How to train your hoglin

Rest and a ride

Techno finally stopped. Phil was right, they needed rest. At least his winged friend followed him. And they were moving away from the wither knight.
Suddenly, he caught the scent of something delicious. What was that? He lowered his snout to the ground. Mushrooms?
He snuffled around, eating them. They were sooo good. And so big. About the size of one of his hooves. He ate and ate, while Philza pulled some bread out of his inventory and ate that.
Finally, he was full. He circled a spot that looked comfy and lay down, resting his head on the crimson ground.
Phil sat down, leaning against his side. Techno whuffled, nosing Phil with his snout, before putting his head down and closing his eyes.
Everything else, even hostile piglins and hoglins, avoided Techno when he snorted at them, and never attacked him or Phil. Hoglin form had perks.
Phil stretched his black wings and leaned further into Techno's soft fur. He yawned. "Well, goodnight, I guess."
Techno snorted in response, once again irritated by his inability to speak.

Philza woke up with a hoglin head on his chest. The giant furry beast stared at him with it's dark eyes, its tusks pressing into his sides.
"Get off." Philza groaned.
The hoglin lifted its head and snorted, whuffling. Was it...laughing?
"Oh shut up." Philza grumbled.
The hoglin started nosing around, eating mushrooms. Philza gathered a few. If they crossed a soulsand valley, there wouldn't be as much food for his large friend.
"Well, if you insist that we go this way, and I can't fly because I'll outpace you, I don't want to walk. So...how about a ride?"
The hoglin stared at him and didn't move.
"Ok, I'm going to take that as a 'go ahead'." Phil said. He moved towards the beast's side and reached up. He jumped and tried to get on. But the hoglin was so tall.
The hoglin twisted his head to watch, looking amused.
He fell back and jumped again, flapping his wings for some extra lift, managing to get one of his legs over. He dragged himself the rest of the way and sat up.
The hoglin snorted and started off at a trot.
Phil almost fell off and grabbed two fistfuls of the beast's fur, hanging in for dear life as the giant pig lurched forwards, galloping along.

Philza was good at riding hoglins. Techno supposed it couldn't be that different than riding a horse.
They were making good time, but the wither knight would be catching up. And Techno didn't know if he could even leave the nether without becoming a zombie.
But for now he could laugh, inwardly of course, at the occasional moment when Phil lost his grip and nearly fell off.
Philza didn't know it was him. Well, how could he? He didn't speak pig. And being a hoglin wasn't so bad after all. Although, if Techno could find a way to change back, that would be great. Or perhaps a way to switch back and forth at will? That would be perfect.

The hoglin definitely had a destination in mind. Maybe it actually did know where Techno was. Phil was starting to worry about his friend. The man could take on entire armies, but still, the nether was a dangerous and unpredictable place.
And there were wither knights out there somewhere. The same knights that had nearly killed Techno centuries ago.
The two of them together, prepared, could handle a knight, even two or three. But alone? Unprepared? That would be a difficult fight.
But they hadn't seen wither knights in ages. It probably wasn't one of them, right?