Alright, so I'm 17 chapters deep into fixing up and slightly rewriting my old 'Heroic Nerd' story and I've decided to get this chapter out as both a bit of an update and a way to tell people that I'm not giving up on this story.

Anyways let's get on with it.

Beacon Academy, the heroic nursery of society's future saviors. That being said it was still a school. Let's go over the checklist: Long-winded, questionably qualified teachers, check. Waking up early in the morning for no particular reason, check. Teacher's pet with a bit of a stick up her ass "Gah!" partial check. Yup, this was still a high school, with all the pros and cons that went with it.

As Weiss finished her sloppy but still passable kill on the class Boarbatusk I noticed both her and Ruby leaving the classroom. Knowing what was coming I decided to stay out of it, Ozpin and Port did a good job on their own, besides I had other things to do.

Like finally get some ki training in, I absolutely refuse to let my ki attacks remain at their current pathetic level. My aura and semblance were comparatively difficult to train and required an opponent respectively anyway so ki was pretty much the only way to go for the quickest gains.

'No wonder Piccolo never trained with the other Z fighters. This training method is amazing, the concentration needed to both levitate and telekinetically move heavy objects with my eyes closed was mentally exhausting.' Granted I wasn't picking up a damn pyramid or anything but lifting up several rocks with nothing but my ki was testing my ability to multi-task.

"So this is where you went, and that's not a bad show of telekinetic ability. You've come far on your own without any instruction." A voice said from my left, taking away my concentration and causing the rocks to obey gravity once more.

"While I appreciate the praise, do you need anything Ms. Goodwitch? I was kind of in the middle of something." I asked the deputy headmistress who was giving me a slightly apologetic but amused look.

"Not quite, it is merely customary for the staff to check in on the new students early in the term to see if they are adjusting well to their new environment. Team RWBY for example has had some growing pains already or so I've heard." She explained, though there was probably more to it than that. No doubt Ozpin was interested in my wide variety of abilities that I displayed so this could very well be a probing attempt.

"I'm doing just fine, then again it's only been a day. I imagine the same applies to team RWBY, right now they're still getting to know one another. Weiss seems like a good girl, albeit a little assertive. And I've known Ruby and Yang for a good while now, I'm sure they'll get along with each other just fine given time." 100% sure in fact, almost precognitively so.

"I'll take your word for it, though I must say it's a bit strange to hear a fourteen-year-old call a seventeen-year-old a 'good girl'." Glynda said, a raised eyebrow making itself known. Ah crap, I had to salvage this.

"I've been told multiple times that I sound like an old man. I can't say I disagree but that might just be a difference in experience, as far as I'm concerned most people including adults are still children, they just learn how to hide it better." A muttered Qrow followed right after I said it. It seems that Glynda knew that fact well.

"I see your point, very well then Mr. Slate, I'll leave you to your training. And as a tip from one telekinetic to another, I suggest that you take up some kind of coordination game. It helps with learning how to truly multi-task. I wish you luck." She advised before leaving me to my own devices. I'll look into that, whether it works or not it sounds fun either way.

'Anyway, back to training. Now. Concentrate, one stone at a time. Begin a counterclockwise orbit around me. breathe in, breathe out, keep the ki circulating, ke-*beep beep SMASH! "*Sigh, damn it, Ruby."

"Hey Slate, I think I need some advice and Yang's already asleep...Plus I think you're probably better at this kind of stuff anyway. Please don't tell Yang I said that!" She's coming to me directly for advice? That's...Kinda touching actually, oh well, I'm sure it's just a bit of leftover doubt over Weiss. Might as well.

A few minutes later I found myself floating next to the balcony just outside of team RWBY's room, the team's titular leader was already there waiting for me in her pajama's, I guess Weiss did makeup with her eventually even with me butterfly effecting things, that's good to know.

"I wonder if Slate got my message, it is pretty late, I hope I didn't wake him up or anything." She said to herself up until she heard me clearing my throat to her left, making her jump like a scared cat. "AH! You can't just sneak up on people like that Slate!" She whispers yelled.

"Sneak up? Just because I have another axis of movement doesn't mean I snuck up on you Ruby, you just gotta learn to be more vigilant. Anyways, I assume you called me here to talk about Weiss? Or your position as a team leader?" I questioned for the sake of conversation.

"A-Am I that easy to read? Yeah, it's about all of that, headmaster Ozpin already gave me some advice and Weiss apologized eventually but...I'm still not sure if this whole leadership thing is right for me." Poor insecure Ruby, she'll figure it out soon enough, but I might as well leave her with some advice.

"I'll be straight with you Ruby, in terms of personality your not exactly the dictionary definition of leader material. That being said, who is? If you want my advice then I'll just tell you to do what I always do when I'm in way over my head." I had caught her interest by that point, good that will prove my point even better.

"Fake it till you make it! The truth is that I'm horrible at giving advice and I'm not exactly a leader myself either. I just know how to sound confident and get people to think that I know what I'm doing, learn to do that and you'll be just fine." Ruby's face dropped several inches at my admission, easy to read? She was an open book, hell Jaune could probably read her mind if he wanted to.

"So I just lie? That doesn't sound very heroic. besides the others already know that I have no idea what I'm doing, especially Yang." A fair point, but she wasn't really thinking my advice through far enough.

"Lying gets a bad rep, besides, is it really that bad if you're just lying to yourself? Sometimes all it takes to get something done is to trick yourself into thinking you had a plan all along. And if you feel so bad about lying, just turn those lies into the truth! Keep pretending all the way until you really do turn into a leader worth following."

"...I think I'll do that, thanks, Slate. I really nee-" *Slam! "Slate what are you doing with Ruby outside our balcony?! I was fine with a relationship but this is too much too soon!" Yang yelled as she kicked down the balcony door, catching us in a pretty cliche position.

"Welp, that's my cue to skedaddle. Good luck explaining this Ruby, I'd rather get through today without a black eye, bye!" I said while bravely flying away from the local overprotective little sun dragon.

The next day, Jaunce vs Cardin.

'...Well, he's not that bad. At least he knows how to properly swing his sword and his footwork isn't too atrocious...Oh who am I kidding, Jaune kinda sucks.' Should I help? I'm not exactly a swordsman myself so I'm not even sure that I could…

"Fuck it, I'll let Pyrrha handle this one, I'll just give him advice and help out by counter-bullying Cardin later," I muttered, getting the attention of team RWBY and Pyrrha who were standing next to me as we all watched Jaune make a fool of himself.

"What was that Slate? Something about helping Jaune?" Of course, that was what Phyrra noticed about what I said. Shrugging a bit I tell them my plan, now all I needed to do was find a way for Cardin to target me so that I could do the ol' switcheroo.

"Well that shouldn't be too hard, after all you're a-" Ruby clapped Weiss' mouth shut, even the naive reaper knew the degree of social goof that her partner was about to make. Blake glared at said ice princess from the sidelines and Yang simply facepalmed.

"I'm what? A faunus? I mean I guess you have a point, Cardin's already someone who likes to bully the weak, adding racism on top of that is pretty likely. Not to mention my looks don't exactly give me an intimidating aura." I shrugged off Weiss' awkwardness. It's not like I was a Faunus anyway, and I knew that she meant well.

"Aww, don't worry Slate, I'm sure there are plenty of people that will fear your mighty high cheekbones as long as you keep killing grimm like that nevermore." Yang said in jest, earning a glare from yours truly.

"You know I could also start going all out during our spars from now on. Maybe beating Beacon's top brawler in front of everyone without taking a single hit will have the same effect." Yang paled at that, she knew damn well that I would make good on that promise. Stronger, faster, more durable? None of that mattered if you couldn't even distinguish reality from fantasy in a battle.

"Shutting up now." That's right. Don't fuck with a bootlegged Kyoka Suigetsu.

Hours later, lunch.

"Oh come on, name one time where he's "bullied" me." Jaune challenged, to which I responded by showing the group several hallucinatory videos, complete with sound, of various instances of Cardin trying to act like chad thunder-cock. Of course, each of which was followed by my own little acts of petty justice.

After Cardin knocked down Jaune's books I subtly used my tail to trip him into faceplanting on the hard concrete floor. His attempt to jam Jaune into a doorway via his shield was followed by his own mace going missing up until it was found in the nearby armory...Inside a cannon to be precise. And finally Cardin's attempt to launch Jaune into the stratosphere actually never happened, Slate had instead mentally tricked Cardin into shoving in Sky Lark into the rocket-powered deathtrap.

"Good times." I remarked, earning several giggles at how Cardin got his comeuppance.

"Ok, I admit those were pretty funny from a third-person view, but seriously it's fine! Besides, it's not like he's only a jerk to me, Cardin's a jerk to everybody." Jaune commented, which was immediately followed by Cardin proving his point.

"Ack! Please stop." Velvet cried out, slightly hurt but mostly annoyed at the firsty grabbing her ear as if she couldn't kick his ass at any moment. Not that she would, of course, she was better than that. It was one of the reasons why I respected her, granted we never met.

"Atrocious, I can't stand people like him." Pyrrha said angrily, followed up by Blake claiming that Cardin wasn't the only one.

"If you hate it so much why didn't you go up and stop him yourself? We both know you could do it Pyrrha." I asked her flat out, I was genuinely curious. I always heard about people hating bullies and how they act, yet they never actually do anything about it. Now granted that was from untrained civilians, but this is a school for warriors, I assumed that at least the students here would back up their words.

"Wh-What? Well, it happened too quickly to really stop. And if I did then it would just cause a bigger scene and possibly get that poor faunus into further trouble in the future. Why didn't you stop it then Slate?" Pyrrha shot the question back at me after giving a few flimsy excuses.

"Really?" I said, unamused. "Regardless if you must know, I didn't stop him because there was no need. Do any of you know who Velvet is?" Eight shakes of the head followed, which was fair, it was still our first week so it made sense that they didn't branch out beyond their teams just yet.

"The rabbit faunus, Velvet Scarlatina, second-year student, member of team CFVY and one of the few students that I've looked into that could probably take me on by herself. If she wanted to take Cardin down a few pegs then she definitely could have, but she chose the path of pacifism which I'll respect." I wasn't about to go against her wishes just to play the role of some white knight.

"...Oh. Oh, shit, the bunny girl is badass, I get it. Quick question, what would you do if Ruby or I were in Velvet's shoes? Or any of the other members of our teams?" Yang asked, getting a raised eyebrow from me.

"You being bullied? Or any of you other than Jaune for that matter?" I say with a disbelieving voice. "Every single person sitting at this table is capable, or will soon be capable of taking care of their own problems. That being said, if there ever comes a time where any of you need me to fight alongside you, you need only ask." Ruby and Yang pretty much already knew this but the others were certainly taken aback by how serious such a relative stranger was about protecting them.

"In the short time that I've known you all I can see that you're all good people where it counts, that's more than enough reason for me to want to help you." I answered their unasked question, sending the table into a bit of awkward silence until the lunch period ended.

'Of course, that doesn't mean I'll fight all their battles. They won't grow in time if I did, which is why I should really let the events of Jaunedice take place. For the most part anyway, Cardin will still get his, I'll make sure of that.' A smirk appeared on my face as our group headed towards Oobleck's class. 'I wonder if the telekinesis provided by ki works off Saiki K logic? Oh well, only one way to find out, kukuku.'

Thanks for reading everyone, this story is going to start off a bit slow as you can tell, since not much happens during the events of season 1. But worry not! I still have plans in place to make things at least a little interesting. However that will have to wait till next time, I hope you guys have a great day as always, peace!