Be warned... the following tales contain gore, death and gruesome acts that may cause you to sleep with the lights on... This is a Halloween fic after all...

TASTE FOR FLESH...

It had been nearly three weeks since the kung fu warriors of the Jade Palace had had to deal with any bandit problems. Or thieves, invaders or any other possible kind of problem. In other words, it was a complete snoozefest. Of course, there were ways for said warriors to pass the time.

Today, in order to pass this time, a certain primate and insect had planned a special prank for a black and white, particularly chubby pal of his in the barracks...

"Uh, Mantis? Are you sure this is a good idea"?

"Pfft! Come on man, when is anything I do NOT a bad idea"?

Monkey gave a glare at the bug, knowing full well the number of times one of Mantis's ideas ended good. And this one was certainly no exception. Mantis had convinced Monkey to buy a banana, with the intention of using the skin of the fruit to cause Po to slip and fall. The resulting tremors caused by Po's... girth, would trip a very delicately balanced clay pot, filled with custard, to fall onto his head. The results, an angry panda, and two laughing pranksters. At least that was the intended plan.

"Still"... Monkey continued. "This prank's a bit... well, dangerous. I mean, you couldn't have found something softer to carry custard in? What if we end up seriously hurting Po"?

"You're kidding me right"? Mantis laughed.

Monkey said nothing.

"Look. If falling down the stairs a gazillion times hasn't killed the guy, I can garantee you this will be nothing. Come on, loosen up buddy"!

"Hmf... alright. But if Shifu finds out about this, I had no part in this".

"Yeah yeah, I got it. Ooh! Here he comes now"!

Indeed, Mantis was correct. Coming through the front doors of the barracks was none other than Po himself. Mantis and Monkey were quick enough to get out of sight and hide in one of the many bedrooms on either side of the hall. Once in position, the pair peaked their heads out as Po made his way down to the middle of the hall, right where the banana peel was.

"This is it"... Mantis Sniggered whilst Monkey rolled his eyes.

Once Po was close enough, he stepped onto the banana peel. The panda let out a short yell of surprise and slipped backwards, causing him to land right on the floor with a mighty thud. The tremor was powrful enough for the round clay pot to lose what little ground it had on top of the beam above, and fell down towards Po's head. Thankfully, much to Monkey's relief, the clay pot was not as heavy as it looked as it instantly broke upon impact of Po's head. It would have been similar to a plate falling onto your head. Something Po had experienced once or twice during his past life making noodles. The following custard exploded from the pot and onto Po's face and chest. All the Panda could do now was fling and wipe as much of it out of his fur.

"Great"... He muttered in disgust. It would take ages to clean this stuff off of him.

A couple of roaring laughters caught his attention and he managed to catch Monkey and Mantis laughing like there was no tomorrow from inside one of the rooms.

"You were right Mantis"! Monkey managed to speak in between breaths. "That was too good"!

Unfortunatley, Po did not share in their delight, and stood up slowly before trying to grab the two and make them pay. Of course, the pair of troublemakers were too fast for Po as they dodged his swipes and made a run for the door.

"Might wanna clean that mess up before Master Shifu finds out Po"! Monkey yelled back before exiting the barracks, and nearly running straight into Tigress. The two barely stopped in front of her.

"Oh uh... hey there Tigress... What'sup"...? Mantis smiled nervously.

Before Tigress could answer, a certain panda emerged from the barracks with a furious expression on his face while hollering some sort of war cry. However that face turned from mad to surprised as he found the two prankster right there in front of him. Unable to stop in time, Po managed to crash into both Monkey and Mantis while Tigress barely got out of the way. All three knocked over beings came near to falling down the stairs. Seeing Po in his custard-covered state, Tigress could tell what had happened to have caused the scene she had just witnessed. It was a shame that she didn't have time to deal with them. For now at least. Instead she gave an annoyed sigh and crossed her arms.

"When you're done messing around, the valley could use our help. Zheng has spotted some bandits causing a disturbance to some shopkeepers".

"Wait"! Po exclaimed, hopping to his feet. "Bandits? Ugh, finally! A call to action"! He gleemed as he hopped on the spot, throwing punches into the air.

"We need to get moving. Now". Tigress agreed before all four rushed down the stairs.

In a few minutes time after rounding up the other members of the furious five, the band of kung fu warriors made it down the stairs and into the town. Alomst instantly they came across what appeared to be a large gang of wolves. Stealing whatever valuables and coins they could and stuffing them into their pockets. From where the Furious five were standing it was clear that there were a lot of them. Fifteen at the most. Nothing that couldn't be handled.

Each kung fu master chose their first target and attacked at once before the wolves could even take notice of their presence. Tigress struck the first wolf in the face with a palm strike, knocking the thief onto his back. Another tried to slice the feline in half with a large axe. The weapon was too heavy for the wolf, making its attacks slow and avoidable. After a few failed attempts, Tigress caught the axe blade between her hands and pulled it from the wolve's grasp. Before the wolf had a chance to run it paid for its attempted murder with a roundhouse kick to the head.

Three minutes was all it took before the last few wolves that were still able to stand fled, leaving the kung fu masters to deal with those that remained injured or knocked out. Either way, the furious five had won yet again. The villagers cheered, the bandits were tied up and everything was back the way it should be. Even the money stolen had been recovered. It had been fun for each and every warrior. After weeks of doing nothing but training, it felt good to blow off some steam. One more than others.

While Tigress ignored the cheers of the villagers, she proceeded to pick up one of the unconcious bandits lying on the ground. As she successfully lifted him up, she noticed a small amount of liquid on the ground hidden underneath the wolf. Crimson and wet, it was not hard to realise that it was blood. Only a few drops of it.

Tigress raised an eye and turned the wolf over so that it was now facing her. It turned out that the mutt had a small cut on the top of its head. Nothing that needed to be fussed over. Before she could continue to deal with the wolf, an all too familiar voice rung out.

"Alright! Another win for the dragon warrior! Right Tigress"?

Tigress didn't have time to even reply as quite suddenly, the panda had slapped her on the back. What was meant to be a celebratory pat on the back ended up pushing Tigress forward. Tigress lost her balance before making her fall to the ground. Her face landing in the one spot she hoped it wouldn't. The blood stained ground. Still wet, part of the organic liquid smothered a very small portion of the face, mostly her muzzle. But it was enough to tick her off.

"Oh, uh... sorry"? Po attempted to apologise.

Tigress begun to use her paws to push off of the ground and give Po the verbal lashing they both knew was coming. Only... it didn't.

While Tigress did have that thought in mind at first, it was quickly blocked out when she felt something on the tip of her tongue. A few seconds later, she realised it was the blood. Before she could wipe it off, she tasted something. Something that made stayed her paw. She didn't know what but there was something about the taste that she... kind of liked. It tasted tangy... metallic...

...

Addicting...

She had never tasted anything of the sort before. But there was one thing she and her mind agreed on. It was delicious.

"Uh, Tigress? Are you... y'know, alright"?

Tigress snapped back to reality, realising that she was still lying on the ground. She picked herself up and brushed off the dirt that clung to her fur.

"Yes Po. I am fine". Tigress confirmed with a nod before heading off back to the Jade palace, leaving the others to deal with the bandits.

That was the last time anyone could remembering Tigress acting normal. Days passed. Bandit attacks came more often to the pleasure of the Jade palace warriors. Even Tigress took some joy in it, personally assisting to take the prisoners to Chor Gom. She insisted on the matter every time. Noone really knows what happens, but whenever the prisoners were delivered, one or two of them would be missing something. Sometimes an eye, sometimes a finger, once an whole arm. All of them were too frightened to admit what had happened to the guards. When they asked Tigress, she always said...

"They're thieves. Why should it matter"?

Even without bandit attacks occuring, the other noticed Tigresses strange behaviour. She became more... twitchy, seemed unable to concentrate on her kung fu. Looking closely, you could notice minor cuts along her arms. Her fur hid them well, but they were easily visible if you looked for long enough. Tigress always brushed it off, saying she recieved them through training. The others seemed worried. Though none of them had any proof, they could be almost certain that the cuts were self inflicted. It was enough to get Master Shifu's attention. When he could, he'd pull Tigress up to his room for a chat. The remaining five warriors waited in the training hall waiting for their return, hoping for answers.

They continued to bicker amongst themselves as they waited for half an hour. Finally, Tigress returned. The others were quick to swamp her with questions. She answered, telling them that everything was fine. She was quick to drop the subject before leaving them. Even after that, Shifu did not leave his room that day. Or any day since.

Then, the worst blow of all occured.

It was dark. Another night had arrived and Po was eating late again. He had snuck into the kitchen and was clearing out the bowl of bean buns that were meant to be for tomorrow afternoon. On his way back to his room, he heard something. Some kind of strange noise coming from Monkey's room. The kind of noises one would make chewing on something. He should know since he had been doing it most of his life.

"Monkey"? Po called out softly.

The sound instantly stopped. Po, unsure if he was walking into another prank or not, decided to risk it and open the door.

"Are you eating your almond cookies or something? Pfft. Talk about gr"-

Whatever Po was about to say next was cut off as he saw something that made him instantly regret opening the door. A dark unknown figure, leaning over an unmoving figure that laid unnaturally still on the bed. Whatever light stretching across the floor revealed large splatters of crimson blood and... organic material.

Ten seconds was all it took for Po to finally scream.

The next morning, The furious five, or rather furious three, were doing their best to comfort a clearly startled panda. Tigress was nowhere to be found and Monkey... the less said the better. It was a sight noone wanted to see a second time round. Po was shaking like a fever had him. He never talked about what he saw that night.

Tigress never returned back to the Jade palace. Rumors took place of someone, or something snatching villagers from within the bamboo forest. The culprit was never found. Finally, a week after the incident, the others had tried to help Po in every way they could. Eventually, he made a full recovery, and shared only one thing about that night. Something that the dark figure told him before he screamed. The sound of the voice alone was enough to make him shiver.

"I had to do it Po. It's in my nature after all"...

THE END

Well, this one was fun. A little rushed halfway through, but fun. Anyway, yes. I am doing a Halloween horror fan fic. Being a major fan of horror, I could not resist. Also being a fan of the Simpsons Treehouse of horror, I decided to mix that in as well. One story down, another two to go. And since I'm in a good mood, I'm going to go ahead and break the rules for my usual fan fic writing technique and allow OCs to be added, should any be interested. If you're interested, send me a note and I'll get back to you. Be sure to tell me about your OC so I know what his attitude is, relationship etc. Well, enough blabbing on and on, I need to go watch something scary. Cheerio!