I really find cardin to be a pointless character, he's the stereotypical "bully" and instead of doing anything interesting with him through his arc with Jaune he just serves as "big meanie doodoo head" which is kinda disappointing.
I feel as if there could have been a moment where team CRDL and JNPR did face off with JNPR barely winning but Jaune being completely out of his depth when leading vs CRDL which acts like a well oiled machine but only loses because they just don't have the man power to handle the onslaught that is Nora and Pyrrha.
And I feel like that moment could be used to cause jaune to spiral into his own doubt about his ability of leadership as he would try to confide in Ruby, and this would allow Ruby to actually show that despite being young she's already got a bit of a grasp on what it means to be a leader, but she can't fully give him advice, which allows the audience to see that ruby is ahead of Jaune but she's still learning
(because while I do think it is important ruby is a prodigy she should have to also be humanized, she can be both a regular girl but also a badass and I feel like you could do a lot of contrast by showing it through her training and how she behaves-)
This could also set up Jaune growing more uncertain and emphasize his feelings of not being enough (instead of just him being an audience stand in, please can we stop having characters like those, the audience doesn't need hand holding) which leads to him growing distant from his team which actually further weakens his teams cohesion causing the next time they face off against CRDL they get their asses handed to them
And jaune is spiraling again before finally Pyrrha checks in on him, as well as Nora and Ren, at first he could try to play it off cool but Pyrrha sees through it so she talks to him in private, which lets jaune further open up
Only for cardin to over hear and find out jaune is faking his transcripts, which he could use to hold over the boys head which could lead to both Ruby and Pyrrha both eventually finding out and Ruby's tempted to just kick cardins ass because that's her friend but Pyrrha having the more knowledge would instead say that jaune could kick cardins ass in a 1v1
Then cue fight scene between the two guys, yada yada hot sweaty yaoi Pyrrha at first was tempted to use her semblance but finds out she doesn't have to, as it winds up being ruby who winds up giving jaune some advice that helps him not really win the fight entirely but kick cardins ass just enough to where it's a draw.
And it could allow for a moment of recognition between the two lovers men with cardin recognizing that "holy shit I nearly lost" which could theoretically put a crack in his ego, while also getting it through Jaune's skull that he does have the ability to be a huntsman, he just needs to rely on his friends and teammates more whether it be in combat or just in general because no one wins as a lone wolf.
Also a scene where cardin winds up flinching when velvet walks past him as he realizes he's probably going to get jumped if he keeps fucking around.
...oh god I wrote shitty fanfic, FUCK!
Uh, uh, uh, bully confess she likes buff sweaty women?!
