Combat Training

Looking across at the blue-skinned woman across from him, Esau frowned deeply, none too pleased at having been cornered as he had in the corridor. Though the narrow space and the context behind this ambush did mean that she was quite close, Esau was not of the mind to pay that too much attention, as much as he would usually enjoy it.

Mystique was beautiful after all, a curvaceous and toned figure with curves in all the right places and nicely sized breasts. A beautiful face topped with short red hair contrasted against her blue skin and an outfit that brought attention to all her womanly assets.

But also allowed free movement without constriction, and Esau knew that was highly important from how flexible she was. He wondered what that would feel like fucking her? And there he went again, mind trailing off to another, a completely unrelated tangent that now left him scrambling to think about something else. It was clear that this was a serious moment and he didn't like being on the backfoot and thinking about sex, especially with Mystique would massively distract him.

"You need to be resting." She pointed out, Esau shrugging his shoulders.

"I got restless."

"This isn't a joke." She jabbed him in the chest, though he hardly felt it. "You are the strongest member we have and you took out our two other powerhouses. We're already outnumbered and outgunned, if the X-Men knew this, they'd attack and force us out of the city."

Esau smiled, enjoying the thought of fighting the X-Men. "First of all, I'd like to see them try. Never got to fight Wolverine and from what you've described, that Storm is also pretty fucking powerful. Second, I doubt it very much. I'm no genius, but I'm not an idiot either. As you said, the X-Men have already outnumbered and outgunned you for a long time, if they really wanted or even could, they would have forced you out a long time ago. But they haven't done so yet so relax. Thirdly, you already said I took out two of our powerhouses while in this state, I think you're good. So stop worrying your pretty little ass over nothing."

Mystique frowned, her worries not stemming from the X-Men, but from her boss and the upcoming trial he had spoken of. He hadn't said much, but Mystique knew it meant going against the X-Men and that was not something she fancied, especially not with what she saw from one of their younger members, the redhead, Jean Grey.

The Telepathy and Telekinesis combination was already a dangerous powerset, Mystique had known that much from the start. With experience, Jean Grey could have telepathy to rival Xavier, especially under his tutelage. However, she would also have far more offensive capabilities thanks to the dangers and breadth of what telekinesis could do. Thankfully, Jean had been held back by herself and her inexperience.

But for a few brief moments, Jean Grey had been able to do what no one else besides Esau had been able to do, stop the Juggernaut. That was something Mystique and no doubt Wolverine, Storm and Xavier had also seen. Jean Grey had the potential to become one of the most powerful Mutants ever, Mystique could say that for certainty with just a few glimpses of her potential.

To fight her, the other members of the X-Men, including the older and more experienced members, would need everyone at peak condition. It didn't matter that Esau had been able to take on Blob and Quicksilver back to back while injured. There was no one like them on the X-Men and it was precisely for that reason a similar feat was unlikely to be accomplished again.

"Alright then,' but Mystique knew that convincing Esau of that was not going to be easy, or likely either. "I'll make you a deal; if you can beat me in a fight, I'll back off. Let you fight whoever you want, whenever you want and even let you in on a little secret event that's coming up which will give you the chance to fight Wolverine." Esau rose a brow, smiling eagerly, Mystique raising a hand to make sure he remained quiet until she was finished. "But if I win, you rest and wait until you're finished healing and after that, I'll teach you how to fight properly."

"I can already fight pretty well," Esau replied.

Mystique shook her head. "You can fight like a boxer and a good one. One of the best I'd say, but if you want to beat people like Wolverine and just some of the dangerous people in this world, brute force and boxing alone won't help you, in fact, you'll very quickly reach your limit."

"How so?" Esau asked, generally curious as to what Mystique had to say.

"What do you think is stronger? Your legs or your arms?" It was a rhetorical question, Esau knew that much. "Legs are many times stronger than your arms and boxing is limited only to punches. You'll find that the techniques and footwork you've learned, will get you far, but not far enough. You need more techniques, more ways in which to beat your opponent, and longer ranges from which to fight them. Your legs are one way in which to do this. But also your knees and your elbows."

Mystique was not done though. "But even then, striking alone is not enough. Throwing, grappling, holds and locks. But also proper defence, not just blocking, but parrying and dodging." Esau couldn't really deny any of what she was saying and he'd be a fool not to. It hurt his pride, but he could see the sense in what she was saying, even if he didn't like it. "But most importantly of all, you need to be well-rounded, not only in technique but in terms of athletic ability. Your Mutant ability gives you the ability to be a jack-of-all-trades, but instead of a master of none, you can become a master of all. Take advantage of that and stop limiting yourself."

"And you'll teach me all that?"

"I'll teach you what I can within the time we've got." Mystique said. "But if you take this time to rest now, whether that be after you fight me or not. I can guarantee that you will be able to make Wolverine bleed."

"But not win?" Esau noted that omission.

Mystique looked at him plainly. "Victory is never a certainty in this world. There's a lot of context behind winning and it changes from person to person. For some, like yourself, winning means knocking your opponent out. For someone like me, if you or Blob were my opponent, being able to escape without suffering much harm, that would be a victory for me."

"There's a lot of factors in play." Esau realised, Mystique nodding her head, and he smiles. "Alright, I guess I've always been curious about what fighting you would be like. Don't blame me though if you get hurt, you asked for this."

"I wouldn't have suggested this if I wasn't confident that you wouldn't be able to land a blow on me." As Esau said, there were a lot of factors that came into play when fighting someone and Mystique had lived a long life. She had worked hard to use her powers effectively, but also improve her skills in order to be able to take control of as many of those factors as possible. At the end of the day, the person with a monopoly on most of those factors, was often the victor and Mystique had made sure she was often the one with the monopoly.

If she didn't, she rarely got involved in a fight.

There was no sense in fighting a losing battle voluntarily.

That was something she had learned the hard way a long time ago and had made sure, she would not make the same mistake twice.