O.C.T.O. comic Chapter 5

Page 1: It's the middle of the night on Hammerhead Bridge.  We see the night fade and the sky lighten in the early hours before sunrise, and then the shadows stretch across the structure as the first rays of the morning sun breach the horizon.  Atop Inkopolis Tower, we see Francine has once again spent the night in her towertop hovel.  Inkopolis Tower casts an enormous, heavy shadow across the plaza, but at its tip we see the train arrive and an unidentified Inkling emerge.

Page 2: Francine sits up, stretches, and yawns, and then her eyes pop open in surprise.
Francine (narration box): "Dank?"
Francine stares down from the top of Inkopolis Tower as Dank approaches Judd on the box below.
Francine (narration box): "What on earth is he doing here at this hour...?"

Page 3: Francine has returned to her and Georgia's apartment.
Francine: "Georgia?  Sorry to wake you, it's just...do you have any idea why Dank would be coming to the Tower at this--"
Francine opens the door to Georgia's bedroom, but she's not there, and her bed has very clearly not been slept in.
Francine: "--hour?"
In an unfamiliar part of Inkopolis, far from anywhere we've been (as indicated by the tiny green blip indicating Inkopolis Tower off in the distance), Georgia is wandering the streets, Aqua's notebook in hand, paging through it intently.  She gets to the page with the photo of Aqua and Old O.C.T.O. and taps it intently, then flips the photo over, seeing a series of indentations on its back, the telltale evidence of the envelope it had come in being addressed with the photo already inside.  She spreads some ink over the indentations, and an address appears.  Georgia brings the photo down out of her field of vision to look at the apartment building in front of her--a building bearing the very same address.

Page 4: In the coffee shop beneath the Squid Sisters Studio, Dank and Georgia meet incognito.  Georgia is wearing a fashionable black hoodie with a pair of dark shades, while Dank...well, he tried, at least.  He also has a plain manilla envelope tucked beneath his arm.
Georgia: "Got the records?"
Dank: "Yeah, was supes simple once I had the year."
Dank fishes inside the envelop and spreads a number of old photographs across the table, including a duplicate of the one in Aqua's notebook.
Dank: "This is wack as shiz, dawg.  Grand Champs, six years running, and then nada.  'S like they noped off the face of the earth outta nowhere, man."
Georgia holds up the address on the photo's back.
Georgia: "Not quite, my friend.  I checked out the address.  Neighbors say there's three squids still livin' there, match the pictures.  What do you say we pay our predecessors a visit?"

Page 5: Inside the apartment, three Inklings are relaxing casually.  An androgynous yellow Inkling in a blue sailor suit and a skull bandana [Frunk] leans against a wall next to a couch, watching its occupant (a messy orange-inked Inkling wearing the Retro Gamer Jersey and Noise Cancelers) [Gull] focused intently on his game.  Next to him, a dark orange-inked Inkling (the color that corresponds to the dark teal/turquoise ink) [Eloy] sits eating kelp chips.  There is a knock at the door, which all three seem content to ignore.
[panel composition: Eloy, then Gull, then Frunk; the door is to the left of all three, on the same wall as the couch]
SFX: *knock knock knock*
Eloy: "Someone want to get that?"
Gull: "Can't, gates just went down."
Frunk: "Remind me why you're playing this instead of visiting the real Camp Triggerfish?"
We see the trio from a different angle, with Eloy in the foreground and Gull right behind him; in the back, Frunk leans over to look at Eloy.
Gull: "Practice.  Real matches these days take way longer to set up.  Plus it's less of a pain when you--SON OF A SEA MONKEY!"
SFX: *Knock Knock Knock*
Eloy: "Besides, we're a man down to even play, let alone have subs.  And I don't think any of us could handle teaming with randoms."
Back to the first angle, the door is pounded so hard it shakes Eloy and Gull out of their seats and knocks Frunk from the wall.  The three are clearly surprised by the situation.
SFX: *KNOCK.* *KNOCK.* *KNOCK.*
The three teammates sprawl on the floor, Eloy's chip bowl upended onto Gull's head.
Gull: "Think one of us should maybe get that?"

Page 6: Eloy opens the door to see a very determined-looking Georgia on the verge of knocking a fourth time, fist still in the air; behind her, a slightly nervous Dank peeks from around his partner in crime.
Eloy: "Can I--"
Tall hero panel of Georgia, complete with bubbly pink background and bishie sparkle.
Eloy (cont. from previous panel): "--uh...help...you?"
Georgia and Dank give each other a look of confusion.
Georgia: ?
Dank: ?
Dank shrugs.
Georgia looks back to Eloy and holds up the old championship photo.
Eloy goes completely white (literally--his ink goes white as well, but not his eyes).

Page 7: We see Eloy inviting the pair in from Frunk's perspective, with Frunk in the foreground leaning up against the wall again and Gull back on the couch playing his video game.  Eloy's still completely white.
Eloy: "P-please, come inside."
Frunk: "Eloy?  You all right?"
Close-up inset panel of Georgia's face, having walked just past a still-pale Eloy just behind her.
Georgia: "We're friends of Aqua."
From the same perspective as the first panel, we see Gull rubberneck to look at Georgia and Dank, with Frunk visually surprised as well.
Gull: !
Frunk: !
Georgia: "We have a few questions..."

Page 8: From above, we see the five sitting around the kitchen table, with Dank's photos and documents spread haphazardly across it.
Frunk: "So.  Aqua's back in the game."
Georgia: "I wouldn't say that.  Mostly we've just been cleaning up headquarters, though Dank and I did track him into the valley..."
Frunk shakes her head.
Frunk: "No.  I *know* Aqua.  If he's back, he's back."
Gull gently puts a hand on Frunk's wrist.
Gull: "Frunkie...it's been nine years.  Nearly a decade.  People change, we can't just assume everything will stay--"
Unexpectedly, Eloy pushes back from the table, stands up, and storms off.
Frunk and Gull exchange a look of concern.
Georgia now stands up, and the others look at her.
Georgia: "I'll handle it."

Page 9: On the tiny balcony outside the apartment, Eloy stands, staring out into the sunset.  Georgia approaches gently.
Georgia: "Eloy?"
Eloy looks back at Georgia.
Eloy: "I thought I knew him."
Georgia: "Knew...Aqua?"
Georgia joins Eloy at the rail.  We watch their faces as they stare out over the skyline.
Eloy: "Aqua was...amazing.  Clever, cheerful, talented, tough, and one of the nicest people I've ever known.  He was...well, he was like a brother to me.  And then he was gone."
Eloy looks earnestly at Georgia.
Eloy: "Nine years.  *Nine freaking years.*  No call, no note, just one day out of the blue he clams up and stops talking to us, and maybe a week later he's just gone.  Go to his house, no answer, warehouse boarded up, and no one in town can tell us where he is.  We even searched Octo Valley for him, and this was when you couldn't walk two steps without bumping into a hostile Octarian."

Page 10: We see Georgia staring downwards, deep in thought as Eloy speaks.
Eloy: "Frunk took it the hardest.  I still worry about her sometimes.  She really got into his whole schtick of seeking out the Octarians, learning their secrets for the betterment of squidkind.  If he's really back, I'm worried she might end up hurt."
Georgia looks up again, staring into the sunset as she struggles to share her own story.
Georgia: "I know what you mean.  Francine, she...I know why she's into this.  She has secrets of her own, and Aqua and O.C.T.O. can help her deal with that.  But she's like *my* sister, and she's so enthused with all this I'm afraid she'll get burned..."
Georgia looks at Eloy, her eyes welling up with tears.
Georgia: "He has so many secrets.  They all do.  You knew him for six *years* and still learned nothing.  What's going to happen to her when they get revealed?"
Eloy: "..."
Georgia looks at Eloy, worried.
Eloy: "...I don't know."

Page 11: As the evening fades to dusk, we see the last vestiges of sunlight illuminate Eloy's face harshly, the glare glinting off of one lens of his glasses.  Eloy's expression is the most intense it's ever been.
Eloy: "I saw him, once.  The others don't know.  It was about three years after he left."
Eloy: "He's not the same squid.  He may not look it, but something inside him--something deep down, further than even he can see--is broken.  And I'm not sure anything can truly fix such a wound.  Only time will tell whether or not it's festered."
Georgia stares downward again, downcast.
Georgia: "Yeah..."
Georgia continues to stare downward at the city below.
Eloy: *sigh*
Eloy hands Georgia a fist-sized metallic device.
Eloy: "Here.  If he really is going to restart the squad, he's going to need this."
Georgia accepts the device.
Eloy: "We found this out in Octo Valley, in the remains of an old Octarian war machine.  It's a database of their tactics--at least, the ones they used back in the war.  We used to adapt some of their old techniques to modern ink battles--gave us that extra edge we needed, back in the day.  Maybe it'll help you guys, too."
Georgia reaches up and wipes away her tears.
Georgia: "...thanks, Eloy."

Page 12: Georgia and Dank are leaving the apartment building, waving their goodbyes to the old O.C.T.O. members.
Suddenly, Frunk calls out, causing Georgia and Dank to pause as she rushes inside.
Frunk: "Wait!"
Frunk rushes back out to Dank and Francine.  She stares into Dank's eyes, studying him, before finally relinquishing the brown paper bag she'd carried out to him.
Frunk: "Here.  I made these.  They are...were...his favorite, back in the day.  I...want you take them."
Dank studies Frunk for a moment, finally seeing in her what she'd seen in him.
Dank: "Thanks, Frunkie."
On the train, Dank and Georgia are both lost in thought.
Georgia: "So.  You coming back to headquarters with me?  Drop off the database before heading home for the night?"
Dank: "...Nah.  I got somethin' totes more important to take care of."
We see an inset panel of Dank's foot stepping onto the street.
Dank stands outside a rather nice-looking detached home, one of several on this street in the suburbs of Inkopolis.  A single light is on in the upstairs bedroom.
In another inset panel, Dank knocks on the door.
SFX: *Knock knock knock*
From the side, we see the door open and Aqua lean out, surprised.
Aqua: "...Dank--?"
Dank holds out the bag.
Front view of Aqua's face as he smiles wistfully.
Aqua: "...come in, Dank."
The door closes.
-End-