The building is Central Command; it considers itself old and proud, the throne that looks down upon Central City and rules over Amestris. 

Its vast attention is split between the many people moving about it, but as it notices her it starts to insist very angrily that she doesn't belong where she is.

There's no one in the room with her, which is small and echoes like it's made of stone. 

"Amestris? I've never heard of that region," she admits. "I'm from Shikoku." There's a pause as she rises into a kneeling position, feeling around for her fallen bell.

"I'd be happy to leave you alone, if you'll tell me the quickest route to the exit."

It's not telling her its layout! She could be an enemy! She probably is, a lot of enemies of the state are running around it now.

Surolam finally retrieves her bell, who is spitting invective at the building for doubting the nobility of a member of the Arcel line. She quickly tells Little Pummerin to shut up, whispering a quick apology to the building. Sighing at the lack of cooperation, she tilts her head, trying to see if there's any spots of light that might suggest windows.

There's light coming from the ceiling. Nothing indicative of anything on the walls, though.

Well, she could shift into dragon form and potentially fly out, but that might get crowded. So instead she's going to call out a "Hello?" to see if there's anyone passing by who can hear her. If there's no response, she'll also try grabbing a few pebbles and throwing them in the direction of the light.

Silence directly outside the room, though now that she's focusing she can faintly hear evidence of activity elsewhere in the building (which has moved on to grumbling about the damage to its structure caused by the 'enemies of the state' it seems convinced she's one of). 

If she presses an ear against each wall in turn, can she tell where the loudest sounds are coming from?

Yup! Feeling around, one of the walls contains a door, and the sounds are definitely easiest to hear from there. The other three walls are thin, hollow-sounding metal with a few bumps in lines.

Can the door be opened? If not, she'll knock on it.

It can be opened.

Opening the door, she steps out, tilting her head to the side to listen some more.

"Do you see anything that might suggest what this place is?" she asks Donphan-tooth quietly.

The sounds are slightly clearer from here.

The room's long; she's standing in the middle of one of the longer walls. It has six desks, each with a few small stacks of papers on it. There's a door across from her, and one to her left and another to her right, making for one door on each wall. 

Surolam moves towards a desk at random, before laying a hand on one of the stacks of paper. "What are you about?" she asks curiously. She's hoping it'll give her a bit of a better insight into whatever's going on in this country, and why the building seems so worried about "enemies of the state."

The stack of paper very obligingly reads itself out. She can't understand the language, though the gist from the paper's rustling is that they're reports, requisitions, and orders - mostly related to the recent damage to Central Command, to the deaths of the generals, to people who need to be screened for loyalty and either dismissal or promotion, to the mess of 'mannequin soldiers' that needs to be cleaned up, to something about chimera, to mentions of unrest throughout the city...

Well, that sounds pretty serious. Things are definitely a mess here, she thinks, and she has to wonder what language this is-there's nothing familiar in it. And her showing up here is probably going to result in more paperwork. She taps her clawed fingers on the desk as she ponders what to do next. After a while, she decides to get a quick summary from the other papers-are they all talking about similar topics?

Mostly! There's the occasional mention of tunnels, or laboratories, or more strange words that don't translate well. A few mention 'the events of the Promised Day.' 

"Promised Day?" she asks out loud. Sounds like something out of a prophecy. And a pretty serious one, if it's recorded in documents like these. After a while, she crosses the room to the door opposite the one she entered from, and opens it a crack before sticking Donphan-tooth through said crack to scout for her.

"Tell me if there's anyone out there," she whispers. "Or any door that looks like it leads outdoors."

It's almost identical to the room she appeared in, just longer, running the full length of the main room. No one in it.

Well, she supposes that's good. Judging from the building's reactions, the people here might be just as twitchy. She'll just keep going straight ahead for as long as she can for now, although she'll check out any other documents she finds on the way.

The room's fairly shallow in the direction she's facing. It has no other doors. There's cabinets, and documents inside them, many different from the ones she found in the main room - they're a bit older, and about requests for uniforms, weapons, or vehicles. No mention of recent damage, deaths, or the Promised Day.

Well, that makes sense for a place called Central Command. She guesses the room she was just in was the one being used more, then. She'll go back to that room and head to the door that was on the left when she entered (so on the right now).

It leads to a long hallway. She's much closer to one end than the other; there's a window on the end closer to her, and on the other end a cross-hallway and a shadow suggesting stairs. There's a small handful of people in the halls, but not many, and most of them are towards the end farther from her. 

Surolam moves over to the window first, trying to feel out how big it is and if she can open it. She tries to be quiet, hoping that the people don't notice her, since it seems she doesn't speak their language and that will probably just make things more complicated.

The window's decently wide, but can't be opened.

No one seems to have noticed her quite yet.

Is it locked, or one of those windows that are just embedded in the frame?

Embedded in the frame, apparently. 

Well. Breaking it right now would be rude. So she's just going to keep to the wall and feel along it, trying to see if there's any doorway or alcove she can slip into.

There's a doorway after a bit, but just as she gets there, she hears a shout from down the hall. 

She freezes for a moment and then tries to open the door.

Fight them! suggests Little Pummerin. She shakes her head.

"I'd rather not get caught up in this situation!"

The door opens.

The room beyond is much like the one she left, except there's a person in it. A very startled person, who says something in a surprised tone.

There's footsteps approaching her position from the hallway.

Damnit. She curses under her breath before backing out and turning back. Is there anyone coming from the direction of door she came out of?

Nope!

There's more shouting.

Okay. They're probably going to chase her no matter what now. She rubs a clawed hand down her face. Should she just try and talk to them instead of running away? If they have a description of her, they can probably put out a bounty or something. Finally, she decides to just stay where she is for now, holding out her hands.

"I don't know how I got here, but I promise I'm not an enemy of the state." She knows they probably won't understand her, but maybe they'll get her tone.

More words in the foreign language. She might recognize 'chimera' from the documents.

There seem to be orders in whatever they're saying, from the tone off voice. When she shows no sign of understanding, someone hesitantly tries what's probably a different foreign language.

She shakes her head at the word "chimera" when it shows up, although she does her best to express lack of understanding for other words. She doesn't know any other languages herself, but after a bit of thought lays her hand on the wall.

"Hey, would you mind translating for me?" she whispers. "It's best for me to cooperate here, right? So I need to know what they're asking."

The building doesn't really like either her or the people in the hallway, but it'll translate (albeit reluctantly and with much grumbling) since apparently she isn't with its enemies, after all, if they don't recognize her.

They're mostly demanding that she explain who she is and how she got here, as well as who she's with.

She points at herself. "Surolam," she says. At least names shouldn't get messed up too much. There's a pause as she remembers her Pokeballs, though not all her team was with her then. After a while, she unclips three balls from her belt and holds them out for inspection. "My Pokemon," she adds. "Pokemon" should be a common word no matter what the language is, right?

There's murmuring. One of the soldiers approaches her, says "Surolam," gestures, then something in the foreign language, which the building helpfully translates as "Come with me," then puts his hand on her shoulder. Something else, translated as "And no sudden moves." 

Little Pummerin bristles at their presumption, but Surolam nods and goes along with it for now. She taps her cane on the ground as she walks as well, not wanting to trip over any small dents in the floor or something.

She's led to another room - luckily on the same floor - and announced. There's someone else there, who asks questions again, though this time more calmly than the soldiers in the hallway. The building helpfully translates the questions as, "Who are you? How did you get here? ...Do you speak Amestrian?"

She repeats the name "Surolam," again for the first question. For the second question, she pauses before saying "portal," moving her free hand in a circle in front of her to describe the shape of the opening. At the last question, she shakes her head, before pointing to her ears and nodding, then pointing to her mouth and shaking her head.

"I'm Major Miles. I'm afraid I don't understand what you mean by 'portal.' What languages do you speak?"

She holds up one finger. "Shikoku."

"I don't think I've heard of that language. Where are you from?"

A pause. "Shikoku." That definitely sounds awkward. Oh well.

He hums. "Haven't heard of it either. Do you recognize any of the following names..." What follows is a fairly long list.

She probably doesn't recognize any of them, unless they sound similar to Pokemon regions.

Not particularly, no.

(The building gleefully informs her that the fact that she doesn't recognize any of the names is disconcerting the officer.)

"Well, more will have to wait until we get someone better at languages in here. Do you need anything?"

Well, it's not like she wants to upset them. She's just as confused as they are. She shrugs a bit at his question. "Chair?" She's able to mime sitting down pretty easily at least.

He guides her over to a chair, then steps out for a moment, though not in the direction they entered (she's left with two soldiers still, though). She can only sort of hear his half of the conversation, oddly enough, though it's muffled enough that without the building helping her eavesdrop she wouldn't be able to hear it at all. (The building can't really figure out where the other half of the conversation is).

"Major Miles, here. I need to speak to the General - "

"I'll hold."

"Yes sir. I've been questioning the chimera that appeared. She has shown no signs of hostility. Her explanation of how she got into the building undetected was incomplete - something about a 'portal.'" He repeats the word in her language. "She claims to understand but not speak Amestrian, and to be from somewhere called 'Shikoku' and speak a language also called 'Shikoku.'"

"No sir, I don't recognize the name."

"She also showed no signs of recognition for any names associated with our enemy. Either she's a very good liar, she's been isolated, she's from somewhere else entirely - we know that at least one other person had figured out human chimeras - or she has amnesia. I think we'll make more progress with her if someone who can figure out her speech is brought in."

"Yes sir."

And the conversation ends. 

Surolam taps her fingers on the chair. While she's waiting, she decides to ask the building a few more questions, since it seems less hostile towards her now. "So what's the general like? How long do you think it'll take them to find a translator?"

She's horrible! She killed most of High Command, and killed one of Father's children, and her soldiers were the ones who took over the building and killed many of the mannequin soldiers (which the building was supposed to be guarding). She isn't the worst of the enemies of the state, but that's not saying much. (She hasn't been here long, so the building isn't sure about her actual personality.)

The building isn't sure when they'll be able to find a translator. A lot of their people are injured still, after all.

"Mannequin soldiers? You mean like...androids?" She pauses, not sure if that word is something the building can understand. "They look like humans, but they were created by someone?"

Well, the mannequin soldiers didn't look or feel much like humans. They were lesser homunculi, if that's what she means. 

She frowns. She thinks that word is somewhat familiar...it refers to a sort of construct, doesn't it? And even if they didn't act human...her talons clench her clothes. She has stronger natural empathy for nonhumans and noncreatures than most typical people do, and she can recognize that, but still...

"And who is Father?"

The proper ruler of Amestris, who created the homunculi and ordered the construction of the building. Father even helped make the building with his alchemy, making it strong enough to withstand the march of time and the many wars. 

So he's basically the father of this building as well, huh. She tilts her head, murmuring sympathetically for the building's loss.

The building thanks her. 

The Major returns into the main room. 

"It'll be a bit before we can get someone in to learn your language. In the mean time, why don't we find somewhere for you to stay until then?"

She nods, getting up. "Will it be far?" she asks, tapping out a short step and then a longer movement on the floor with her cane.

"Depends. Can you navigate stairs?"

She nods. "It would be most disadvantageous if I couldn't," she says, even though she knows he can't understand her.

He guides her then to the corner and down two flights of stairs. The room she's put in has a semi-comfortable chair, a desk with writing supplies, and no windows, though there's a light from the ceiling. 

"Do you need anything while you wait?" the Major asks.

"Books?" she asks, miming opening and closing a book. She's really like a newspaper, but she's not sure how to mime it clearly. And she doesn't know how much they understand of her blindness, but she knows Braille books are more common than Braille newspapers.

"I'm not sure we have any books in Braille. ...How well can you see? Would you be able to read a normal book?"

Well, they know what Braille is, at least. She makes her way to the table and writes several large-print letters, holding up and pointing at it. Technically they're a bit smaller than the ones she can actually see and interpret, but as long as they understand she has some visual impairment, she shouldn't need to be too specific. "This size?"

"I'll see what I can find."

She nods and smiles, trying not to show too many teeth. "Thank you."

He steps outside the room and talks to one of the two soldiers he brought with him, who departs and returns in a bit with two books with slightly larger print than normal. The Major hands them to her, saying, "Are these readable?"

She opens them and makes a show of looking through them, then nods. "Thank you," she says again.

He seems to have figured out what that means, at least. "No problem. I have work to attend to, but these two will be right outside your door. Let them know if you need anything else."

She nods again, before heading to the desk and sitting down at the chair, moving around a bit until she's comfortable. What are the books about?

One is Basic Tenets of Alchemy, and the other is a historical romance set during the start of the Aerugo War. 

Well, romance pings her personal likes quite strongly. So after a brief pause as she considers looking more into what this "alchemy" is, she decides to start with the romance book. Maybe it'll still give her some insight into what's gone on here.

It's set in October, 1835. Amestris took a long strip of Aerugo's territory (the book doesn't really offer a reason why), sparking the war. The romance is between a young Aerugan woman and an Amestrian soldier, torn apart by their countries' fighting. There are secret meetings in the night, and she starts spying for the Amestrian forces, leading to some very dramatic scenes that parallel the war scenes the soldier is embroiled in. The path of the war tracks the path of their relationship; they're unable to wed until the war's end, and are separated several times, to much pining. There's a very tidy ending where the war ends in victory for Amestris and the wedding for the star-crossed couple. 

She "hmm"s at that. It still seems a bit painful, for Aerugo to lose their territory. Though she supposes that historical accuracy and the need for a happy ending means the author can't really dwell on that too much without making things awkward. What's the alchemy book again?

Basic Tenets of Alchemy. A large part of it's philosophy; it goes into the principle of equivalent exchange, and what this means for an alchemist's life. There's also discussion of the three steps: identification, deconstruction, and reconstruction. Some discussion of historic alchemy, including mentions of the lost Xerxes. There's admonishments about the importance of getting an alchemy circle exactly right, and advice against writing down complete circles in notes. It also comes with some lessons on ciphers, and how to make your own and read others'. It strongly assumes a background knowledge of what alchemy even is. 

Well, all that is very interesting. Are there any examples of incomplete circles, then?

Nope.

Well, if these are the basics, she'll probably have to ask personally to get a better explanation. Though she does talk to the building quietly to see if it can reinforce her knowledge. After a bit, she opens the door to ask the guards if they have more large print romance books.

The building knows that it was made partially with alchemy, especially the underground, and that alchemy was used to tear up its grounds, but doesn't really know specifics. Father was very good at alchemy, it's pretty sure.

The guards don't think there are more of such books, once she gets her meaning across. 

Do they have any other large print books, then?

They can send someone to look. They don't think so, though.

Before any other books are scrounged up, someone else arrives - who the building really doesn't like. (It informs her rather angrily that he's the one who killed Father.)

After a brief discussion with the soldiers outside, a heavily bandaged boy with a heavy tread steps into the room. 

"Surolam, right?"

Surolam stiffens, but nods once, her body somewhat tense. "Yes."

He pulls a chair over and sprawls into it. "This'll be a lot easier since you already understand Amestrian. I'm going to say some sentences, and I'd like you to repeat a translation in your language, if that'd work for you."

She nods. "That will be easy."

But boring! complains Little Pummerin's voice in her head. She ignores it for now.

So they can, very boringly, help Ed build up an idea of the Shikoku language (and hopefully help Surolam rely less on the building's translations, since it's getting grouchier the longer Ed stays in the room). 

Surolam is trying to pick up the language herself! Not every building is as good a translator as this one, probably. At some point she's probably going to ask what Pokemon are native to this place.

He's kinda confused what she means by 'Pokemon'. 

"Do you mean animals?"

She tilts her head, looking confused. "Pokemon are animals, but not all animals are Pokemon." After a bit, she picks up one of her Pokeballs. She kinda forgot about them in all the excitement. "I can show you?" There's definitely a lilt of worry in her voice now.

"...Show me how."

"Kiir is in here. He's one of my Pokemon." The name she used probably sounds a bit unusual even among the Shikoku words she's been using.

"So Pokemon are a type of small animal?"

"Some are small. Some are big." After a pause, she presses the button. Red light spills out and gathers by her side.

The red light resolves into a long, serpentine form. Kiir shakes his head as he looks around, before worriedly curling his tail around Surolam's wrist.

"It's alright. We're not in danger." Surolsm strokes the top of his head, and he seems to relax.

He audibly startles. "What - How does that work."

"Pokeballs. I'm not a scientist. I don't know more than that."

"Was the Pokemon elsewhere - spatially or dimensionally - and moved here, was it stored inside somehow just shrunk, was it deconstructed, the pattern stored, and then reconstructed - do you know anything about 'Pokeballs'? ...Also I've never seen something like that, do they naturally occur or are they constructed? And can they understand speech? You spoke to it like it could."

Surolam looks thoughtful. "I think a mix of shrunk and deconstructed. That's what the light is, but Pokemon in s Pokeball can sometimes sense the outside." She pets Kiir some more. "They're natural. I said they're a kind of animal, right? Kiir understands Shikoku well enough, but it varies."

"Alchemy wouldn't be able to make something like a Pokeball casually. How did you say you got here?"

"A portal. It just opened in front of me while I was sparring with Jemyn." Surolam also thinks to check on the building and see if it would like Ed to leave soon.

The building would like Ed to leave immediately. Preferably out of Amestris entirely - the building can still feel things vaguely outside of Central Command itself, thanks to the tunnels.

"...Can you draw a map of where you came from. We don't have spontaneously opening portals here, not that I've heard of."

Surolam finds a sheet of paper and starts outlining an island. The east coast is drawn in more detail, and the outline is quite thick.

"...Yeah, I don't recognize it. Could be somewhere we haven't explored yet, but I doubt that, the world maps are pretty complete. So you say you fell through a portal, from somewhere that Pokemon and - balls that can deconstruct and reconstruct living creatures easily - are common, and just happened to land in the middle of Central Command? Do people also look like you where you come from, we've been assuming you're a chimera."

Surolam nods. "This seems like a pretty important place, but I don't know why I landed here. The place I was before wasn't somewhere important." She scratches the side of her face a little. "Ah, right, I still look like this..." She focuses for a moment, and her scales, tail, and horns start to melt away-

-until she looks fully human. "I come from dragon blood, though neither of my parents show it like I do."

"Huh. Some chimeras can change to an extent, but usually not that much. So it's inherited? ...You say you come from 'dragon' blood, how did the initial mixing happen? Are dragons and humans interfertile?"

"My ancestor was a Wyvreign, to be specific. They can take human form as well, and I believe that is where my bloodline came from."

"So to clarify, the Wyvreign can change shapes? Are they usually non-humanoid? What are you doing when you change shape, how much do you need to focus on it - is it something learned or instinctive -"

"Their usual form is much larger than a human and definitely not humanoid, yes. My shifts used to occur instinctively when I was angry or upset, but as I've grown stronger I've learned how to better control them, as well as manifest more of my draconic side."

"Huh." He scratches the side of his head. "I'm mostly convinced that you're telling the truth, but you'll have a hell of a time convincing anyone else. You look like a chimera, in your other form, and all known living human chimeras were created by the previous government, though many of them defected and there's a general amnesty for anyone not highly involved."

"What exactly is a chimera, by the way? I assumed it was another word for 'hybrid,' but the use of the word 'created' implies something else."

"At the most basic level, chimeras are organisms made with alchemy from two or more other pre-existing creatures. They usually spend their lives in pain. Human chimeras are made by mixing humans and animals."

"Alchemy can do that too? It sounded more like it was only dealing with objects." And it can't handle living things very well, it seems. She's heard rumors of scientists being able to manage something like that, though she has no idea how accurate that is. And of course the Crystal Creche can create hybrids from almost anything...

"Mostly objects. Living things is advanced. So do you not have alchemy where you're from?"

Surolam shakes her head. "We have some stories about it, but it's not something everyone knows about like it seems to be the case here."

"Huh. Anyways, you didn't seem too confused by how you got here - are portals known where you're from?"

Surolam hums thoughtfully under her breath. "There are Pokemon and people with the ability to create natural portals, are mostly just meant to transport people or objects. But there are plenty of stories about worlds beyond ours, and portals that might lead to such places. And recently, my traveling group found out that might be true."

"We have mathematical theories about other dimensions, but nothing concrete, and though sub-dimensional spaces have been proven to exist, we haven't found other worlds with different physics yet. Portals would be... At best extremely difficult with alchemy. Wouldn't be something I'd expect an animal to be able to do."

"Pokemon have many natural abilities," notes Surolam, tapping her fingers on the desk. "Although the ones who can create portals easiest are usually Legendaries." She feels more confident talking about them-Legendaries can usually take care of themselves after all. "Their hybrid descendants as well, although less ably."

"What are Legendaries?"

Surolam blinks a few times. "They are Pokemon that are generally more powerful by default. Even a newborn Legendary will often learn more powerful moves quicker and start out stronger than an average newborn Pokemon. They also have larger powers of manipulation. There are some that are worshipped as gods, even." She leans back slightly. "Wyvreign are considered one species of Legendary as well."

He nods. "What can you think of as far as proving your story goes? The pokeballs and pokemon might be enough on their own, but I doubt it."