A/N: Well... Here goes nothing.

Pokemon and all related official persons/objects/ideas does not belong to me in the least. However, any original persons/objects/ideas within the story that don't belong to anyone else belong to me. Yeah.

I am aware that the accent mark above the e is missing. At the moment, I can't fix that, but I will as soon as I am able. Also note that the beliefs of the characters do not necessarily reflect the beliefs of the author.

Genders, just so you know up front (and so I have an easier reference, har, har):

Arceus-M; Giratina, Mew, Celebi-F; Lugia-F; Ho-Oh-M; Moltres, Zapdos-M; Articuno-F; Entei, Raikou-M; Suicune-F; Groudon-M; Kyogre-F; Rayquaza-M; Darkrai-M; Cresselia, Mesprit -F; Azelf, Uxie-M; Jirachi, Manaphy-M; Phione-F. All four of the Regis, being golems, are genderless; and Mewtwo and Deoxys, while technically legendaries, do not fit into the Pokemon pantheon as deities and are therefore irrelevant.

As A final note, I use the following formatting system:

"Double quotes" for any human text OR Pokemon text in cases where spoken language is irrelevant / There are no humans around to, as it were, "fail to understand them."

'Single quotes in italics' denotes translated Pokemon speech when spoken language DOES matter.

Italics denote thoughts and telepathic quotations.

+Plus signs+ signify the narrator of the segment/chapter.

Readygo!

Playing God

Prologue - On the Way to Heaven

+Mew+

People think that when you die, Arceus willing, you go straight to Heaven. Or wherever you were supposed to end up. This is incorrect. You don't 'fall asleep' and wake up at your Final Destination.

Death, or what I've learned of it, having never died, is actually prefaced by a choice--you can go, or your can't. If you want to stay, you stay, but that in itself is as much damnation as Giratina's Hell because you can never leave once you stay. If you decide to go, you still have to get there. What was his name... Buddha? That human had the right kind of idea, except that it's a whole lot easier once you're dead.

But sometimes you run into obstacles. Metaphysical ones, like guilt or anger. And sometimes, but rarely, you can get your tail (or, barring that, some other appendage) stuck purely by the power of the living who do not want you to die.

Or so Giratina, in one of Her more generous moments, had told me.

I was on my way to talk to Arceus one day when I ran into a Pokemon in just such a predicament: a Raichu, his lightningbolt-esque tail jammed between two metaphorical rocks as an extremely powerful living being held him back. And the way to Heaven was so close, too...

I floated up behind the electrical rodent, giggling quietly to myself as I watched it struggle. Not that I enjoy pain--quite the opposite! I was simply overcome by the humor of the situation as the mouse floated helplessly at the end of his tail, drawn on by the proximity of Heaven's gates. He--for it was a male-- wrenched side-to-side, yelping every time his tail failed to uncatch.

I floated around in front of him. "Do you need help, little one?"

The instant he heard my voice, the Raichu stopped struggling and stared at me. There was silence for a moment, and then he gasped "Progenitor!"

Progenitor... Ah,yes, my title. That, and Mischief-Maker. I was the source, the beginning, of all of the world's Pokemon; and I had a knack for causing trouble just for the heck of it.

Hey, don't look at me like that. I think it's funny.

I floated up to look past the Raichu's ears. "Your tail is stuck."

He blinked at me, obviously surprised at my apparent shallowness. "Er, yes... I know."

"So who's holding onto you?" I asked suddenly, floating back down to the mouse Pokemon's eye level.

"Uh?" He looked back at me blankly for a moment, then seemed to get it.

"...Probably another one of my human's Pokemon. My, uh, adoptive little sister. She's a Ninetales."

A Ninetales? I stared intently at the Raichu. "Diego? ... Is that you?"

He blinked. "You... know me?"

Knew him, yes. I'd even talked to him. Back when he was a Pikachu, he had gotten into a fierce battle in the middle of a thunderstorm, and had gotten struck by a lightning bolt so powerful it killed him. How ironic, don't you think? And funny. An electric-type killed by electricity. But when I'd spoken to him in the instant before he passed on, he'd stubbornly refused to die, and claimed that his Trainer "still needed him."

I am the Progenitor: I am the source of all Pokemon. I am, in my own eyes, a kind of "mother figure," and this became apparent to me in that moment as, in defiance of my notoriously mischievous and humorous nature, I became totally serious and entranced by the determination of one small, overall-insignificant rodent; and even though it was outside my jurisdiction, right then and there I gave him his life back.

His "little sister" I'd met a little before that, as, along with Arceus, I went in dream form to the little Vulpix (as she had been at the time) and told her what to do to free her "elder brother" Diego from the insanity that had claimed him after his evolution. She was amazingly perceptive for her age, and exceedingly humble. Even though her human preferred his nickname, Ren, the Vulpix had--and probably still does--referred to him by his full name plus an unnecessary honorific, "Raymond-sama."

It made me giggle.

Of course, it had been fifteen years since then. Just about as long as Pikachu and Raichu are expected to live. So now... He must have just died from old age, though of course he didn't look all that old or feeble here. No one did.

"Do you want help?" I asked again, more seriously this time.

Diego struggled ineffectively one more time, and then nodded helplessly. I grabbed his forepaws in my own and tugged...!

Diego cried out in pain, but with a wrench his tail pulled free and he and I tumbled head-over-tail away from the anchoring life-rocks and into Heaven's gate.

He ended up sprawled on top of me, grimacing. I slid out from under him and he got back to his rear paws. The marble halls of Heaven's entryway were totally empty except for us, which I found odd. I shrugged, turned back to Diego, and gave him a smile of encouragement. Then I started to float away.

"Um... Progenitor!" he called after me. I stopped and looked back at him, cocking my head curiously.

He caught up with me and then got up into his rear paws, shuffling his front ones in front of him in a manner that reminded me of a human shuffling his thumbs.

"Um..."

"Hey, hey," I cut across him quickly. "No more of the 'Progenitor' stuff, hey? It wears on me. Call me Mew."

"Er..." He was obviously uncomfortable with the idea of calling one of his Gods (Goddess, thanks) by Her given name, but overcame it quickly. "Alright, uh, Mew. I... I don't want to just go into Heaven."

"What d'you mean?" I replied.

"Well, I... I'm not comfortable with having nothing to do," he admitted. "Spending an eternity in paradise is tempting, but it'll get boring."

I blinked and giggled at him. He was funny! But he maintained a solid, serious look that reminded me of his determination to live.

He was serious?

"What're you suggesting?" I asked.

"Well, do you need... Er... I mean to say, Progen--Mew--that..." He trailed off, embarrassed.

"What?" I asked gently, landing gently on the ground and putting a forepaw on one of the Raichu's static pouches.

"Do you need a... I don't know... an assistant, or something?" he said finally.

I cocked my head, intrigued. I had never considered the idea of having an assistant. It hadn't ever been done, to my knowledge, but Arceus had never actually issued an edict against it. Now that I thought about it, why would I need one? It wasn't as if my job was administrative.

But my motherly nature was kicking in again. I never ignored a child who really wanted something.

"I'm sure I can find something for you to do."

...There you are. First story, first chapter... Or, really, prologue. And I won't be able to update until at least Saturday, so... Sorry.

Review, please... Constructive criticism is an aspiring author's best friend, eh? Well, aside from spell check...