7 weeks had passed by. The turtles, April and Casey were all anxiously waiting for the time to act on the plan they had made. Tiger Claw had gathered enough intel for their plan to take action, but Tiger Claw was putting the teens on stand-by still. They had pressed Tiger Claw to let the plan set off already, but he was not budging at all. He insisted they wait for a little longer, when Shredder was less suspicious; and that in itself was difficult to determine. Raph and Sensei had been able to meet with Leo in the spiritual plane almost on a daily basis. But as the weeks went by, Leo seemed to have been going in the spiritual plane less and less. It was worrying them both. It was the same with Harmony; she was making less contact with Splinter as well. Whenever either of them asked what was going on, Leo and Harmony simply replied "training."
They weren't lying; their training was getting more rigorous and intense with the Ancient One. It took a lot of their energy, time and patience. Sometimes, they were too tired to be able to go into the spiritual plane, no matter how much they wanted to talk to the others. Sometimes, they couldn't seem to concentrate. Sometimes, they just couldn't because of training. They talked to the Ancient One about it. All he said was "when you're meant to be in the spiritual plane, you will be there. If you're not, you won't. Now stop panicking about it; you'll mess up your connection with the spiritual plane and you'll be less focused on the training!"
"But, Ancient One- -"
"No buts. You cannot stress yourself about it. You must be in a tranquil or calm state of mind to enter the spiritual plane. The more you stress about not being able to enter it, the less you'll be able to enter it. You have to go about it in a calm and concentrated manner, or you won't be able to go into it. Right now, you need to be focusing on our training."
Harmony was not at all satisfied with the answer. "The training isn't helping with the spiritual plane situation, either! Sometimes we can't go into the spiritual plane because we're overworked and tired and sore from the constant training."
"You came here for more intense training, and that is what you are getting. If you don't want to be apart of my training anymore, there's the door! I'm not forcing you or begging you to stay and continue training, so if you're not satisfied, don't let the door hit you on the way out." Harmony and Leo looked taken aback at his subtle threat, frozen in their place. The Ancient One took a deep breath and turned to go into his house. "If either of you are still wanting to train, we'll continue later. Otherwise, do not bother staying."
Once he was inside, Harmony growled lowly and stomped the ground, her hands balled into tight fists. Leo let her have a minute before speaking. "Got it out of your system yet?"
She ran her hand through her hair, which had grown a little longer. "I really showed him, huh?" she laughed sarcastically. Leo smiled sheepishly.
"Oh yeah, you showed him what for."
"And he did the same." She sighed, turning to Leo. "I'm just- - I'm so frustrated that we can't talk to them as much as we want to!"
"I know. I am too." Leo breathed out a long breath. "But we're learning a lot. AO is right; we came here to improve, and we have, but we still have more to learn."
"I guess I need a refresher on how to channel anger," Harmony joked, both of them smiling a bit. "I should apologize to him, shouldn't I?"
Leo smiled a nervous grin. "If you want AO to not give you his not-so-funny sass, I suggest you do."
Harmony took a deep breath, nodding and slowly heading into the little house. She lightly tapped the wood frame of the entrance of the kitchen, watching as AO turned his head. "Can I talk to you?"
He turned his head back around, rummaging through his fridge. "I don't know, can you?"
"I can, but I don't know if you want me to."
AO rolled his eyes, pointing her to a chair as he grabbed his food and shut the fridge door. He took a seat, waiting for her to speak. When she hadn't for a while, he sighed and set down his food. "Are you going to talk or not?"
"I was going to wait for you to finish eating. Didn't want you to choke on your food if you talked with your mouth full."
"Are you implying I'm a baby?" He saw her tense, and he sighed again. "Harmony, I am only teasing. Lighten up!"
Harmony smiled hesitantly. "I just... I wanted to apologize. I didn't mean to imply you or the training is the reason for our problems- - we just want to talk to the others back home, and the only line of communication being thinned- - it's just agonizing."
"I know it's frustrating. Your focus is on your training, and your exhaustion and spent energy is also a factor. But you will be able to talk to them, I promise. I'm sorry that you're both feeling overwhelmed. If you need me to tone it down a notch for a while, just tell me. Maybe you're not ready for this kind of training and I pushed it upon you two before you were."
"No, we are ready. We just want to talk to the others, is all. I'm sorry for questioning your method. I didn't mean to. So... are we cool?"
AO laughed a bit. "Yes, we are cool, as you say it. Now go out with Shinigami for a bit and have fun before you come back. I have something in store for the next session."
"What is it?"
"You will find out later, nosy! Now go already, Shinigami is heading her way over here to meet up with you and Leonardo."
"Come on, AO, just tell me!"
"Don't you two beg for time out of the house? Don't make me send her back home!"
"Fiiiiine," Harmony whined, trudging outside. "Bye, old man."
"Bye, pesky teenager!"
Harmony walked outside, walking towards Shinigami and Leo laughing about something. They both turned to look at Harmony, and Shinigami beamed. "MiMi! You ready to go?"
"Let me go grab some things before we head out," Leo said, running inside the house.
"Where are we going, exactly?"
"Just window shopping; looking and trying on things we wish we could afford," Shini replied.
"Ah, yeah, 'cause I love thinking of what could be," Harmony replied, smiling as Shini laughed a bit. They turned their heads as Leo came back out in a casual disguise. "Ready, Leo?"
"Honestly, how do you guys handle all these clothes? I'm already starting to feel warmer than usual, and we haven't even left yet."
"Lethargic, much?" Shini replied, patting his cheek. "Lazy, lazy turtle."
"Ha ha," Leo replied, rolling his eyes. "Let's just go already." They headed off, being away from the house for a good few hours. They returned as the orange and yellow from the dusk sky had disappeared, and the moon was starting to set in. Leo had immediately started peeling away the unnecessary layers of clothing as they approached the house, breathing in relief as he felt not so warm anymore. "Finally," he said. "I definitely loved trying on different materials of clothes that just made me more and more warm!"
Shini and Harmony laughed as he struggled to pull off another item of clothing. "Man, I think stripping out in the open is unethical, Leo," Shini said as he finally pulled the clothing off.
"Are you trying to get arrested? Or better yet, are you trying to impress us? 'Cause only one of those things are likely to happen," Harmony joked, she and Shini bursting into laughter again and Leo glared at her a bit.
"Very funny, but I only need to impress myself, and I gotta say, I'm a pretty darn good lookin' turtle," Leo replied, smiling as he removed the last piece of clothing. He frowned again, groaning and throwing a hand on his head, sliding it down. "Shell, we're about to train. There goes my seconds of feeling cool. Right back at feeling too warm again."
"Don't worry, Leo; those seconds of being cool never happened," Shini joked, smiling innocently as Leo looked fake offended.
"You got me there," Leo said, laughing along with them. "I'm gonna go in and drink a jug of water before we start training, then. Thanks for taking us out on the town, Shini." He smiled at her warmly, then turned and started heading towards the house.
"Hamato Leonardo," Shini yelled suddenly, her voice sounding harsh. Leo froze, his skin now full of goosebumps. She never used his full name, and he had no idea why she was now. He slowly turned his head to look at her. "I can't believe you right now." She gave him a hard glare, making Leo gulp and get a cold sweat. In a matter of seconds, her threatening look was warm and bright as she smiled, holding her arms out. "What, no hug?"
Leo finally breathed out, not realizing he was holding his breath. "Shell, Shinigami, you scared me half to death. I swear, if looks could kill," he replied. "I don't know if you deserve a hug for almost killing me."
"Aw, come on, I took you out and treated you with some food; I deserve a hug," she retorted, smiling as Leo rolled his eyes and started talking towards her. He opened his arms as he approached her, chuckling. When he got close enough, he suddenly glomped his arms around her, hugging her tightly and taking her by surprise. She groaned and resisted for a few seconds, but then laughed and hugged him back. She pushed him away, punching his arm as he started to go to the house. "That wasn't very nice of you, Leonardo!"
"Good night, Shinigami!" Leo yelled, waving back at her as he stepped into the house. He went into the kitchen and greeted AO as he grabbed a glass cup and turned on the water, filling it up and gulping it down, repeating this process.
AO raised his brow, looking at Leo. "My water bill is going to cost a fortune, thanks to you," he joked.
Leo chuckled a bit, refilling it again. "Sorry; I really don't get how humans can stand wearing clothes for so long without sweating excessively."
"We must suffer for a decent society," AO replied. "How was it?"
"It was fun; we tried on a lot of things, and Shinigami treated us to some food. It was a nice time. Thanks for letting us have a break from training."
"Yes, well, after training, I have something to announce."
"What is it?"
"What is it with you teenagers being so impatient?" AO sighed. "I will tell you after training. Hurry and drink up, training is in a matter of minutes."
"Fiiiiiine," Leo whined as AO left him to rehydrate. After their training, Leo and Harmony grabbed their water bottles and drank every last drop. It took a minute for them to catch their breath.
"Excellent training! That's all for today, we resume tomorrow." AO was about to head inside when Leo suddenly coughed. He turned around, a bit worried. "Leonardo, are you alright?"
Leo waved him off, taking a minute to get his breathing again. "Y-you said you had something after training," Leo breathed out.
"Oh, right," AO replied. He was a both excited yet hesitant to make his announcement.
After some minutes of silence, Harmony and Leo glanced at each other in confusion. "...is this a test of silence or something?" Harmony asked.
"Shhh!" AO replied. "Okay, okay. Here it is. Leonardo."
"...yes?" Leo asked.
"You've been here for quite a while, and- -"
"Are you kicking me out?" Leo asked, his voice sounding a bit panicky. "Did I do something wrong? What is it? I'll do whatever I can to fix it, I'm so- -"
"SHHHHH! I'm not kicking you out!"
"You're wording your announcement in a way that makes it sound like I did something wrong! I'm kind of worried, sorry!"
"My announcement is not bad!"
"You sat in silence and had a weird look, though! What did I do wrong?"
"You didn't do anything wrong, Leonardo! Let me- -"
"Just tell me what I need to do to fix whatever I did! I want to try to fix my wrongdoing before you suddenly kick me out, please- -"
"I'm not kicking you out, Leonardo! I was going to say that you can go back home!"