Working as a team in rangers means you can get closer and make friends, but people sometimes get a little closer than they think. As Asta was working, Noelle kept sneaking a glance at him every chance she could get. She didn't know what it was, but she couldn't get him out of his head or anything. This was so unfamiliar to her.

"You know, there's nothing wrong with you taking the initiative and asking him out?" Noelle got spooked when Vanessa came to talk to her.

"Ask who what? What are you talking about?" Noelle said as she tried to play innocent.

"I'm talking about how you like Asta." Vanessa said.

"What? Me and him? No way." Noelle said as she tried denying it. "I'm a a member of high class. There's no way me and him would work."

"So what? You like him, I think he might like you, and you two are adorable together." Vanessa said. "Just go for it." She tried encouraging Noelle to go for it, but she seemed to nervous while trying to act like she had no feelings for Asta. "Sometimes people just need a little push." She actually did that as she pushed Noelle towards Asta when she wasn't ready for him.

"Hey, Noelle. Did you need something?" Asta said.

"Uh... No. Of course not." Noelle said as she was letting her pride get in the way of what she really wanted.

"Hey! Guys, check out this new singer." Finral said as he came in with a flyer. "She calls herself Syren. They say her voice is hypnotic and that it will change you around. She's performing at a club tonight, and they say that when you hear one of her songs, you'll feel like a completely different person."

"Seriously?" Noelle said as she took a look at the flyer. She thinks it's crazy, but something like that might be what she needs to help her sort her feelings towards Asta. "I guess it does sound rather interesting. Should we check it out?"

"Can't. I'm not available tonight." Vanessa said.

"I rather do some training to get ready for the next fight." Luck said.

"I can't either." Finral said as none of them seemed available.

"Asta, how about you go with Noelle? Just the two of you?" Vanessa said as she tried to hook them up with Noelle silently panicking.

"I can't. I promise Sister Lily I help around the church today." Asta said. Noelle was both disappointed and relieved. Looks like Noelle was on her own.

...

Noelle

Later that night, Noelle went to the club by herself. She wanted to see what all the fuss was about this new singer. She walked into the club and kept a low profile as she tried to get a good look at this Syren. Noelle walked closer and closer to the stage as everyone was excited to see what this Syren can do.

"Thank you for coming out tonight, everyone." Syren said as she came on the stage. "I promise you that you will never feel the same after hearing one of my songs."

"We'll see about that." Noelle mumbled as she had her doubts about this. Syren's little concert was starting with Noelle listening.

"Enter the dar-ar-ar-ar-ark. Enter the dar-ar-ar-ar-ark. There's no reason to hide from it. Don't turn your back from it. Enter the dar-ar-ar-ar-ark." Syren continued to sing and it seemed like her songs really did have an effect on Noelle and everyone. It all sounded so mesmerizing. Noelle was really loosing herself in the music.

...

The Next Day

"Almost time to open, guys." Julius said as they were getting ready for another day of work.

"You think Noelle went to that club the other night?" Asta said. "I hope she had a good time."

"I'm sure she had fun." Vanessa said. While Noelle was away, Vanessa thought this was a good time to do a little digging. "While she's away, I want to ask you something, Asta. What do you really think of Noelle?"

"What do I think of her?" Asta said as he wasn't quite sure how to answer that.

"Morning, everyone!" Noelle said as she came walking in and appeared to be in a good mood. "Too bad you guys didn't come the other night. You missed out on a great time. The music Syren sings really does have an effect on you."

"Sounds like someone had a lot of fun last night." Julius said as he patted her on the shoulder. When he touched her, he had this strange feeling coming from her and he didn't like it.

"Be honest, Noelle. How cute was Syren?" Finral said as he wanted to know more about this girl.

"Stunning. You should really come and see for yourself." Noelle said. "In fact, there were a bunch of cute girls. I bet I can hook you up with some of them." Finral certainly like the sound of that. "By the way, Luck, I heard Syren takes martial arts. I bet she would love to take you on in a fight." Luck liked how that sounded as well.

"Wow, Noelle. You're being... a lot nicer than usual." Asta said as he could tell something was not quite right with this. "Noelle, are you feeling okay? You're usually not in this good of a mood."

"She just had a good time last night. What's so wrong with that?" Vanessa said as the others weren't really seeing anything wrong with it. Noelle appeared to be in a great mood and wasn't acting like she usually does. That's what had Asta find this all a little weird.

"I sense it myself, Asta." Julius whispered to him. "I sensed a strange energy coming from her. No idea what it is, but keep an eye on her." Putting this aside for the moment, they all were alerted of danger that was happening.

...

The Underground Kingdom

"Zenon, why was a squad of spates sent to attack Clover Meadows?" Dante questioned. "I don't remember saying that it was okay."

"I'm not the one who sent them. It had to be Vanica." Zenon said.

"No worries." Vanica said as she came in. "It's all going well. In fact, it's going better than I thought. I'm just having some fun with my plan, one that will get the rangers out of the way."

"You can say that again." A surprising visitor came in as it ended up being Syren. "Everything is going just as Vanica has planned."

"Who might you be?" Dante questioned.

"Oh, right. Sorry." Syren said as she revealed her true form. She was a blue fish-like creature with her wearing armor on her chest and legs with her having fins on her arms and a large purple one right on her head with two little horns.

"Syrenis! Of course!" Dante said as he knew her now. "You have the power to control people through your voice."

"And one of the rangers is already under my control." Syrenis said. "We just sent some spades just to have some fun with her being my little puppet."

"Just wait, Dante. Soon, the rangers won't be a problem anymore, and then nothing can stand in the way of humanity's end!" Vanica declared as she can see victory is ahead of her.

...

Clover Meadows

The rangers were alerted of danger and went to check it out. When they got to where the alert came from, they saw a team of spades out and causing havoc.

"Spades, but where's the leader?" Finral said.

"I don't know, but we need to stop them either way." Asta said. "Let's morph and take it to these guys." They reached for their morphers and were ready for some action, but Noelle stopped them from doing anything. "Noelle, what are you doing?"

"I don't need to morph." Noelle said as she seemed awfully confident. She didn't bother morphing at all as she charged right at them. She jumped in the air and kicked a few of them down. One thrusted its spear at her, but Noelle avoided it and kicked the spade back. She backflipped her way past some of them and drove her elbow against one of them.

"Wow! Look at her go!" Luck said as they were all amazed with Noelle's moves. She kept it going as she barrel-rolled and smashed her fist against one and kicked another one right in the head. The last few tried attacking her with their spears, but she just jumped back.

"You guys are all washed up." Noelle said as she used her magic and blasted the last of them with water. She beat them all like it was nothing.

"Noelle, you were awesome!" Luck said. "We have to spar like that!"

"Seriously. How did you do that?" Vanessa said. "Those are the kinds of moves I expected with Luck."

"I was just feeling energetic." Noelle said, but that made Asta more suspicious.

"Noelle, are you sure you're feeling okay? You haven't really acted like yourself." Asta said, but Noelle brushed it off like it was nothing.

"I would like to know what these spades were doing here." Finral said. "This attack was so random. It didn't really seemed like the Dark Triad's style. There isn't really anything here."

"You know how they enjoy mindless destruction. That's probably all it was." Noelle claimed. "Now, I don't know about the rest of you, but I think I'm going to check out Syren again tonight. In fact..." Noelle walked right over to Asta and wrapped her arms around Asta's. "How about you come with me, Asta. It will be just the two of us, like a date."

"Oh... Okay." Asta said as he just went with it and the others were amazed. Noelle just dragged Asta by the arm and headed off with the others astonished on what just happened.

"Wow. I didn't Noelle had it in her. She was pretty direct." Finral said.

"Yeah... A little too direct." Vanessa said as she was now beginning something was wrong. What none of them knew was that Syrenis was watching the whole time and she was quite pleased. Everything is going as how they planned.

...

The Club

Noelle took Asta to the club like she said. Asta didn't know what he was getting into, he suspected something was off with Noelle, but this might be the only way to get answers. They joined the crowd and waited to see Syren perform.

"You sure she's that good, Noelle?" Asta questioned.

"Trust me, Asta. You'll feel a whole lot different when you hear this music." Noelle said with Asta having no idea what's about to happen. He looked to the stage and spotted Syren getting on the stage.

"Thank you all for coming." Syren said. "I have a feeling you'll all feel different after hearing my songs." Putting her plan into motion, she started singing. "Enter the dar-ar-ar-ar-ark. Enter the dar-ar-ar-ar-ark."

"Enter the dark? Noelle, are you sure about this?" Asta questioned, but she already looked like she was in a trance. Asta looked around and saw other people were falling in a trance as well. He didn't know what was going on, but the song soon got to him and he fell in the same trance. Syren laughed as she looked upon all of those who were under her power now and soon changed back into her monstrous form.

"Good girl." Vanica said as she walked up behind the rangers. "You brought another ranger under our control. That's two down and three to go. Soon, all these pathetic humans will be our slaves. Welcome to the dark side, Red Ranger." She was about to pet him like her own personal animal, but Asta grabbed her wrist.

"Nice try, witch." Asta said as he pushed her away. "I was already aware something was off, so Julius gave me this." He reached inside his shirt and pulled out a necklace. "This charm protected me from any of your tricks. You're finished for this."

"Don't count on it." Vanica claimed and went on the attack. She tried a few kicks, but Asta moved and blocked them. Asta tried a few strikes, but Vanica avoided them and grabbed him by the arm. She gave him a strong kick in the gut and threw him back. Asta went at her and tried a roundhouse, but she rolled under him and kicked him into a table.

"Take a seat!" Asta quipped as he threw a chair at her, but she kicked it out of the way. Asta tried to sweep her legs, but she jumped away from him. Asta tried attacking her again, but she grabbed his arm and kicked him right in the back. She also added to the pain as she twisted his arm and got him to drop to one knee. She added one last touch as she kicked him to the floor.

"Aren't you cute when you wither in pain." Vanica laughed.

"Let's see if you think this is cute." Asta said as he got back up. "Mana Morpher! Magic Calling!" Asta morphed and held out his sword. "Game over, Vanica!"

"Aw, but it's just getting fun. Syrenis, destroy the girl!" Vanica ordered. Syrenis aimed right at Noelle, but Asta hurried and shielded her from her attack. Vanica added in it as she fired a powerful blast at both of them. Asta continued to shield Noelle, but the blast knocked them right through the wall and caused Asta to demorph. "Go now, my servants! Time for you to truly enter the dark and become our slaves!" With everyone else under her control, everyone began to leave with her thinking she won. When they all left, Noelle snapped back to her senses and saw Asta was hurt.

"Asta!" Noelle called as she rushed to him. It looked like he got the worst of it. "Asta, can you hear me?!"

"Noelle?" Asta said as he was starting to wake up.

"What stupid thing did you do to get you this hurt?" Noelle said.

"Protecting you. Sounds like you're back to normal." Asta said as he was glad to see it.

"Wait! I remember now!" Noelle said. "I was under Vanica's control, eww by the way. Earlier was just a test run. She wanted me to lure you guys here to put under the spell or destroy you. I guess she thinks she succeeded. She's planning to take everyone else to be her slaves."

"We've got to stop her." Asta said as he tried to get back up.

"Are you sure you're in any shape to fight?" Noelle questioned.

"It doesn't matter as long as I can still fight." Asta said as he wasn't giving up. That was one of the things Noelle admired the most about him.

...

Syrenis

"Come my servants!" Syrenis called as she was gathering everyone that was under her control that night. "Time to put to make you humans useful and serve the Dark Triad!" So many humans were under her control and could be lost to the Dark Triad. "Soon, all humans will be under our control!"

"Think again!" She was surprised when she saw Asta and Noelle arrived as they jumped at her and slashed their sabers against her.

"You two again?! I thought you were finished!" Syrenis said.

"Well, we're back." Asta said.

"It will take a lot to defeat us." Noelle claimed. The two of them went at her again, but Syrenis launched her own attack and blasted both of them. The two of them might be in trouble, but that was when some luck happened. The other three rangers showed up and struck her with their sabers.

"Where did those three come from?" Syrenis questioned as she tried to pull herself together.

"Are you two okay?" Vanessa asked.

"Yeah, but how did you guys know something was going on?" Asta said.

"We started to think something was off with Noelle ourselves." Luck said.

"Julius detected trouble in this area and we came here." Finral said.

"It doesn't matter!" Syrenis called. "Now that you're all here, I can just put you all under my control."

"Shut it!" Vanessa said as she used her magic and tied some threads around Syrenis' mouth. That kept her from speaking or even singing. "I'm afraid your singing career is over." Without fear to be placed under Syrenis control, the rangers charged right at her and went on the attack. Despite not being able to sing, Syrenis was still able to fight off all five of the rangers. She even turned the fins on her arms into blades. With one good spin, she slashed against all five of them.

"Anyone else thinking it's time we cooked this fish?" Noelle said.

"You read my mind." Asta said.

"Tidal Wave Slash!" Noelle used her attack and released it right at Syrenis. Syrenis tried her best to block the attack, but that was when Asta went in for his attack as he jumped behind Syrenis.

"Magic Saber! Power Up!" Asta filled his saber with power and slashed it right against her. Syrenis couldn't stop both attacks with her collapsing and ended up destroyed. With her destruction, the spell that was placed on her was lifted on everyone. It's a safe bet that Syrenis' singing career really is over.

...

The Next Day

Another enemy defeated, and the lives of so many saved, means that the others got back to work. After what happened yesterday, Noelle feels a little embarrassed about it.

"Hey, Asta. Got a minute?" Noelle asked.

"What's up?" Asta asked.

"I just wanted to know something." Noelle said. "How did you know that I was under some sort of spell?"

"Easy, because I know you, Noelle." Asta said with Noelle already getting flustered. "You don't show it that much, you seem to try to hide how you really feel, but I do know you are a good person. When you were so open about everything, I knew there was something off. I just know you that well, Noelle." With him saying that, Noelle was beginning to blush. "You know, Vanessa did ask what I thought of you earlier."

"She did?!" Noelle said as she was beginning to panic.

"Yeah, but I didn't answer her." Asta said with Noelle's heart racing. "I would have to say you're a really great person, Noelle, and that I like people like you." Noelle felt like her heart was about to burst. The others were watching with them thinking this was a good time for Noelle to admit her real feelings.

"Where did that come from?!" Noelle said as she instead slapped him. "Don't get fresh with me!"

"Oh boy." Vanessa said. "It's going to be a long wait before those two actually decide to become a couple." Love certainly is a complicated thing, and with Asta confused from what just happened, Vanessa is right. It's going to be a long wait for those two.