Maybe the John that zapped him and the others to the masterpiece is the other retcon-powered John that went to go see Typheus. The John that was replaced by main John when he managed to zap back to Terezi. And since that John wouldn’t have gone back to Terezi, because main John already did, he would’ve had to decide what do on his own. And “go grab my friends before they got killed and then go fight the big bad before he grows up to be the big bad” sounds like a John idea. Straight to the point

Yeah it could definitely be! There’s also yet a THIRD John, when he goes to the R3UN1ON part of the Terezi thing, to pick the ring and not let Aranea get it, he basically creates a Timeline where, Vriska didn’t survive, and Aranea didn’t mess the Timeline, which would have everyone facing Condy, Grimbark Jade and Crocker Jane without sleep-inducing powers, but also without Aranea fucking things up, and with some luck, without Gamzee going Berserk.