The forest afforded no mercy.
At first, families stayed together, and those students who had come alone clustered with their peers. We were a large group. We didn't need to fear the Forest. Not as long as we stayed together. We thought we could survive. We couldn't.
The young and fit were the first to go. At the front of the crowd, they stumbled into the webs. Almost before the first cries for help reached our ears, the first screams came from those the caterpie reached first. Once small and tame, the larvae had grown long and vicious. They devoured flesh at a pace only an insect could sustain. Students with fire pokémon hurried to save them. They succeeded.
Mostly.
The webs burned too well. Many escaped with few burns, but some suffered. Most survived. A young, handsome man had been charred beyond recognition, and we witnessed only his dying breaths. His friend, somewhat of a scholar on the forest, was never found. Back home, we had buried bodies. We had respected them.
We left it.
We kept a vigil then, with students guiding us and guarding the sides. Their pokémon should have kept us safe. There was nowhere else for danger to come from, we thought.
We were wrong.
They came from between roots and down from branches. They were in the logs around us. As we walked, they silently emerged and struck. Poison spiked pierced through clothing, shoes, and flesh. The students did what they could, but by the time the weedle were sent running, ten score had been felled. They twitched with their brains' spasms as they gasped on the ground like magikarp out of water. Then, one by one, they stiffened and died.
We moved on.
As night fell, we made camp. The bugs were primarily diurnal, and we needed our rest. We slept, all at once, and prayed that we would survive the night. It was dark. We were cold. We were lost. We were alone.
We were scared.