find it quite unpleasant."
"I guess so" CJ agreed. "Actually, the sewers are much more like a home than a house, I think."
"Interesting concept" Donnie said.
"It's time for training" Master Splinter arrived, interrupting the conversation.
As usual, the four turtles prepared themselves, while the human boy stepped back. He was about to leave to occupy himself elsewhere, when the rat said after him:
"Really?" he turned back excitedly.
Before he knew it, he was already in the dojo watching the warm-up, the katas, and then the duels unfolding between the brothers. After the first two went down, instead of the final between the winners, Splinter called his sons back.
"We don't usually train with unusual weapons, but..." he started again, addressing his words to CJ, but the boy quickly interrupted him.
" I can actually use some traditional weapons!"
" Interesting. So you don't mind if you have to fight Donatello with a bo stick, maybe? That's the most similar to your... stuff."
"Well, I can fight with a bo, but I don't use that at home..."
"What are you filming then?" Raph interrupted impatiently, but curiously.
"You don't really seem like a swordsman", Mikey said.
"Sometimes we train with odachi, but the weight distribution of the katana is more comfortable for me."
"You wield both odachi and katana? I've never heard of such a thing, swordsmen usually choose the one that suits them best" Leo wondered.
"Yes, but not everyone notices the difference. My teacher had to switch from odachi to twin katanas very quickly, so he can wield both quite well, he taught me some balance tricks when switching weapons..."
"Oh no, now there are two of them!" Mikey joked.
"That's enough" Master Splinter calmed the group. " CJ, Leonardo, show us a fight!"
Donnie brought a katana to CJ, and then the two boys moved away from the others a little.
"My skills may have gotten a little rusty" CJ defended himself apologetically.
"Don't worry, it's just a friendly match."
The fight began. Everyone present was surprised when CJ struck Leora with almost superhuman speed, who blocked the attack just as quickly, then returned it. The silence of the dojo was broken only by the sounds of blades clashing against each other.
Sometimes it was obvious in CJ's movements that he was used to a different weapon, his balance was more unstable, but he always quickly covered up these technical errors. The fight was pleasantly balanced, neither side gave less. After a long battle, Leo finally managed to knock the weapon out of CJ's hands and send the boy to the floor.
"Considering how rusty you are, this was a pretty decent workout" the blue turtle remarked to the boy.
After Splinter released them, Mikey began to question the guest. At first, he held back because of the many evasive answers, but when one of CJ's answers went beyond the usual "not relevant" answer, Mikey threw a real barrage of questions at him.
"What's school like? What kind of friends do you have there?" the orange turtle asked the fate-changing question.
"This whole school thing is actually quite new to me" CJ said, and since this was the first information he shared about himself, this was where his friendship with his siblings really began.
"Really, how? Don't people have to go there from a young age? You're not that young, you look like a high school student already... That reminds me, how old are you? You haven't mentioned it yet."
CJ watched him in confusion, worried about the facts he had shared. What if he said something he shouldn't? Of course, the turtles could be trusted. He had already successfully convinced himself that they weren't evil alternatives to his own family, so maybe it wouldn't hurt to talk a little more calmly... Besides, he didn't have many friends his age.
"It's a long story why I didn't go to school earlier, I just turned fourteen."
Poor boy didn't expect that after just one sentence there would be such a big silence. The general background noise in the den stopped and the other turtles, who had only listened to Mikey's chatter with half an ear until now, all looked at him with shocked faces.
"You just turned fourteen" Raph repeated.
"Yes" CJ nodded confused.
"A fourteen-year-old almost beat me" Leo looked at him too.
"Oh come on, age doesn't matter, you're fighting the Foot, you should know that too" the man rolled his eyes now. "Besides, it's not like you're that much older than me!"
" We're nineteen" Donnie explained. "We didn't mean we were that old when we first went to New York, we were just surprised that you were so skilled..."
"And alone" Leo added. "You only arrived a few days ago from a completely different universe..."
"Being stuck in another world sucks" Mikey nodded sympathetically. He never liked to talk about his time in Dimension X, but he had learned a lot there.
"I admit, I think I'm homesick" said CJ "but I've been in a similar situation before!"
"You just turned fourteen and you've already been in a similar situation?!" Raph was incredulous. "What kind of screwed-up world do you come from?!"
CJ was silent. The conversation was starting to take a direction that was increasingly uncomfortable for him, so he decided to end it:
