A/N: Wow! It's been a long time for me hasn't it! oUo But I'm glad to be back! This thing will be a multi-chapter thing so keep coming. Originally, this was going to be a one-shot, but I changed my mind.

So, enjoy my latest escapade in AUTHORISM!

The merchant stared at the bandits surrounding his small caravan with terror in his eyes. The men in front of him grinned evilly and brandished an assortment of weapons. The merchant was desperately hoping a ranger would show up now.

Fwish, fwish, fwish! Arrow after arrow poured into the hordes of darkness, cutting them down.

"Quick Halt! Cast a damage buff on the warrior!" Will screamed, mashing his fingers up and down on the buttons of his controller. "Wait, no! Cast a serpent sting on the death knight!"

"I'm trying!" Halt yelled back, practically dancing in agitation as he slammed his fist down on the button. "My mana is too low!"

The merchant really wished someone would show up.

"Halt, you gotta' heal my person! My hit-points are dropping fast!"

"I'm trying to—."

"Hi guys!" Horace said as he stepped into the cabin, "Didja' hear me coming?"

"I know! Use a mana potion! Do it now! HALT!"

"Shut up! I've almost got it!"

"Um guys? I'm right here!"

"Horace shut up! Can't you see the world's at stake!" Halt snapped.

"HAAAAALT! You let me DIE!"

"Oh be quiet! You'll respawn in twenty seconds you idiot!"

"Um. I'm standing here...In your house. Not at castle Arulaen."

"Wait, what the! Horace when did you get here?"

"Um, five minutes ago?"

"Never mind. The next round of 'Rangerquest' is fixing to start." Will glared at Halt. "We would be defeating the Lord of Shadow right about now but Halt had to go and let me die!"

Halt glared back. "Hey I was trying to get the mana potion out but you let the death knight get to me!"

Horace suddenly cut in. "OMIGOSH! You got 'Rangerquest' too! Let me play! Do you have another controller!"

All thought of why Horace was there was forgotten for the time being.

Baron Arald shook his head. "I'm very displeased with you Halt." he said.

For a long moment there was no answer and he looked at the ranger. Halt had his knees drawn up to his chest with his arms wrapped around his legs, hands tightly clutching the controller. He muttered, "I'm sorry! I didn't have a strength buff.

Will cut in with a scathing remark. "Well you should of thought about that before we went into the dungeon! Genius!" Halt glared.

"Oh by the way," Baron Arald suddenly jumped back in. "We've got a report of bandits running rampant through the fief."

"Ah whatever. I'll just challenge them to an online match and beat their sorry behinds with my level 53 Ghost Ranger! Then they won't come back!"

Arald nodded in agreement. "Perfect! That settles things. Now, let's get back to the dungeon levels and finally kill the Dark Wyrm!"

King Duncan frowned as he twiddled with the buttons on his controller, causing his character to do completely random things, such as throw his knives repeatedly and run in circles. Duncan just couldn't believe what was happening to his kingdom right now. Bandits were running rampant through the countryside and the rangers, barons and knights were doing absolutely nothing. And Duncan knew exactly why. The reason for the problem was right in front of him.

Duncan sighed and let the controller fall to the floor with a clatter. The character on the screen stopped his random actions and stood still, swaying from side-to-side as he breathed. Duncan looked at the man sadly. He would have to delete Freddy, his level 50 Black Ranger. And he would have to throw away his game and Playstation 3. Duncan knew he had to do it but he couldn't bear to. He almost was real it was so lifelike the way he shouted and laughed and breathed. It was like cold-blooded murder!

Freddy breathed rhythmically, swaying slightly. His golden hair was ruffled a little by the breeze and he appeared to sigh with happiness. The dark mottled cloak flapped a little and the yellow-feathered arrows in his quiver rattled as the ranger leaned against a tree, the common thing that all the characters did when the controller hadn't been touched in a while. His green eyes searched the grassy meadow in front of him, taking in the sun shining down, the flowers poking their head up though the grass, the butterflies fluttering about on gaily-colored wings.

Freddy looked so peaceful.

Duncan sighed again and closed his eyes. He would have to do it. He opened his eyes again and with trembling hands, he picked up the controller and pressed the 'start' button, pulling up a menu. He slowly found the option he wanted and pressed the 'A' button. A picture popped up of the character he was killing and the blond-haired man stared out of glistening eyes at Duncan. Freddy and Duncan stared at each other. Freddy's eyes were shining so brightly with unshed tears that Duncan found it hard to believe that the man on the screen was only a video-game character with amazingly detailed graphics.

Suddenly Freddy spun around and hunched over, ignoring Duncan. The king flinched with surprise. He knew that the game had some sort of thing on it to prevent addicts from quitting but he hadn't expected it to be like this. His heart just about broke into two pieces.

He hit the 'No' button. Freddy turned around and his face broke into a huge smile. He waved cheerfully and the picture vanished. Duncan slumped down into his chair and heaved a sigh. Freddy wasn't dead. Suddenly he sat bolt upright.

He realized what he could do to stop his country from falling apart.

Halt was concentrating fiercely, tongue protruding from the corner of his mouth. The character on the screen crouched behind a tree his dark gray and black cloak concealing him from the enemy. Halt suddenly mashed the buttons in a frenzy, his character whirling out from behind cover and firing arrows repeatedly at the enemy. Halt snatched at the stick to move Go back behind cover. Sometimes he hated the name that Will had given his ranger. But by the time he noticed, Go was already a level 15 with a copper striker. Strikers were hard to get. Speaking of which, he had no idea where Will was at the moment.

Go was crouched once more behind the tree, breathing fast.

Halt raised his hand to hit the buttons.

The door crashed open and Halt flinched with surprise. The controller clattered to the floor. Will dashed over to his mentor.

"Halt! King Duncan said we can't play our games any more!" Halt, who had been about to give Will a serious tongue lashing whirled around and gaped. Will's eyes were wet and he was clutching the letter in his hand so tightly that it was covered with wrinkles.

"WHAT!" Halt practically squeaked. "DELETE GO! DELETE EVERYTHING!"

Will nodded and made a choking sound. Suddenly he burst into tears. "'twanttodeletehim!" He wailed.

Halt paused a second, attempting to decipher what it was Will had said. Then he gave up.

When Halt said nothing Will sobbed. "'twantto!"

"Oh just shut up!" Halt snapped irritably. "I am not going to say yes! It'd be unthinkable!" He snatched the letter from Will's hand and tore it up into little bits and then threw them into the air like confetti. Then he turned back to the game.

Will stood there, slightly surprised, yet at the same time relieved. For a long time he just stared at Halt, who was mashing buttons madly while sitting amongst tiny bits of paper. It actually looked funny because most of the paper was in his hair and some of it was even in his beard. One stray piece had managed to land in his ear.

Will gave a small smile. "Halt, you have paper in your hair."

Halt made no reply but shook his head vigorously, causing pieces of paper to go flying. But the paper in his ear was still there.

Will grinned. "Halt, there's still paper in your hair."

Halt again shook his head. More paper fell to the floor, twirling in circles.

The paper was still in his ear.

"Halt—." began Will.

They gray-bearded ranger growled.

Will gave up and plunked down beside his mentor. "Halt, when can I play?"

"Hrrmmrr."

"Halt?"

"Shut up."

Will applied himself to the task of shutting up diligently. He brought his knees up to his chest and wrapped his arms around his legs. There was a long silence in the cabin.

WOW! So will Halt and all the others actually obey(eventually) or will chaos reign in Araluen?

As EVERYONEINCLUDINGME says, REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!

Chocolate and Beans will rain from the sky while Ninjas dance in cranberry juice!-Me