Over the weeks leading up to the test, Gajeel, Levy, and Pantherlilly fell into an easy casual friendship. They sparred together nearly every day, and the three would compete to see who could do the most push ups, or they would have impromptu foot races. Things like that. Levy, of course, lost most of the sparring matches, as well as the push up contests, but she soundly beat the two much larger men at the running. Her one advantage was speed, so the two almost always lost soundly.

Gajeel, of course, insisted upon referring to Levy as shrimp. He very rarely used her actual name, and it annoyed te hell out of her. She had long since dropped the 'Prince' in front of his name, about a week after he told her to. She eventually picked up Pantlerlillys affectionate moniker, metal head, on account of his numerous unusual piercings. At this point, the two males would be sorely disappointed if Levy failed the exam, but they had faith in their friend. They also knew that once she got through (no if in their mind) Gajeel would assign her to Lilly without a second thought.

On the day of the test, the competitors arrived at noon in the training arena for the physical testings. There were about thirty competitors in total. More people probably wanted to go, but had ducked out due to how legendarily difficult the testing was. Levy was easily the smallest person there, and she heard some guffaws from the observers as she walked into the ring. Many townsfolk came to observe knight testing, and some of the current Knights had also come to observe, and were leaning on the railing around the training ring. Lucy was there among them, watching her adopted sister fearfully.

Every prospective member wrote their name down on a price of paper, and then lined up in rows. In front of the group stood Laxus and Gajeel. Laxus being the head of the Knights, and Gajeel being the royal assigned to the knight testing this year. There also was Gajeels little brother and sister, Natsu and Wendy. They were there for second opinions, in case any of the candidates were on the edge of passing.

First, all of the candidates were quizzed and run through the basic sword drills, with the observing judges marking the ones that looked promising. They then proceeded to spread the candidates out and assign each of them a line of three Knights. They would have to fight each, in turn, for twenty minutes straight, with no breaks. The point wasn't whether you win or lose, and even if someone fell, bro it the candidate or knight, they were expected to get back up and continue. If a candidate lost a match, their opponent, skills and other factors would be taken into account. The point was to push the candidates to their limits, to see how they performed when absolutely exhausted.

Levy found herself up against a dark haired man, who looked slightly older than her. He nodded, and introduced himself as 'Gray', while looking her up and down skeptically. He took his position across from her, sword at the ready, waiting for the start call. When it came, Gray rushed her immediately, trying to use his superior strength. He didn't have to conserve any energy, because he only had to fight one round, but Levy had to carefully pace herself. She parried, deflecting the strikes away, avoiding taking the brunt of the blows. She tried to duck under his guard, to get to close combat and negate the larger mans reach advantage. She managed to jab at his stomach, before skipping out of reach in time to barely miss a slash at her face. the fighting continued like this for the agreed twenty minutes, and Levy was already panting and sweaty by the time the end to the first match was called. There had been no conclusive winner in their knight she had sparred with, Gray, was also out of breath and sweating as he exited. Levy watched as he walked out, being patted on the back by the pink haired Prince, Natsu.

The next opponent, Levy recognized. He was a well known battalion commander, Jura. This caused her to blanch a little, as he was renowned for his strength and skill. She got into her ready position again, and waited nervously for the call to start. As soon as it started, Levy dashed in. She could tell that Jura was a defensive fighter, that tended to parry instead of advancing, so she decided to show off. The point of this test was to display her skills, right? She dashed in, stashing at his midsection, and avoiding a stab by leaping forward and to the side, ending up slightly behind him. She aimed a blow at his kidney, but he turned rapidly and managed to counter her, before raining heavy blows on her head and shoulders. His attacks were numerous and powerful, and Levy could tell that she was greatly outmatched, though she still put her all into it. She used all of the speed that she could to try and strike at him, and managed to stay on her feet for the entire match, though just barely. When the end of that match was called, levy was heavily out of breath, gasping and panting. Jura, she was pleased to see, seemed at least a little out of breath, though no where near her levels of exhaustion.

For the final match, it was an orange haired knight slightly taller than her first opponent. He nodded and introduced himself as Loki. Around her, some of the contestants were throwing up, panting. A few had already dropped out. Levy was exhausted, but she refused to stop now. She took a stance again, against her final opponent, sword heavy in her hands. It was Loki who attacked first, running at her. He was fast and strong, and Levy only barely parried his strikes. She managed to get a couple strikes in, but for the first time in the test, she was pushed to the ground. She stood immediately, skipping back, and not allowing him to place his sword at her neck, before running back at him. After nearly an hour straight of fighting, her muscles were burning, sweat pouring down her face, breath wheezing. She couldn't stop moving, though. Adrenaline was pumping, and levy felt more alive than ever. She was being challenged, and she refused to fail. She started pushing the knight back, blows speeding up, despite her protesting limbs. He looked surprised, but he met her, looking more serious than before. The two fought with intensity, exchanging blows up until the moment the end was called.

After the end to the final match was called, several people collapsed on the spot, too exhausted to go on. Levy stood, panting and dripping sweat, and shook hands with her partners. She took off her helmet, and removed her bandana to redo her hair into its ponytail, her long fringe falling in her face.

Gajeel and the judges stood, poring over a list of people who would move onto the next stage of the exam. He couldn't help but glance up at the little blue haired fellow that he had formed a friendship with. He was standing on the far side of the arena, having taken down his shoulder length blue hair, and drinking from a water skin. He really did look like a girl, especially with his hair like that. Gajeel shook himself from that train of though and turned back to the list. Overall, eight people had passed, out of the nineteen who made it to the end of the test.

Levy waited in anticipation as the judges went over their notes before turning to face the group of prospective Knights. She listened anxiously for her name. It came, the second to last in a very short list of sighed in relief, and smiled. All of the passing contestants were immediately ushered into a hall, with tables and paper and pens. They were asked to complete a written test, straight out of their exhausting physical training, and Levys tired mind gave her objections, refusing to think straight.

As she worked to conquer her exhaustion, levy thought to herself "you made it this far. You can do this. You studied for this". With that, she willed herself to concentrate, and picked up her pencil and wrote. Her vision was swimming by the end of the allotted hour, but she wrote to the best of her abilities, and was satisfied with the effort.

The group was shooed out of the hall for the tests to be examined, and Levy collapsed to the ground, the first real chance to relax since the test had started. After this judging, it would all be over, one way or another. The small group stood or sat, waiting for someone to exit through the grand doors, and announce who had passed the examination.

A. N.: cliffhanger! Yay, I wrote another one! Anyways, I still barely know where I'm going with this, so any complaints or suggestions will be considered, so please keep sending them in. I love your comments. Thank you very much for reading my story.