Fanfic / Danny Phantom: Envied

Envied is the 15th story in Stranded. Another girl develops an unhealthy crush on Danny and at the same time, discovers she is a sorceress.

Tropes:

• Abhorrent Admirer:
  • Downplayed with Misty. Danny is uncomfortable with her interest in him even though he has a girlfriend.
  • Shi was this to Meilin because she didn’t like how possessive he was of her and grew to outright despise him after he turned himself into a jiangshi. He later becomes one to Star because of her similarities to Meilin.
• Accidental Misnaming: Danny calls Misty "Marcy" when encountering her in Elmerton since he doesn't remember her name.
• Ain't Too Proud to Beg: Shi desperately tries to talk Misty out of permanently turning him into wood by offering to serve her again to make Danny hers and take over the land. She refuses because she doesn’t want to get together with Danny that way.
• Ascended Extra: The nameless girl from the beginning of "13" is given a name and greater importance than saying no to dating Tucker.
• Armor-Piercing Response: After Misty's Motive Rant, Star fires back that she may not understand Misty's issues but her own life is not perfect either just because she's a rich cheerleader; she was in fact miserable due to having a busy father, an air-headed mother who abandoned her (and still flounders in making up for it), and a horrible stepsister, causing her to hang out with False Friends out of loneliness until falling in love with Danny made her happy for the first time in years and led her to begin redeeming herself, so Star won't let anyone take him away from her. Misty is left speechless and guilty.
• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: When the jiangshi grudgingly agrees to help Misty.
  Shi: So, what is it that you need my aid on? Enemies drained of life energy? Their cattle in need of slaughtering? A recipe for fried rice?...
  Misty: No I... wait, what was that last part?
  Shi: I used to be a chef.
• Bait-and-Switch: Over the course of the story, it was hinted that a redemption arc was being set up for Misty Smith-Yang, especially near the end. However, despite learning everything about Star's past and Shi's own misdeeds, she does not change. Instead, she fakes amnesia to continue her misdeeds.
• Because You Were Nice to Me: Misty becomes attracted to Danny when he stands up for her against a possibly racist Jerkass shop owner, while expecting nothing in return.
• Big "SHUT UP!": Misty when Star initially tries to reason with her.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: At the end of the story, Misty feigns amnesia to avoid punishment from Team Phantom and decides to continue her pursuit of Danny.
• Brainwashed Bride: Discussed. Shi plans to use a talisman to erase Star's memories and gain her loyalty so she will marry him.
• Break the Haughty: After being rejected by Meilin for the final time, getting pummeled by Star, and Misty threatening to imprison him as a wooden statue, Shi is reduced to begging Misty not to curse him by promising to serve her again and help her both win Danny and rule the city, but she doesn’t buy it because she doesn’t want to be with Danny that way.
• Cain and Abel: Shi tried to kill his older half-brother Aiguo on his wedding night with Meilin by turning himself into a jiangshi. He was stopped by being turned into a statue. Meilin’s spirit admits Aiguo wanted to return the favor by destroying Shi’s statue form until she convinced him not to as one final act of mercy.
• Canon Character All Along: It takes reuniting with Tucker to reveal Misty was the nameless girl that he failed to get a date with at the beginning of "13".
• The Corrupter: Shi continually encourages Misty to use increasingly unethical magical means to gain Danny's affections.
• Deliberate Values Dissonance: As Shi is from the Qing Dynasty, he's slightly surprised by the norms of 21st-century America after Misty frees him. He notes the 15-year-old Misty would've already been arranged to marry someone who could benefit her family's lineage and standing, and Star wouldn't have been allowed to speak out or dress the way she does.
• Didn't Think This Through: Misty learns the hard way why it was a bad idea to revive and try to employ an evil jiangshi like Shi when he betrays her.
• Dragon with an Agenda: As Shi helps Misty try to drive Star away from Danny, he soon begins twisting her plan to suit his own goal of using Star as a vessel to resurrect Meilin and ruling the land with her at his side, planning to kill Misty in revenge once he succeeds.
• Dramatic Irony:
  • Misty believes Star is just a spoiled, shallow girl who strings Danny along, unaware that she's long since shed such a personality thanks to him.
  • While hiding her magic from her mom at the end, Misty muses that Danny doesn't have to deal with secrets like these.
• Everyone Has Standards:
  • Meilin was Shi’s Only Friend but even she had limits with his selfish, jerkass behavior since she only kept him on as her father’s chef because of his cooking skill and status as Aiguo’s brother.
  • Aiguo was a Nice Guy but whatever love he had for Shi had evaporated when his brother tried to kill him on his wedding night with Meilin. He was only stopped from destroying Shi's statue form by Meilin as one last act of familial mercy.
• Evil Is Not a Toy: Misty actually thought it was a good idea to enslave a vindictive yandere jiangshi like Shi to aid her until he turns on her.
• Eviler than Thou: Shi takes over as the main antagonist and becomes an even worse threat than Misty after breaking free from her control by plotting to make Star a vessel for Meilin and take over the town.
• Faking Amnesia: Misty takes advantage of a hit on her head to pretend she forgot everything about magic so she'll be free to come up with another plan to steal Star's boyfriend.
• Forceful Kiss: At the end of the story, Misty gives one to Danny while he’s frozen by her magic.
• Good Is Not Soft: As much as Aiguo loved his brother Shi, he was willing to kill him by shattering his statue form after he tried to murder Aiguo on his wedding night with Meilin until she talked him out of it.
• Hesitation Equals Dishonesty: After Tucker reveals he put a tracking chip in Star's phone in case she disappears again, Sam questions if he put chips in all their phones. Tucker's slow response and the gap between "of course I did" and "not" doesn't paint him as honest when he responds.
• Hopeless Suitor:
  • Misty has her eye on Danny, unable to get it he's too in love with Star to notice and is uncomfortable with another girl liking him.
  • Meilin never loved Shi back. He just refused to see it.
• Hypocrite: Star points out that Misty's plan to break the former and Danny up in order to have him for herself due to believing she deserves Danny more makes her no different from the entitled mean girls she hates and thinks Star still is.
• I DO NOT Want to Know: Misty about where a delivery service would possibly find a talisman's seal in chicken's blood.
• If I Had a Nickel...: After being captured, Star says this regarding the number of times she's ended up in a place she doesn't recognize.
• Let Us Never Speak of This Again: When Misty's mom asks if she's trying out for cheerleading again after hearing her jump, Misty reminds her they agreed to never speak of that again.
• Loving a Shadow:
  • Misty barely knows Danny outside of when he helped her out and seems more focused on what he represents for her future.
  • Similarly, it turns out Shi didn't know Meilin as well as he thought; she even tells him she'll no longer be the shadow he loves.
• Manipulative Bitch: Misty pretends to have amnesia to avoid facing any consequences from Team Phantom for her actions and deflect suspicion from her continued plotting.
• Motive Rant: When a captive Star wonders why she is doing this, Misty goes on an angry tirade about how Star has everything and could never understand what she has to endure growing up lower-middle class with a controlling Education Mama, an absent father, and no friends. She thus refuses to let Star deny her the chance to be with Danny, which Misty believes will give her the happy, prosperous life she's always wanted.
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Danny comes to Misty's defense when he sees her being falsely accused of shoplifting. This random act of kindness ends up gaining him another unwanted admirer and an adversary with magical powers.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Danny and Star give one to Shi when Misty casts a spell to freeze him in time for 60 seconds.
• Not Good with Rejection: After Meilin rejects him, Shi decides to claim Star as his bride by force so he can have someone by his side when he takes over the land.
• "Not So Different" Remark:
  • Star mentally notes that Misty's desire to use her powers to change her life and earn Danny's love reminds her of Vlad.
  • When defeating Shi, Misty is forced to see herself in him with his arrogant assumption that Meilin would choose him and allowing his envy to consume him.
• Single Woman Seeks Good Man:
  • Misty becomes romantically interested in Danny for his good character.
  • Meilin’s spirit informs Shi that she married his brother Aiguo because, unlike Shi, he actually treated her like a person instead of a prize.
• Something We Forgot: In the last chapter, Danny has a feeling they forgot something until he remembers the spell book, wondering what happened to it. Star doesn't recall seeing it again after Shi was turned into wood and assumes the book shared his fate (unaware that Misty secretly recovered it).
• Shout-Out:
  • Misty is accused of stealing Cryptid Clash! cards at the swap meet.
  • To The Simpsons. When Mei says Misty's "being jealous over a boy", Max corrects her by pointing out the difference between jealousy and envy and Mei, upon reading the two words in a dictionary, admits, "Wow... he's right". This is a reference to the episode "Covercraft" where Homer responds to an accusation of being jealous of Apu in a similar fashion and Lisa confirms it upon consulting a dictionary.
• Tears of Remorse: Misty sheds these when she realizes how wrong she was about Star and that trying to hurt the latter will never earn her Danny's love.
• Ungrateful Bitch: Even after Star helped saved her life from Shi, it ultimately doesn't change anything for Misty and she even accuses Star of still playing tricks.
• Unwitting Pawn: Shi manipulates Misty into kidnapping Star so he can use her for a ritual to bring back Meilin, and preparing a special sauce that will free him from her control by lying that it will instead prove her feelings to Danny.
• Villain Has a Point: Even though Shi doesn't care, he still points out Misty's refusal to hurt Star is weak since she's trying to scare her into leaving Amity Park and steal her boyfriend.
• We Used to Be Friends: Meilin’s spirit returns one final time to tell Shi she never wants to see him again, accepting he's no longer the boy she played with as a child.
• Whole-Plot Reference: This fic uses the same plot and borrows several aspects of Sadira's debut episode, "Strike Up the Sand", in Aladdin: The Series.
• Yandere: Shi is a MUCH worse example than Misty since he has no problem trying to permanently get rid of anyone who stands in his way or making Star his bride by force.