Background
Sep. 20th, 2013 06:18 pmPing Pong was apparently born in Europe, though the exact place isn't known nor are his parents as he seems to be an orphan. His accent is French though, so that's the most likely place. He grew up in a monastery and because of his impressive speed, acted as mail carrier and errand boy between various temples around Europe. But when snail mail was replaced by more modern methods of delivery, Ping Pong was left with nothing to do and apparently turned his attention to honing his combat skills. One day after looking at a poster of his idols, the Xiaolin monks: Omi, Raimundo, Kimiko, and Clay, he decided he would travel to their temple to study under them and hopefully become Omi's gecko.
Whether this was before the monks were tasked with picking and training a single apprentice to train, or whether he decided first and only left to visit their temple after hearing about it isn't specifically stated. At some point prior to episode one he also learned the signature move of the Lotus Locust Clan used by the last known Xiaolin Dragon of Wood, Barky Lebwa, who was also from Europe...specifically France.
He became acquainted with his heroes while attempting to find the bathroom in the middle of training, zooming around while quickly explaining in French that he had to go to the bathroom. Afterward he properly introduced himself though Omi, who he looked up to the most, decided to rename him Ping Pong and he decided he liked it enough to keep as his name. He also displayed his knowledge of a technique known by a previous great master, who was the wood element. Continuing in the competition to become the chosen apprentice he quickly impressed Omi with his skill and determination, gaining the warrior's praise and being named his gecko, despite the fact all four monks had to be in agreement. He also expressed an interest in Omi's knowledge about evildoers like Jack Spicer and the desire to help defeat evil.
When a new Shen Gong Wu was revealed, Omi allowed him to come along to retrieve it as an observer, though he unwittingly made his hero jealous by gaining Dojo the dragon's approval with sincere praise of him. There was a slight detour to save a girl named Willow from dangerous creatures, which Ping Pong tried to help with but was ultimately helped by Willow. She came along as she was hoping to compete for apprenticeship too. Jack Spicer was there when they arrived to claim the Wu and, though not as experienced in a fight, Ping Pong found himself in a Xiaolin Showdown using Omi's Wu as a wager. He won the Showdown and earned the praise of the other monks, which would have won him apprenticeship if Omi hadn't said it was still undecided. His hero wanted to give Willow a shot as well as saying he didn't yet feel Ping Pong had proven himself and, while the other three were willing to press the fact that he had earned it, Ping Pong deferred to Omi's judgement.
Omi began to spend a lot of time training Willow while having no time for Ping Pong, who trained alone or with the other three monks. The one time Omi did try training with them, Omi was injured and Ping Pong felt badly and tried to soothe him with tea while Raimundo took Willow elsewhere. When Omi left with Willow for training again, Master Fung asked to to fetch Omi for him. Willow was left alone so Ping Pong offered to train with her, but she blew him off so he returned to the temple and helped Kimiko clean the kitchen instead, perfectly happy to help a fellow monk. Later he found Omi and Willow playing some sort of guessing game, but Willow left when he asked to play with them and Omi got upset with him and left as well.
When the next Wu appeared, Ping Pong and Willow tagged along again, and Ping Pong tried to gain the chance to prove himself by offering to do all of the monks' chores if they'd let him beat up Jack first...though he probably also had just liked beating Jack the first time. Everyone ended up racing for the Wu, but a big shadow kept grabbing him and using him to trip up and take out the monks, allowing Jack to get it first. Ping Pong attempted to explain to his heroes what happened, but they hadn't seen the shadow and were upset. The next day he overheard them talking and withdrew from trying to become apprentice because especially Omi was upset with him. He wished Willow well ad left the temple alone.
That night in the forest he spotted Willow sneaking around and followed her, finding out that she was the shadow and had purposely used him to left Jack win just to discredit him under the orders of Chase Young. Realizing it didn't bode well for his friends, he went to go back and warn them but ran into Kimiko, who had also followed Willow/Shadow there. Chase and Shadow attacked them and Kimiko fell from the cliff in the fight while Ping Pong was taken hostage and chained up as a toy for the Jungle Cats in Chase's lair.
Once Chase left and after the cats finally wore themselves out enough to sleep, he slipped out of his shackles and ran through the night back to the temple, arriving the next day to finally warn them. He was too late though, as Shadow's deception had given her the time she needed to steal all of the Wu already. Soon after this discovery, Chase attacked the temple with Shadow and destroyed it completely. The monks only escaped harm by escaping into the secret tunnels under the temple, with Omi and Ping Pong having been dragged into them after being defeated by the villains.
With their home in ruins, Master Fung that stated it was time for the monks and Dojo to go on a journey to find a new home...but without him. Ping Pong was finally unanimously accepted as apprentice before Master Fung left them and Omi stated Ping Pong was no longer his gecko, but a big lizard now.
Within the next two days, the monks had regained some Wu, specifically the Shroud of Monster Camo and the Fist of the Iron Bear. The second night Dojo had a strange dream involving golden bunnies, so they called Master Fung and learned that the golden bunny talisman was something they needed to find as a step toward finding their new temple. Soon after the Blue Ray Manta Ray revealed itself and Omi won it from Jack in a Showdown, which was fortunate because Dojo's grief over being separated from Master Fung was interfering with his ability to fly. The Manta Ray also had the golden bunny emblem on the underside indicating it could lead them to the talisman. They found a mountain village inhabited by almost exclusively golden bunnies, which would become vicious monsters if startled. This presented an additional problem to simply finding the real golden bunny, especially when Jack arrived to steal them all. The monks couldn't start a fight, as noted by Ping Pong, because the bunnies might have transformed. Clay came up with the solution and they saved the bunnies, as well as fund their talisman.
The second talisman was found while they were dealing with Jack and the Honey Badger that revealed itself. Jack used its power in a virtual world created by Kimiko's father to destroy the real world, so they went in after him and were able to stop him. Afterward, Kimiko's father aborted the project and gave them a rock that Ping Pong realized was another talisman.
Clay had a dream that reminded him of an upcoming family event and he invited them along. On the way, the Tongue of Cherokee revealed itself, but Jack got it and escaped. While they enjoyed the rodeo, he stole all of the cows from the ranch. They managed to send him packing and Ping Pong pacified the cows using the Tongue and a poem he made up, but Jack caught up to them the next morning and almost turned the herd against them. They defeated him again and returned the cows to the ranch, which got Clay the talisman his family had held onto.
Chase began to give them all trouble, having his cats attack them constantly. But the worst trouble came when Jack ate a powerful magical crustacean, causing mass destruction across the world. The monks were forced to team up with Chase and Shadow to find Jack and undo the damage, using science to reconstruct the crustacean.
Ping Pong continued to study under his mentors, improving his technique and learning to use basic elemental abilities. But Omi became upset that Ping Pong was learning from everyone, not just him, and started giving him the cold shoulder. Omi won the Sapphire Dragonfly from Shadow in a Showdown, but Chase had Shadow steal and use it on Ping Pong while he slept. This resulted in a boost in energy the next day, but a quick burnout before he passed out. He woke a few minutes later, several times his normal size and with his friends inside his head trying to save him. The monks battled Chase and Shadow in his mind, and Jack attacked him in a mech. Working with Omi, he was able to beat Jack by awakening his tiger instincts and Omi defeatd Chase, removing the Sapphire Dragonfly and saving Ping Pong.
When evil recruiter, Sal, was captured and to be escorted to prison, the monks were given this task. Sal was a cunning smooth-talker and managed to play on Raimundo's sympathy, leading to his escape, but Rai helped them figure out where he'd gone and they were able to recapture him. Sal gave Rai his talisman before being locked away and they continued their journey.
Chase attacked them again, using his cat warriors to turn the monks into cats. Only Omi escaped, and Ping Pong and the others were kept in Chase's lair, unconcerned with anything that was going on and unaware they would soon loose themselves fully. When Omi turned up to challenge Chase for their freedom, Chase turned them loose to attack him. Omi still challenged him to a Showdown and won, freeing them. Then their talismans merged to summon their new temple and a monster that was really a beautiful princess. She left them to care for it while she went on a journey.
Shortly after, the monks, including Ping Pong fell into the habit of training hard and expecting Dojo to do all of the work around the temple. At the time he got fed up with the mistreatment, a meteor containing a small dragon crashed nearby. This dragon was a descendant of Dojo's and told them he was there to help Dojo realize his destiny. But this turned out to involve Dojo being sent into the future by the Quantum Wand. Afterward the monks realized how much they'd selfishly relied on Dojo, with Ping Pong being the first to acknowledge that none of what they'd been making Dojo do was anything they should have expected from him. Deciding to bring him home, they took the Quantum Wand from Jack and went to the future...a world where dragons ruled and treated humans as pets and slaves.
A random human helped they get to Dojo and they made amends, but it turned out Dojo's descendant was the one who wanted humans enslaved. The monks couldn't beat his bodyguards, but a blast from Jack's shrik ray exited the time stream, shrinking the dragons and allowing them time to use the Quantum Wand to escape. It was decided from then on everyone would take turns being the boss to be fair. Dojo was first and everyone had to wear maid outfits while serving him.
The Shoku Warriors received elemental Shen Gong Wu from Master Fung, which formed powerful combinations when combined with other Wu. Having not gotten one, Ping Pong was disappointed and felt forgotten but was reassured by both Dojo and an apparition of Master Fung that his change to shine would come. It came pretty soon when they were attacked by a magic tree. They couldn't defeat it, but Ping Pong was able to start a conversation that let him explain the princess had left them to watch the temple. But the tree was then possessed by Chase, who revealed the tree was in reality Barkey LeBois, the previous Xiaolin Dragon of Wood. Chase trapped them in the temple and exposed them to manifestations of their fears, with Pong's being a giant and stern woman who constantly tried to swat him like a bug while telling him he would never amount to anything. Dojo came to their rescue and they challenged Chase...and Jack, to a Showdown. Chase overpowered everyone and it was Ping Pong who saved the day.
Barkey had ordered him to stab him with Omi's elemental Wu because it was the only way to save everyone. He did hesitate but regretfully complied, resulting in Chase being expelled from Barkey's body and losing by default. Barkey congratulated him, as did Master Fung who promoted him to Shoku Warrior. He also received his elemental Wu, the Golden Peach.
As part of his new rank Ping Pong received a lot more chores and training, so many that he was having a hard time keeping up even though he never complained. But when Dojo told him about his newly received Ring of Catsumi, Ping Ping decided to borrow its power because nine of him could do all of his chores and ensure he could still train. But the extras only caused trouble and while the monks rounded them up, the real Ping Pong was abducted by Chase. Chase coerced him into drinking the Lao Mang Lone Soup by threatening his friends.
He was released after the evil had taken hold, though it hadn't fully, and returned to the temple where the only duplicate left from the ring was causing trouble. He demanded to be locked upm but once fully whole again he began to go nuts in the cage, sometimes threatening his friends other times fighting the evil, telling them not to let him out but then playing on their emotion s and generally being gross and rude. He tricked Omi and escaped, but later appeared to challenge Chase for the Bouncy Wouncy for the Wu and the removal of the evil from his body. He barely managed to win and was returned to normal.
Kimiko's birthday came around and they baked her a cake. Ping Pong became frustrated that he couldn't easily climb the cake to add sprinkles with Omi because of his Wu that he didn't like, and Omi and Dojo tried to get him to show his Golden Peach so it could be combined with the Wu...but when it did Ping Pong wound up flying all over the place and wrecking the cake. When the next Wu activated, it was Kimiko's sister Tigress who got it and gave it to her. The boys were all curious and friendly towards her, but Kimiko wasn't. Then Tigress took their Undo Shen Gong Wu, but sent it back the next day.
Whether this was before the monks were tasked with picking and training a single apprentice to train, or whether he decided first and only left to visit their temple after hearing about it isn't specifically stated. At some point prior to episode one he also learned the signature move of the Lotus Locust Clan used by the last known Xiaolin Dragon of Wood, Barky Lebwa, who was also from Europe...specifically France.
He became acquainted with his heroes while attempting to find the bathroom in the middle of training, zooming around while quickly explaining in French that he had to go to the bathroom. Afterward he properly introduced himself though Omi, who he looked up to the most, decided to rename him Ping Pong and he decided he liked it enough to keep as his name. He also displayed his knowledge of a technique known by a previous great master, who was the wood element. Continuing in the competition to become the chosen apprentice he quickly impressed Omi with his skill and determination, gaining the warrior's praise and being named his gecko, despite the fact all four monks had to be in agreement. He also expressed an interest in Omi's knowledge about evildoers like Jack Spicer and the desire to help defeat evil.
When a new Shen Gong Wu was revealed, Omi allowed him to come along to retrieve it as an observer, though he unwittingly made his hero jealous by gaining Dojo the dragon's approval with sincere praise of him. There was a slight detour to save a girl named Willow from dangerous creatures, which Ping Pong tried to help with but was ultimately helped by Willow. She came along as she was hoping to compete for apprenticeship too. Jack Spicer was there when they arrived to claim the Wu and, though not as experienced in a fight, Ping Pong found himself in a Xiaolin Showdown using Omi's Wu as a wager. He won the Showdown and earned the praise of the other monks, which would have won him apprenticeship if Omi hadn't said it was still undecided. His hero wanted to give Willow a shot as well as saying he didn't yet feel Ping Pong had proven himself and, while the other three were willing to press the fact that he had earned it, Ping Pong deferred to Omi's judgement.
Omi began to spend a lot of time training Willow while having no time for Ping Pong, who trained alone or with the other three monks. The one time Omi did try training with them, Omi was injured and Ping Pong felt badly and tried to soothe him with tea while Raimundo took Willow elsewhere. When Omi left with Willow for training again, Master Fung asked to to fetch Omi for him. Willow was left alone so Ping Pong offered to train with her, but she blew him off so he returned to the temple and helped Kimiko clean the kitchen instead, perfectly happy to help a fellow monk. Later he found Omi and Willow playing some sort of guessing game, but Willow left when he asked to play with them and Omi got upset with him and left as well.
When the next Wu appeared, Ping Pong and Willow tagged along again, and Ping Pong tried to gain the chance to prove himself by offering to do all of the monks' chores if they'd let him beat up Jack first...though he probably also had just liked beating Jack the first time. Everyone ended up racing for the Wu, but a big shadow kept grabbing him and using him to trip up and take out the monks, allowing Jack to get it first. Ping Pong attempted to explain to his heroes what happened, but they hadn't seen the shadow and were upset. The next day he overheard them talking and withdrew from trying to become apprentice because especially Omi was upset with him. He wished Willow well ad left the temple alone.
That night in the forest he spotted Willow sneaking around and followed her, finding out that she was the shadow and had purposely used him to left Jack win just to discredit him under the orders of Chase Young. Realizing it didn't bode well for his friends, he went to go back and warn them but ran into Kimiko, who had also followed Willow/Shadow there. Chase and Shadow attacked them and Kimiko fell from the cliff in the fight while Ping Pong was taken hostage and chained up as a toy for the Jungle Cats in Chase's lair.
Once Chase left and after the cats finally wore themselves out enough to sleep, he slipped out of his shackles and ran through the night back to the temple, arriving the next day to finally warn them. He was too late though, as Shadow's deception had given her the time she needed to steal all of the Wu already. Soon after this discovery, Chase attacked the temple with Shadow and destroyed it completely. The monks only escaped harm by escaping into the secret tunnels under the temple, with Omi and Ping Pong having been dragged into them after being defeated by the villains.
With their home in ruins, Master Fung that stated it was time for the monks and Dojo to go on a journey to find a new home...but without him. Ping Pong was finally unanimously accepted as apprentice before Master Fung left them and Omi stated Ping Pong was no longer his gecko, but a big lizard now.
Within the next two days, the monks had regained some Wu, specifically the Shroud of Monster Camo and the Fist of the Iron Bear. The second night Dojo had a strange dream involving golden bunnies, so they called Master Fung and learned that the golden bunny talisman was something they needed to find as a step toward finding their new temple. Soon after the Blue Ray Manta Ray revealed itself and Omi won it from Jack in a Showdown, which was fortunate because Dojo's grief over being separated from Master Fung was interfering with his ability to fly. The Manta Ray also had the golden bunny emblem on the underside indicating it could lead them to the talisman. They found a mountain village inhabited by almost exclusively golden bunnies, which would become vicious monsters if startled. This presented an additional problem to simply finding the real golden bunny, especially when Jack arrived to steal them all. The monks couldn't start a fight, as noted by Ping Pong, because the bunnies might have transformed. Clay came up with the solution and they saved the bunnies, as well as fund their talisman.
The second talisman was found while they were dealing with Jack and the Honey Badger that revealed itself. Jack used its power in a virtual world created by Kimiko's father to destroy the real world, so they went in after him and were able to stop him. Afterward, Kimiko's father aborted the project and gave them a rock that Ping Pong realized was another talisman.
Clay had a dream that reminded him of an upcoming family event and he invited them along. On the way, the Tongue of Cherokee revealed itself, but Jack got it and escaped. While they enjoyed the rodeo, he stole all of the cows from the ranch. They managed to send him packing and Ping Pong pacified the cows using the Tongue and a poem he made up, but Jack caught up to them the next morning and almost turned the herd against them. They defeated him again and returned the cows to the ranch, which got Clay the talisman his family had held onto.
Chase began to give them all trouble, having his cats attack them constantly. But the worst trouble came when Jack ate a powerful magical crustacean, causing mass destruction across the world. The monks were forced to team up with Chase and Shadow to find Jack and undo the damage, using science to reconstruct the crustacean.
Ping Pong continued to study under his mentors, improving his technique and learning to use basic elemental abilities. But Omi became upset that Ping Pong was learning from everyone, not just him, and started giving him the cold shoulder. Omi won the Sapphire Dragonfly from Shadow in a Showdown, but Chase had Shadow steal and use it on Ping Pong while he slept. This resulted in a boost in energy the next day, but a quick burnout before he passed out. He woke a few minutes later, several times his normal size and with his friends inside his head trying to save him. The monks battled Chase and Shadow in his mind, and Jack attacked him in a mech. Working with Omi, he was able to beat Jack by awakening his tiger instincts and Omi defeatd Chase, removing the Sapphire Dragonfly and saving Ping Pong.
When evil recruiter, Sal, was captured and to be escorted to prison, the monks were given this task. Sal was a cunning smooth-talker and managed to play on Raimundo's sympathy, leading to his escape, but Rai helped them figure out where he'd gone and they were able to recapture him. Sal gave Rai his talisman before being locked away and they continued their journey.
Chase attacked them again, using his cat warriors to turn the monks into cats. Only Omi escaped, and Ping Pong and the others were kept in Chase's lair, unconcerned with anything that was going on and unaware they would soon loose themselves fully. When Omi turned up to challenge Chase for their freedom, Chase turned them loose to attack him. Omi still challenged him to a Showdown and won, freeing them. Then their talismans merged to summon their new temple and a monster that was really a beautiful princess. She left them to care for it while she went on a journey.
Shortly after, the monks, including Ping Pong fell into the habit of training hard and expecting Dojo to do all of the work around the temple. At the time he got fed up with the mistreatment, a meteor containing a small dragon crashed nearby. This dragon was a descendant of Dojo's and told them he was there to help Dojo realize his destiny. But this turned out to involve Dojo being sent into the future by the Quantum Wand. Afterward the monks realized how much they'd selfishly relied on Dojo, with Ping Pong being the first to acknowledge that none of what they'd been making Dojo do was anything they should have expected from him. Deciding to bring him home, they took the Quantum Wand from Jack and went to the future...a world where dragons ruled and treated humans as pets and slaves.
A random human helped they get to Dojo and they made amends, but it turned out Dojo's descendant was the one who wanted humans enslaved. The monks couldn't beat his bodyguards, but a blast from Jack's shrik ray exited the time stream, shrinking the dragons and allowing them time to use the Quantum Wand to escape. It was decided from then on everyone would take turns being the boss to be fair. Dojo was first and everyone had to wear maid outfits while serving him.
The Shoku Warriors received elemental Shen Gong Wu from Master Fung, which formed powerful combinations when combined with other Wu. Having not gotten one, Ping Pong was disappointed and felt forgotten but was reassured by both Dojo and an apparition of Master Fung that his change to shine would come. It came pretty soon when they were attacked by a magic tree. They couldn't defeat it, but Ping Pong was able to start a conversation that let him explain the princess had left them to watch the temple. But the tree was then possessed by Chase, who revealed the tree was in reality Barkey LeBois, the previous Xiaolin Dragon of Wood. Chase trapped them in the temple and exposed them to manifestations of their fears, with Pong's being a giant and stern woman who constantly tried to swat him like a bug while telling him he would never amount to anything. Dojo came to their rescue and they challenged Chase...and Jack, to a Showdown. Chase overpowered everyone and it was Ping Pong who saved the day.
Barkey had ordered him to stab him with Omi's elemental Wu because it was the only way to save everyone. He did hesitate but regretfully complied, resulting in Chase being expelled from Barkey's body and losing by default. Barkey congratulated him, as did Master Fung who promoted him to Shoku Warrior. He also received his elemental Wu, the Golden Peach.
As part of his new rank Ping Pong received a lot more chores and training, so many that he was having a hard time keeping up even though he never complained. But when Dojo told him about his newly received Ring of Catsumi, Ping Ping decided to borrow its power because nine of him could do all of his chores and ensure he could still train. But the extras only caused trouble and while the monks rounded them up, the real Ping Pong was abducted by Chase. Chase coerced him into drinking the Lao Mang Lone Soup by threatening his friends.
He was released after the evil had taken hold, though it hadn't fully, and returned to the temple where the only duplicate left from the ring was causing trouble. He demanded to be locked upm but once fully whole again he began to go nuts in the cage, sometimes threatening his friends other times fighting the evil, telling them not to let him out but then playing on their emotion s and generally being gross and rude. He tricked Omi and escaped, but later appeared to challenge Chase for the Bouncy Wouncy for the Wu and the removal of the evil from his body. He barely managed to win and was returned to normal.
Kimiko's birthday came around and they baked her a cake. Ping Pong became frustrated that he couldn't easily climb the cake to add sprinkles with Omi because of his Wu that he didn't like, and Omi and Dojo tried to get him to show his Golden Peach so it could be combined with the Wu...but when it did Ping Pong wound up flying all over the place and wrecking the cake. When the next Wu activated, it was Kimiko's sister Tigress who got it and gave it to her. The boys were all curious and friendly towards her, but Kimiko wasn't. Then Tigress took their Undo Shen Gong Wu, but sent it back the next day.