Ch 7

[Connection to the Celestial Forge establish: The Honed Edge (Pocky & Rocky) (100CP)]

[The Honed Edge (Pocky & Rocky) (100CP): With just a bit of time and polish you can restore any blade to its true sharpness as if it were just crafted. Rust and tarnish to away with ease as well. Your tools and weapons are always in the best shape. SOME effort does need to be put into this care of course.]

As he adjusted the tie of the male Gotham Academy uniform he was wearing, Arthur thought about the ability he got last night shortly after not bullying asking Katy for a ride to school.

The name of the ability was The Honed Edge and it allowed him to do a simple but very important thing: keep his weapons and tools in their best shape possible with only a bit of polish, a bit of time, and some effort. The ability didn't come with the knowledge and skills to maintain every tool and weapon in existence, it wasn't that specific. Instead, what it gave him was the insight to tell what were the most efficient steps he needed to take in order to maintain any weapon or tool that he had at his disposal.

As far as utility purposes went, it was a pretty solid ability and would let him maintain the weapons he created with his first two abilities in working order without too much effort, which was nice.

The best part was that The Honed Edge it not limited to weapons. He could maintain 'tools' with it and pretty much anything that he could think of using for his hero career could be categorized as a tool. It went without saying that his latest ability was extremely useful.

After making sure that his tie was properly adjusted, Arthur grabbed his phone and his Access Key, both of which he put on opposite pockets. He didn't plan to use the Access Key while at school but that didn't mean that he wanted to leave it at his house where a curious maid could happen upon it and do God knows what with it if she decided to use it on a door. He put it inside the pocket his cellphone wasn't inside of in case he accidentally dropped it while pulling out his phone, which he did enough times at school to assume it was possible.

After securing those two items, Arthur grabbed his bag and walked out of his bedroom, ready to deal with another day at Gotham Academy. Just like with any other part of his home, it took Arthur a few minutes to reach the main entrance.

Arthur didn't have to wait long for Katy to appear. She drove her 2011 MustangShelby GT500 up to him and gave Arthur an annoyed look after she rolled down the window of the passenger seat.

"Get inside, brats! I don't want to waste any more time giving you a ride than I need to! Chop, chop!" She bellowed at them and the irritation was clear in her voice. "To think that I interrupted my beauty sleep for this…" she grumbled quite audibly at the end.

In response, Arthur cheekily grinned at her as he approached the car and opened the passenger door so he could ride shotgun. "Good morning to you too, sis! And what do you mean 'beauty sleep'? You don't need that to look at your absolute peak every single day!" Arthur says, laying it thick as he put on the seatbelt.

Katy drove away from their house, which was located all the way on the southern parts of Somerset, and towards Gotham Academy, which was located all the way in Bristol, specifically in Crest Hill. What that meant is that they needed to cross through the entire island of Gotham in order to make it there. Thankfully, she knew a route that would make the seemingly long trip into a twenty-minute one, which meant they would be arriving at class with some minutes to spare.

And that route was of course not going through Gotham Island and just driving north through the Somerset Main Highway until they reached the Mooney Bridge, which connected Somerset with the western portion of Bristol. It was a drive that only took about ten minutes or so. After that, she drove further into Bristol to reach Crest Hill, which took another ten minutes and then another five minutes to actually reach Gotham Academy.

The moment they arrived, Katy metaphorically kicked him out and drove away before he could even think of ganging up on her for being a tsundere or just to thank her for the ride.

It was as Arthur was reaching the main building, where most of the classrooms for high school students were located, that he was approached by two familiar faces.

"Hey Arthur" Barbara Gordon wave at me as she approached me with Richard Grayson.

"Hey Barb, What's up, Dick?" I wave back and smirked down at the shorter boy.

The newly dubbed Richard, or Dick which was likely his nickname, narrowed his eyes up at Arthur. "Dude, why do I feel like you weren't using 'Dick' like other people did?"

Arthur's smirk widened. "Did I? Or didn't I? I guess you'll never know."

Dick clicked his tongue. "Asshole," he said before he matched Arthur's smirk with one of his own. "You win this one. I'll leave you bamboozled when I eventually fine a way to make fun of your name."

Arthur snorted as he raised a fist towards Dick and the younger boy met it with his own, bumping them. Arthur then reached towards Dick and pulled him into an armlock so he could give him a noogie. "You are several years to early to be my equal at making fun of people, dick," he said as he started to drag the younger boy into the building.

"Hey, stop that! Alfred spent ages making sure my hair looked perfect! He is going to be annoyed with me if I come back and it's messed up! And Alfred gets scary when he gets annoyed! Dude! Stop!"

Arthur cackled gleefully as he continued to rasp his knuckles against Dick's scalp. "Not my problem! Now say 'Uncle'! Say it!"

"In your dreams! Gah! Stop it!"

Barbra stared at them for a few moments before she just rolled her eyes and walked after them. "Boys!" she said simply, the single word in the tone that it was spoken saying everything that needed to be said.