Union Cave had taken you far longer to navigate than you had originally believed it would, the many levels and pools of water that you had to traverse alongside the wild Pokémon that you had encountered and battled against taking up so much of your time that in almost a blink of an eye it had gone from 9 am in the morning to 10pm at night; long past the curfew of either of the Pokémon Centres nearby on Route 32 or in Azalea Town.
You had been so excited about being able to spend a night in a real bed again as well, having spent the last week camping out in Ilex Forest training your team and then deciding to backtrack to the cave to pick up any important items you might have missed during your first visit and possibly catch a powerful Pokémon or two before your next gym battle; having heard stories about Whitney's Miltank and wanting to be more than prepared when battling her.
Instead, you would now be forced to spend the night once again camping out in the wild, sleeping in a sleeping bag on an uncomfortable cave floor rather than on a soft mattress surrounded by warm blankets and eating the last of your rations rather than a nice homecooked meal; if only you had left sooner.
But before you could do any of that you first needed to have a wash, your hair having become rather greasy over the last several days and the sweat from the days' worth of training needing to be cleaned off before you changed into your pyjamas.
Luckily for you there were more than enough pools around to take a quick dip in and no other trainers about to sneak a look at your naked body, everyone else seeming to have had the right idea to leave earlier rather than be an idiot like yourself who had instead decided to continue on and delve deeper into the cave.
Of course, you weren't truly all alone inside the cave, there were still many wild Pokémon hiding away throughout the level behind rocks and hanging up on the ceiling, the many cries that they let off not letting you forget that fact. Thankfully they had all been nice enough to leave you alone when you had been preparing your makeshift camp for the night, only seeing a Raticate or two while pitching your tent.
Standing beside the edge of the pool of water you had decided to bathe in you quickly undressed yourself, placing the clothes that you had been wearing in a messy pile alongside a small towel and the bottle of Pokémon friendly shampoo that your mother had packed for you when you set off on your journey the month prior.
The water felt cold against your body as you slowly entered the pool, having to take a few moments to get use to the temperature before at last dunking yourself completely underneath the water, trying to keep your movements as gentle as possible so that you wouldn't disturb the Tentacool and the Tentacruel that called the pool home, though you highly doubted that even if they did notice your presence they wouldn't really be all that bothered by you; most of them likely asleep by now like many of the other Pokémon in the cave.
As you continued to swim about underneath the cold pool you found yourself unable to see any of your watery surroundings, the only light on the entire level coming from your small lantern seated in your makeshift camp some distance away, meaning you had no idea how close any of the Pokémon who resided in the pool were at any moment, the very idea that one could be right next to you sending a shiver down your spine.
Suddenly, upon swimming into the middle of the pool, you felt something living brush up against the inside of your foot and attempt to grab a hold of your ankle, the unexpected action causing a gasp to escape your lips and forcing you to swim desperately up towards the surface so that you could expel the water you had just accidentally downed.
As you breached the surface you immediately began having a coughing fit, your ears ringing for a moment before you noticed how silent the cave had become during your brief swim, the only sounds at this point coming from your coughing and the water that was moving around you.
As you managed to get the last remnants of water out of your lungs you noticed out of the corner of your eye that the water next to you was rippling away as the Pokémon who had disturbed your peaceful swim at last began to rise to the surface, the red jewels on the large figure's forehead immediately telling you that it was a Tentacruel that you had accidentally annoyed.
"Hey, big guy." You breathlessly spoke as you attempted to retreat towards the edge of the pool, wanting to have a quick exit in case the water and poison type tried to attack you, having stupidly left yourself defenceless by leaving all your Pokémon still in their balls back at the camp rather than have one or two resting beside the pool.