Disclaimer: Do not own Ant Farm

Chapter 9

Until now, Chyna Parks had only been to two Tipton hotels. One in San Francisco and the other one in Boston. But nothing could've prepared her for the one in Tokyo.

First of all, the whole place smelled of Japanese incense. It wasn't unpleasant, and it smelled faintly of kiwi. The lobby floor was large, but dimly lit. It was still the middle of the day, Chyna knew, but from where she was standing she couldn't have known. There was no lighting from the outside, but the soft lighting by the walls gave the lobby a relaxing feel.

The lobby was full of people, but it wasn't loud. The background felt hushed, almost like a library floor where frequenters were always told to keep quiet.

When she and the rest of the Ant Farm came rolling through the front door, they must've been loud, because everybody in the lobby had immediately stopped what they were doing to stare. That many eyes staring was un-nerving; it instantly shut the crew up – for now, anyway.

Chyna almost felt guilty about taking her first step on the lobby floor. The floor was so pristine, it sparkled. She didn't want to dirty anything that looked that new. As everybody strolled their way to the front desk – very quietly- she spotted random things that she'd hardly seen back in the US – tatami mats, haiku tea tables, Shoji room dividers, Japanese ferns.

Chyna heard Olive give a disapproving tut-tut as she looked around the lobby. "This is all wrong. What a horribly inaccurate presentation of Feng Shui! First of all, that table should be placed over in the far side of the lobby. The fern plants should be placed over here, like so, and what in the world are the tatami mats doing over there, and who's idea was it to place a portrait over there – "

"I like it," Chyna cut in. She looked over at Olive. "I think we're going to have a blast here."

Angus agreed. "Yea, I think I had a pie eating competition here once. It was fun!"

"You've been to Japan before?" Fletcher asked.

Angus looked at Fletcher as if that was a really dumb question. "Noo. I mean we did it online, on video."

Everybody gave Angus that are you kidding me stare.

"Oh gimme a break!" Angus rolled his eyes. "State of the art, fiber optic connections make anything real time anyway. I might as well have been there. Remember my dance competition in the Philippines?"

Fletcher just had to tease. "Oh right. I remember! You still keep that second place trophy anywhere?"

Angus just glared at Fletcher, who just responded with a sheepish shrug.

The Ants made it to the front desk, with Gibson "taking care" of the receptionist. But that didn't go so well.

"But are you sure my room can't fit that many people?" Gibson asked, gesturing to the thirty Ants waiting for their room.

"Yes, I am sure," the desk clerk explained tiredly. This was about the third time she had to go over this. The conversation was quickly going around in circles.

Chyna, Fletcher, and Angus were listening in on the conversation.

"Oh no, we were so busy thinking about how to get everybody on the flight to Tokyo that we didn't think about booking enough rooms for thirty people!" Chyna said, worried.

Fletcher had nothing to say, but Angus just smirked as if this wasn't a problem at all.

"Not a big deal," was all he said, as he quickly took out his Ant Pad, and typed in a series of keys. After a minute, he declared, "All done. I think the desk clerk will see that we have been put up for a complimentary upgrade," he said smugly.

"You can hack into the hotel computers with your Ant Pad?" Fletcher asked.

"Well, of course! I hack into anything with my Ant Pad, even though it's easier doing it from my desktop. Why do you think I carry it everywhere?"

"I dunno," Chyna remarked, "maybe to listen to music.."

"Or play games," Fletcher added.

"Or watch movies," Chyna finished.

Angus just looked at his friends like they were really weird.

The receptionist made an unexpected eep with her mouth as her computer chimed.

"Oh wait a minute, here," she told Gibson. "It says here that you have been upgraded from the Royal Suite to the London Suite."

"Oh!" Gibson exclaimed, but then he said, "Wait. Is that a good thing?"

The receptionist gave Gibson a pleasant smile. "Yes, that's a very good thing."

Chyna had to speak up. "But that's, just one room? We have thirty people."

The receptionist deadpanned. "Clearly, you haven't heard about the London Suite." But then the receptionist brightened again, "You're just in luck too. Usually that room is reserved for Miss Tipton herself exclusively, but she happens to be out on business for a few days."

Chyna's heart dropped a few beats. If London's out of town, that means her boyfriend is also out of town, which means…

She looked to her fellow Ants, who all looked so excited now that they were indeed booked rooms. She realized that she didn't need to be a downer. Maybe she can still have fun. She can still make the best of things.

"Anyway," Chyna said, to her friends. "I think I'm going to go explore now. The hotel is really big and I think there's still enough time today to go see a few things."

Angus looked dead set against the idea. "I dunno, I kinda just wanna go up to the Suite and unpack."

Chyna shrugged as if to say suit yourself, but then Fletcher volunteered, "I'll go with you."

Chyna's eyes lit up when she smiled. "There you go, Fletcher! That's the spirit!"

The two smiled at each other, then simultaneously looked to Angus and asked, "So Angus, since you're already going up, can you take our luggage up with you?"

They were already up and running before Angus could protest. Suddenly, he was left with 4 extra really big luggage to lug along. "Hey…!" He squealed indignantly. But they didn't hear him.