A/N: Wow long time no write! Instead of making any excuses I might as well just give you what you really want…more pieces of this alphabet challenge =)

Odd: adj.1. a. Strange; unusual. b. Eccentric in conduct.2. In addition to what is unusual, regular, or approximated.

Odd

Misty had grown up to be a really pretty girl.

Or actually she had become extremely gorgeous, but who was he to say. He had always thought of her as cute when they were kids, so he knew that one day she would grow up to rival her beautiful sisters. But, this new and magnetic Misty was a little odd. Or maybe it was the way she was acting that was odd because really, she was pretty amazing at everything she did. Yeah, it was her attitude and shyness that was off just a bit.

She came to visit a few days ago, explaining that she wanted to travel the Sinnoh region for a while so that she could capture some Sinnoh water pokemon. At first they got along like the old days, yelling and arguing about getting lost or how he wanted to get to the gym right away, but per usual, she wanted to go to the shops with Dawn before the battle. Yep, just like before. He was really starting to enjoy having her back when that weird and unpredictable storm came and ruined everything. He ran the scene in his head a hundred times, trying to picture what went different but he couldn't find anything that was prominent in the memory. Nothing stood out about why she changed and why she mostly tried to avoid him. It was driving him insane.

They had gotten separated from the others that afternoon all because her stupid duck pokemon popped out of his pokeball without her approval and ran off somewhere. Okay, that wasn't entirely Psyducks' fault. Team Rocket had attacked and when Misty pulled out her Garyados's pokeball he popped out instead and well, managed to get kidnapped. So when the ridiculous trio tried to escape along with the yellow duck and Pikachu, it was only obvious that he and the redhead would chase off after them without any thought. So, they managed to defeat Jesse, James, and Meowth quite easily and regain their elemental and furry friends, but it started raining and thundering and then lighting streaked across the dark cloudy sky. They sought out shelter as soon as they could.

He grumbled angrily as they made it into a coincidently placed cave, muttering about how weird and annoying her duck was when she of course snapped back about how stupid he was that he let Pikachu get captured and it was his fault they were in this mess anyways. He let it go because there was no point in continuing the argument if they were only going to shoot insults at each other about whose fault it was. He wasn't really in the mood anymore anyways, even if it did mean that they would get mysteriously close in there screaming fight. He sighed with exasperation as he fell to the ground and leaned against the rock wall watching the storm as it billowed hard outside.

His eyes had roamed to her dripping wet figure as she leaned against the wall at the entrance of the cave, appreciating the fact that her clothes stuck to her lithe body and left little to the imagination. Her shoulder length hair was soaked, and was starting to curl around her face in a very attractive way and she was now kneeling down to her soaked duck pokemon and talking softly with it before pulling out its pokeball and returning it in a flash of red light. He smiled gently and looked down at Pikachu who sat beside him and was watching him watch her with amusement on its face. Flushing slightly at what his Pokemon was insinuating Ash then gave the pokemon a little shove.

He glanced back at his friend when, he realized she was making her way over to him with a small smile. She sat beside him and started a nice conversation about how fun it was to be back with the group and that being stuck like this brought memories of the old days back. He grinned and replied that he knew exactly what she meant and how much he did miss those days. It went on like that for the rest of the time they were stuck out in the rain which it would keep pouring until the next day, but during that night she just changed. Her voice got softer as they reminisced in memories, and her eyes held some emotion that he couldn't really identify. He must have said something right, or maybe it was the fact that he had noticed that she had gotten a little chilled and offered her his vest, which she took with a blush.

If that had been what made her act weird then he wouldn't offer it again, or actually, maybe this new her was a good thing. It might mean that she was starting to like him as more than a friend, something that he had been hoping for a while now. It sure would make things a lot easier on him if she did, because he was kind of getting tired of tip toeing around his emotions for her.

"Ash?" And there she was, approaching him as they now stood in front of the dock waiting so that she could board the ferry and be back in Kanto so she could go back to being the Cerulean gym leader.

"Hey," he grinned pulling his gaze from the tumbling ocean and onto her azure eyes. "Looks like that's your boat over there," he nodded off to the ferry that had just docked a few moments ago and shoved his gloved hands into his jean pockets.

"Yeah," she mumbled glancing at the boat before sighing and returning to look at him with a small smile, "looks like we're going to have to say good-bye again," she giggled gently.

"Yeah," Ash replied grimly.

"I-I'm going to miss you…and Brock, Dawn, and Pikachu too of course!" She ducked her head in embarrassment not seeing the huge smile that made its way onto his face.

"I'm going to miss you too Mist." He chuckled loving the way she brought her head up and allowed him to see her flushed cheeks. They both glanced back at the boat as the horn sounded off, letting all passengers know that it was time to board. Misty sighed once more and clutched at the strap on her shoulder.

"Um- next time you're in Kanto come and visit me, it would be great to see you at least once in a while," she gave him a little shove.

"Who knows? Maybe I'll visit your place first next time," he shoved back and watched her face redden slightly.

"That would be really nice Ash," she said softly her eyes shining with that emotion that he still couldn't quite identify. Whatever she was feeling made her glow prettily though, and he knew he was going to miss her even more now. "I should probably get going," she mumbled backing up a few paces.

"Probably," he said, wishing with his whole heart that she didn't have to.

"See you soon," she said and he could hear the hopeful tone.

"Yeah," he said. She smiled once more and then was off like a Rapidash, making her way through the crowd and onto the ship. He sighed once more and waved as she turned back once more calling out her good-byes to everyone as Brock, Pikachu and Dawn approached from behind him.

"Well…that was a different good-bye," Brock mentioned waving casually at the girl.

"What did she say?" Dawn asked curiously.

"That she wanted me to visit," Ash shrugged.

"That's it?" The bluenette asked with a shocked expression. "She didn't say anything else? Nothing else at all?"

"No…was she supposed too?"

"I'm sooo going to kill her the next time I see her! No, in fact" Dawn cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted out to the redhead who stood at the railing as the ship made its way from the dock. "YOU HAVE SOME EXPLAINING TO DO WHEN YOU GET HOME MISTY! I'm SO GOING TO CALL AND YELL AT YOU!" She screamed making Brock and Ash flinch behind her as people started looking their way.

'Odd,' Ash thought as Pikachu called out to Misty from on top of his shoulder while he wondered what in the world Dawn was screaming about.

A/N: Awwww…we didn't get to find out what why Misty was acting oddly in this chapter! I'm sure you can take a pretty good guess as to why though, I think Ash hit it dead on in the story lol Review if you could!