A Loyal Companion

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Philza couldn't fly as a scout anymore, but Techno didn't mind. He didn't even mind the silly nickname Philza had given him.
He didn't even mind Philza drawing his sword at Techno. He could forgive that.
So he walked, Phil sitting on his back, in comfortable silence. But he was worried. The wither knight, Philza said, had declared himself a scout. Which meant there were enough of them to use weaker ones as scouts. And the skeletons were working with them.
They had to hurry, but Techno was worried that Phil would try to leave to find 'Technoblade'. But the only sure way to stop that was to convince him that 'Technoblade' was already safe. Which meant Techno had to find a way to change back.
He grunted as his feet began to tire. He'd been walking for hours.
"Onyx, we should rest soon." Philza said, tapping Techno's shoulder. "Start looking for a spot."
Techno grunted and looked around for a place to rest. A cave, or maybe a low hanging tree would do.
He spotted something in the distance. Was that a fortress? But there weren't any fortresses on this route.
Did wither knights build fortresses? If so, they were in trouble.

Onyx was looking at the fortress. Phil was worried about it too. It wasn't the same color as a fortress. It was greyer, and looked dead.
Onyx started towards a cave to the side.
The giant hoglin ducked inside and lay down, eating the mushrooms along one wall.
Philza climbed off of the boar's furry back, sliding to the ground. It looked at him, chewing, then returned to its meal.
Phil pulled some bread from his inventory, biting into it.
"Well, we should check out that fortress tomorrow."
Onyx grunted and flicked its furry tail.
"Oh come on, I know you don't want to, but we need to check it out and make sure we can get past it."
The hoglin grumbled, feathery tail swishing.
"Well, I'm going. You can come, or not."
The hoglin would follow. It always did.
Onyx huffed at him and laid its head down to rest. Philza leaned against its side, snuggling into its soft fur.

They were approaching from the side, remaining under the most cover they could find. Onyx was staying low, and Phil stayed low on its back.
They crept towards the fortress, and Phil wished that his wing was healed. But he'd just have to wait.
The fortress loomed closer. It was very different from a normal nether fortress. It was grey, but also laid on the ground instead of held in the air by giant pillars. And it was more complete.
"There." Phil whispered. "A window. I might be able to see through it."
Onyx didn't make a sound, but moved quietly towards the window Phil had pointed out.
Phil moved slowly up Onyx's neck until he was kneeling on its head. He looked in through the window, which, unlike in nether fortresses, was unbarred.
Philza looked through the window, keeping low. Inside, wither skeletons rushed around, carrying supplies, weapons, and other things Phil couldn't identify.
A wither knight stomped forwards, screeching. The withered skeletons scrambled out of its way.
As Phil watched, a few more knights passed through the hallway. There were so many.
Phil tapped Onyx's neck, a signal. The hoglin moved carefully out of sight.
"There's so many of them." Phil whispered. "We'll never get past."
The hoglin grunted.
"We need to distract them." Phil told the giant pink boar. "I have some gunpowder and TNT. Maybe if we blow up part of the fortress we can sneak past?"
Onyx appeared to think about that for a long moment, before it nodded.
"Ok. We'll have to be very careful. Back to the cave, we need to plan."
Onyx walked quietly back to their cave, walking in and laying down. Phil dragged some vines over the opening and skid off Onyx's back.
"Ok. What are we going to do?"

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