Tunnel 'E' was cold, damp, and slled heavily of wet earth.
The mont Gajeel and Levy stepped past the threshold, the heavy stone doors sealed shut behind them with a deafening, final thud.
The only light ca from patches of pale, glowing moss clinging to the jagged walls of the cavern.
Gajeel walked with his hands shoved deep into his pockets, his posture relaxed despite the oppressive, heavy magic that saturated Tenrou Island.
He casually chewed on a thick, jagged iron bracket he brought from the ship, the loud crunching echoing down the narrow corridor.
Levy walked a few steps behind him, her fingers gripping her magical pen so tight her knuckles turned white, her heart hamred against her ribs.
"You're thinking too loud, shorty," Gajeel noted, swallowing the iron with a loud gulp.
He glanced over his shoulder, a rough smirk on his face. "Relax. You're shaking like a leaf."
"I'm not shaking," Levy lied, though her voice trembled slightly.
She adjusted her orange headband, staring into the dark tunnel ahead. "I just... I still don't understand why the Master chose . Look at the other candidates. Natsu, Gray, Elfman, Cana. They have raw, destructive power, I'm just a support mage... i read books and translate languages."
Gajeel stopped walking.
He turned around, his red eyes narrowing in the dim light. "If you think the old man made a mistake, then turn around and punch that stone door until your hands bleed. But he didn't make a mistake. You have brains, Levy. In a real fight, brains keep you alive a lot longer than fire or ice. That's why I agreed to be your partner. Now stop doubting yourself and get your pen ready. We got company up ahead."
Levy blinked, touched by his rough but genuine encouragent.
She nodded firmly, taking a deep breath to steady her nerves. "Right. I'm ready."
They stepped out of the narrow stone corridor and into a massive underground ruins.
The sheer scale of the chamber was breathtaking. Ancient, broken marble pillars littered the area, holding up a ceiling that was cracked and fractured.
Thick, glowing roots from the colossal Tenrou Tree broke through the stone above, wrapping around the crumbling masonry like giant wooden veins.
Standing dead center in the middle of the ruins, with his hands resting casually in his dark coat pockets, was Ace.
Ace looked up as they entered, a calm, knowing smirk crossing his face.
"You picked a tough path, Gajeel."
"Ace," Gajeel grinned, stepping forward and slamming his fists together.
A fierce, predatory excitent flared in his eyes. "Perfect. I was hoping to fight the old man, but you'll do just fine. Don't hold back on !"
"I don't plan to hold back," Ace said, his tone perfectly even. "But I don't need to go all out to test you. If you can't handle this, you don't deserve to walk the rest of this island."
Ace pulled his D-Tector from his coat.
"Greymon!"
A massive, roaring stream of orange and blue data erupted into the cavern.
The stone floor groaned in protest as the digital code forged into a towering, bipedal dinosaur.
Greymon let out a deafening, primal roar that shook the dust from the ceiling and forced Levy to cover her ears.
The beast was easily thirty feet tall.
Its thick, leathery orange skin was striped with vivid blue, scarred from countless battles.
A heavy, dark brown bone-helt covered its entire head, sporting three massive, jagged horns that looked sharp enough to pierce steel.
The intense heat radiating from the dinosaur's jaws made the damp air in the cavern instantly feel like an oven.
Levy took a frightened step back, staring up at the towering monster.
"A giant dinosaur?"
"Good!" Gajeel laughed, entirely unfazed by the sheer size of the beast.
He lunged forward, transforming his right arm into a massive, jagged iron club. "Let's see how hard its skull is! Iron Dragon's Club!"
He swung the heavy iron weapon directly at Greymon's head with bone-crushing force.
Greymon didn't even try to dodge.
The dinosaur lowered its heavy stance and swung its massive head forward, catching the iron club directly on its thick center horn.
The impact rang out like a giant church bell, sending a visible shockwave echoing through the ruins.
The ground beneath Greymon's feet cracked, but the beast didn't yield an inch.
"Your physical strength is impressive," Ace noted from the sidelines. "But raw power alone won't earn you an S-Class rank, Gajeel."
Greymon twisted its thick neck, throwing Gajeel off balance.
The dinosaur pivoted on its heavy clawed feet and whipped its massive tail around. The thick, spiked appendage slamd heavily into Gajeel's ribs, sending the Iron Dragon Slayer skidding backward across the stone floor, kicking up a trail of dust and sparks.
"He hits hard!" Gajeel wiped a smudge of dirt from his chin, his eyes burning with chaotic excitent.
"Iron Dragon's Roar!"
Gajeel took a deep breath, his chest expanding, and unleashed a massive, swirling tornado of razor-sharp iron shards from his mouth.
The silver hurricane tore across the ruins, aiming to shred the dinosaur to pieces.
"Nova Blast!" Ace commanded, not moving from his spot.
Greymon opened its massive jaws, gathering a terrifying sphere of super-heated, swirling flas. The beast launched the giant fireball directly into the iron tornado.
The intense heat instantly lted the iron shards mid-air, causing a violent, fiery explosion in the center of the room that blasted a wave of scorching heat across the ruins.
"Don't just watch him, Levy!" Gajeel yelled, crossing his arms and transforming his skin into thick, impenetrable iron scales as the smoke cleared.
"Do sothing useful!"
Levy snapped out of her paralyzed daze. "Right!"
She raised her magical pen, writing furiously in the air.
The neon glow of her magic illuminated the dark cavern. "Solid Script: Iron!"
The word 'IRON' materialized in mid-air, forged from solid, heavy steel.
She didn't drop it on Greymon; she sent it flying directly toward Gajeel.
Gajeel grinned, catching the massive tal word in his hands and taking a huge, crunching bite out of it.
"Thanks, shorty! That hits the spot!"
His magic flared, his iron scales thickening and glinting with renewed power.
He charged Greymon again, eting the giant beast in a brutal, close-quarters brawl.
Fist t horn, iron t claws. The sound of tal clashing against heavy scales echoed endlessly.
Ace shook his head slightly, watching Levy hover nervously near the back of the ruins, her pen trembling.
"If all you do is feed him, Levy, you'll fail," Ace's voice cut clearly through the chaotic noise of the battle. He locked eyes with the blue-haired mage.
"An S-Class mage doesn't just stand in the back and act like a fastfood restaurant for their partner. An S-Class mage dictates the flow of the battlefield. You have to prove you can lead, or you don't belong here."
Levy bit her lip, the harsh truth of Ace's words stinging her pride.
He was right.
She was acting exactly like a scared sidekick, hiding behind Gajeel's raw durability and offensive power. If they were going to pass this trial, she needed to step up.
She needed to be an equal.
"Greymon," Ace said, raising a finger. "Target the support."
Greymon let out a low, rumbling growl.
The dinosaur ignored Gajeel's next punch, taking the hit to the shoulder, and charged directly past the Iron Dragon Slayer.
The massive beast barreled toward Levy, its heavy footsteps shaking the entire cavern.
"Hey! Don't ignore !" Gajeel roared, turning around to chase the dinosaur.
Levy watched the thirty-foot monster charging at her, its jaws open wide.
Panic flared in her chest, but she forced it down.
She forced herself to think.
She analyzed Greymon's heavy footsteps.
The beast was incredibly strong, but it was top-heavy. Its massive skull and bulky torso made its montum difficult to stop once it got moving.
She looked at the environnt.
The cracked stone floor. The crumbling marble pillars surrounding them.
"Gajeel! Don't chase it! Hit its left leg!" Levy shouted, her voice ringing out with newfound authority.
"Don't give orders!" Gajeel grunted out of habit, but he didn't hesitate to follow her command.
He dove forward, transforming his arm into an iron pillar, and swept it violently against Greymon's massive left leg.
The strike didn't hurt the dinosaur, but it forced Greymon to stagger and shift its imnse weight to the right to maintain its balance.
Levy was already writing, her pen moving in a blur of neon light.
"Solid Script: Oil!"
The glowing word splashed onto the stone floor right where Greymon's heavy right foot was forced to land.
The magic instantly transford into a thick, slippery pool of black liquid, coating the cracked stone.
Greymon tried to dig its sharp claws in to regain its footing, but the massive beast slipped.
Its legs slid out from under it, sending the thousands of pounds of muscle and bone crashing hard onto its side.
The impact cratered the floor, stunning the dinosaur.
"Don't let it get up!" Levy yelled, her confidence surging.
She kept writing, refusing to give Ace or his monster an inch of breathing room. "Solid Script: Silence!"
The word 'SILENCE' wrapped around Greymon's heavy jaws like a glowing muzzle, effectively sealing the beast's mouth shut and neutralizing its ability to fire another Nova Blast.
"Now you're talking!" Gajeel roared in approval.
He leaped high into the air, turning his entire arm into a massive, jagged iron polearm that dwarfed his own body.
He focused every ounce of his magic into the dense tal, the iron glowing with fierce energy.
"Iron Dragon's Lance: Demon Logs!"
He brought the heavy iron weapon down with devastating, explosive force, striking Greymon square in the center of its thick chest.
The sheer kinetic impact shattered the stone floor beneath the dinosaur in a massive spider-web pattern, kicking up a blinding cloud of dust and debris.
Greymon let out a muffled grunt through the magical bindings, its arms struggling to push the heavy iron polearm off its chest, but the combined weight of Gajeel's attack and the slippery oil beneath it made it impossible to gain any leverage.
"Solid Script: Bind!" Levy cast one final spell, sending glowing chains to wrap around Greymon's legs, pinning the Champion-level Digimon entirely to the ruined floor.
The cavern fell silent, save for Gajeel's heavy panting and the soft hum of Levy's lingering magic.
"Enough," Ace said.
Ace walked forward, the dust settling around him.
He looked genuinely impressed.
He swiped his D-Tector, and the massive, bound form of Greymon dissolved into a stream of glowing orange data, returning safely to the device.
Gajeel landed on the ground, his iron scales fading back to normal, bruised skin. He wiped sweat from his brow, glaring at Ace. "What gives? We were just getting to the good part. I had that lizard pinned!"
"The preliminary round isn't a deathmatch," Ace explained, slipping the D-Tector back into his dark coat.
"It's a test of teamwork, adaptability, and resolve."
He looked at Levy, offering a slow, respectful nod. "You stopped acting like a spectator, Levy. You used your head to create a massive opening against a physically superior opponent. You commanded the battlefield and dictated my monster's movents. And Gajeel, you put your ego aside and trusted her setup enough to capitalize on it perfectly."
A heavy stone door on the far side of the ruins began to grind open.
The harsh grinding of stone against stone echoed through the cavern, revealing a sunlit dirt path leading much deeper into the untad jungle of Tenrou Island.
"You pass," Ace smirked, gesturing toward the open doorway. "Welco to the real S-Class trial. Try not to let the wildlife eat you on the next stage."
Levy let out a massive, shuddering breath, dropping to her knees.
Her legs shook wildly from the fading adrenaline. "We did it... we actually passed! Oh my god, I thought we were going to get crushed!"
Gajeel snorted, cracking his neck as he walked past her toward the exit.
He didn't offer a cheesy smile, but the respect in his eyes was evident.
"Of course we passed. Just try to keep up, shorty. The real fights are up ahead."
Levy smiled, pushing herself back to her feet.
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