It was a surprise that someone would be willing to travel so far to actually challenge his tiny gym. It was also surprising that his gym had gained enough notoriety to have reached the ears of many that far away. Though it did make him happy to know he was growing in reputation. Now he just had to play the waiting game. As he paced back and forth in front of his gym, his Pokemon were once again inside giving each other a pep rally. It seemed to have become a tradition with them now, not that he would blame them. After all, Grass Types were underestimated a lot of the time. Tossing a small smile over at his Pokemon as he passed in front of the tent's opening, he couldn't help but be thankful for each one of them. They were his best friends and teammates, especially in times like this.
Eira's journey had been long to make it to where Maleko and his people had decided to take up residence, but travelling on Cloud's back had made the trip all that much easier with all of his incredibly fluffy feathers cushioning her wherever she needed it. With a mighty flap of his wings, Cloud began his graceful descent into the village of tents that made up Maleko's home, steering towards the largest tent where they had figured the gym would be. Eira waited for Cloud to land before she dismounted and looked around at the various tents surrounding her, the area reminding her of the early years of Eirlys and all of the work that she had done to get people to just settle in her home land when they were all living in tents as well. She was unsure of where she was to go, but assumed that Maleko or someone close to him would have seen Cloud's entrance and would instruct her shortly.
He couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief as he saw the large cloud-like Pokemon landing on the ground safely. He figured it must be the queen, because no other person would settle in his village... unless they wanted to attack it... which seemed a tad ridiculous to him. Smiling, he told his Pokemon to wait for him to come back, and moved to greet the queen. "H-Hello. Welcome t-to Nomad's Garden. I h-hope your flight w-was okay." This was said as he finished his approach. "Y-You landed pretty c-close to where you n-needed to so we d-don't have much of a w-walk." Here he pointed towards the tent he had come from. As though to prove his trainers point, Shard stuck his head out at that exact moment to see where said trainer was.
"My flight was perfectly fine. Cloud here makes travelling quite the breeze, especially to places this distance away from my home," Eira told the young teen with a gentle smile, picking up on his nervousness easily with how much he was stuttering. She wondered for a moment if she could say something to him that would ease his tension since she had been in his position before, but thought better of it as she followed after him. She felt that if he was anything like how she had been then pointing out a flaw in their leadership would only lead to more trouble and not to a growing experience for him. Cloud followed closely behind her, his wings beating gently to keep him afloat and close to the ground. "I believe this is our first time officially meeting, Sir Maleko. I have heard many a wonderful things about you and all you have managed to do in this region."
He nodded at this with a small blush. He hadn't heard about what others had said about his gym, so hearing the compliment was a little embarrassing. "W-Well, if you're ready... y-you can follow me to the t-tent over there and w-we can get ready for our battle. Or i-if you w-would like, we can l-look around the village first." This was said with a look of uncertainty. He was sure he was ready for this battle, but he wasn't sure if the queen who had traveled as far as she had was.
As he stood waiting for the answer, Shard made his way over the two humans plus one other Pokemon and hopped onto his shoulder. He seemed to be showing his readiness to battle as well, though he was also waiting to see what his trainer had to say about the situation so that he could play messenger with his friends and teammates waiting in the gym/tent. His appearance only made Maleko jump a little and then the other raised his hand up to give the Snivy a pat on the head.