A/N: Hello everyone. I've just started playing Elsword recently and yeah, have to admit it that it's quite addicting. However, I have known the game before and its mechanics really caught my attention. So I decided to get some knowledge about the game, mostly about the characters, and yeah about pairings (since there's no official shipping here in the first place which makes it interesting to guess and stuffs). I have read the complement comics, well of course not everything since I'm not Korean; concept arts and gallery and reading fanfictions… I wouldn't say I know everything but I hope I'm getting the right idea about them. This one will be about the pairing of Elsword x Aisha. Correct me if there's anything I write which is not true… Again, I didn't say I know everything. Replies if has is in the review section.
About Elsword x Aisha: These two are infamous for their non-stop arguing and bickering until, usually, Rena comes in and get them back to their places with her demonic aura. The two view each other as excessively annoying, getting in each other's ways but never really mean to bother or hurt each other on purpose (except for some really rare situations ?!). Sometimes they show a cooler and caring attitude towards each other. Would see these two being paired up is full of possibilities that can be mentioned, but simply, to make it short, it's like the saying goes: The more you hate each other, the more you will grow to love them. Things can surely change after they complete their second-job change and thus have separated personalities and specialties.
Now to the shippings:
LK x EM: Okay so this one is ElsAis's Imperial pairing. Back then, Aisha wondered about what kind of man Elsword will grow up to be in the future, and the readhead's advancement to Lord Knight has surely surprised her, who is now an Elemental Master. To someone who has no knowledge about Elsword at all could wildly guess that how could a brat like Elsword make his way to become one, which is a noble title. Out of the three classes of Elsword, the LK's likely to be the most OOC compare to the original base version of him since LK's mature, serious and reserved, but such characteristics are in fact based on his original blunt personality, so I would see that he isn't totally unrelated to his younger self. On the other hand, EM is considered to be just the "grown up" Aisha for this class of her is basically her getting back her powers, but at the same time, she's become serious, calm and strict, but sweet on the inside.
The Imperial classes bear the righteous goal for their development, also considered to be "traditional", "honorable" and "elegant". In this case, LK is the figure Elsword promised-to-be when his sister left him, which maybe one of the reason why he still has sister complex as he's following in her footstep in the way of the sword. He may not be as confident as his other two classes, but having achieved such rank will raise his pride. The word "pride" is especially true for EM, she follows the footstep of her mentor and she vows to become even stronger than before her powers was robbed away from her by the ring (she's supposed to be a High Mage back then) thus she can destroy the ring to pieces if she ever see it again. LK and EM's personalities match with no problem since both tend to be serious and somewhat reserve most of the time. Their fights and arguments can be much fewer than it used to be or even no more with their puberty and reserve take the upper hand. Still, a possibility is that they could still tease each other a little bit, not because they enjoy it, (and the rests of the team wouldn't too, especially Rena) but for them to recall of the old times. Pride can be seen as something ties them together but at the same time can be a hindrance too, as it might restrain them from telling each other their true feelings. LK's hot-headedness is still there and I would guess it is shown more on the battlefield, where he can be reckless and continuously charging head-on. Aisha and the others can beat some words to him about that but doubt if he would listen, especially when he's angry. Matched personalities could suggest that the two start being best friends and then develop their feelings later. I have read some fanfictions which adopt this pairing.
Sidetrack: If LK and EM confront each other, I would refer to that as "Battle between the Sword and the Book" for obvious reason.
RS x VP: Rebellious shipping for these two. Rebellious can be understood literary, but it's also refer to as "new feel", "freedom" and "risky". A cooler side of Elsword not being uptight and so serious would be best to describe RS. He does know how to cheer everyone around him up, being the "King of Jokes" he is. Taking variants in the original way of the sword to find his own path and hybrid combat style, explains why he doesn't mind with this new change (he wants to be something away from the traditional swordplay) and thus very confident, if don't want to say, cocky. He's outgoing and, wants to be the center of attention. He would try anything to make impressions out of anyone he sees. Some people indicate that RS is the "original" Elsword for him to had inherited most of his characteristics from when he was at base, also called a "badass" for some of his poses especially his victory one. VP's personalities differentiate clearly after she made the contract with Angkor (not yet when she's still a Dark Mage). She's now of the loner type, or should it be put, anti-social, also often considered the "badass" version of all three Aishas especially referring to her sound of laughing. Concept art proves that she's in full control of this power (most of the time would make better sense though) but her characteristics are going down the hole upon advancing to this rank as her sanity's lost.
A connection between RS and VP to my guess would be through their own self attitude. As stated above, RS would want to catch everyone's attention and when he's faced with VP's I-don't-care-what-on-Elrios-you-are-doing-just-lea ve-me-alone-if-you-don't-want-to-die kind of attitude, it would make a challenge for him. Supposed that these two were actually coupled, more problems are coming this way. Some regards VP as a yandere and personally I would see that makes sense too. Most people wouldn't like a yandere but to what I know they are like absolute love-protective by usually getting rid of every suitors of their partner. Therefore, with that I-want-everyone-to-notice-my-presence attitude of RS, there are signs of chaos going right after. In another word, this is like a meeting of contrast personalities: social and anti-social, but also a nature-balancing relationship. I have seen very, very few fanfictions which adopt this pairing.
Sidetrack: When RS and VP meet in arena, I would simply call it "Magical Showdown" (RS is also expertise in magic, more than his sword right? Not adding overstating words like "ultimate" or "great" or whatever like that since I want to keep my neutrality here)
IS x DW: Obviously the Transform shipping for ElsAis. All Transform classes employ a new power to reach their goals; "external", "new" and "protective" are to refer to them. Elsword sometimes (though it's obvious already) is said to follow his way to Infinity with the magical scabbard Conwell when he chose to become an IS. His personalities are affected mostly by the Dark El within his body, who is now have favors over dark jokes, and can act violently (some say IS is second in violence, only after RF) as well as experiencing emotional instability. According to Raven's personal of view about Aisha, she's similar to Elsword in the way that she can cheer the others up. The Aisha who grew up from that happy-go-lucky personality would be the DW (I'm not saying that EM and VP can't cheer the others up okay, everyone can do that more or less in their own ways). Obsessing over cute things, sparkles, make-up, fight for justice, world peace, anything nice, she's also the "energetic" version of Aisha simply put.
Emotions between these two might work in a way when Elsword realize the all bright-and-pure Aisha (seriously, DW using pure magic? Maybe so, maybe not, I'll just consider non-element magic pure then *sigh*, time and space) who can purify his heart from the darkness, while he has already had the determination to overcome it (I remember seeing an IS's teaser that read a kind of quote from him "If you want to overcome the darkness, you have to be stronger than it"). I have seen some IS x DW stories picked this detail. Another possible connection is their will. As Transformation classes, their motto would be to become strong enough to protect the ones who are precious to them, which is some positive addition to the relationship. Some of the fics I have read chose this pairing.
Sidetrack: IS fighting DW can be referred to as "Confrontation: Dark and Light" (honestly I don't really want to call DW "Light" because of her own rank stated Dimension Witch despite her personalities tend to be "light"; always go happy and all. How can a Witch be light? Should suffice in this case, for now, but again, I'm not stating that I'm in favor or against any characters at all. Golden word: Neutrality)
LK x VP: Okay, this is basically the serious knight meeting up with a dark and alone mage. And yeah, it's better to mention now, that LK is nowhere to be like a hero (which is actually true even to his own pride, as he considered himself a disciplined, chivalrous Knight). "Knight in shining armor" would be okay because of the designed plate-armor appearance for him; just want to state that out really, no matter, because this is fanfiction, where literary everything can happen. As we know, VP has some "issues" with her personalities after choosing the path of the dark and all. She can be brutally honest, who speaks right into reality that she might not realize that her statements could have hurt somebody or not. During his training to become a full-pledged Knight, Elsword can know and may use some, um, "formal" words, yeah, but that, again, isn't really a big deal in VP's opinion. Let's assume that these two became couple, basically LK, being good-hearted and all could accept whoever VP is and gave her his feeling and protection. However, there are some problems, too. If I understand it right, VP isn't a kind of girl who would easily fall because of some random romantic activities like hugging and the like. It's going to take time like any other relationships exist in the world. By his pride, to some extent, LK could have a desire of wanting his girl, whoever she is in general, to be depended on him (normal desire really), which could easily be broken by his partner in this case. However, if both of them manage to get over that then it'll likely be a possible match to the end as LK being loyal would likely never cause VP to go into her yandere mode. For this pairing, I would like to bow down with my hat off to Inoki and Mikoto for their awesome collaborated fanfic called ElHigh, in which described the difficulties of LK and VP being in a relationship miraculously. A good number of fanfics I read had this pairing.
Sidetrack: When LK and VP go against each other, I guess I can call it "Struggle of Pride/Fantasy and Reality". As mentioned before, LK's pride is high while VP's brutally honest.
LK x DW: This may be a meeting of minds; I mean in their specialties, will see about their characteristics. Something before I continue again, it is fantasized that EM's a princess because of her elegant design like all of the other Imperial classes. According to what I know, EM's designed to be suitable in schools, being both a student and a teacher as her concept art states, not in castles with various majestic dresses. "Princess and Knight" should tell me about this paring instead; again, just stating, since in the world of fanfics anything can happen. Elsword chose the traditional path of the Knight to become stronger, while Aisha, realizing her weakness in physical strength and close combat, decided to become a Mage Knight for the purpose. A thing that might make a start for their relationship came from DW. She values world peace and fights for justice, which every righteous Knight in the world would want to support all the way. Elsword, keeping the code of the Knights in mind, and Aisha, being a Transformation class with their motto, could result in mutual protection, thus strengthening their bond. Sounds nice? There are always two sides of things. LK, being serious and all, and somewhat being practical (his skills are boring but practical), could be, um, not comfortable seeing DW's every single skills tend to follow up with sparkles. And Aisha in this case, would most of the time be hyperactive which contradicts to LK's reserve and serious personality. Either DW tries to make him loosen up or LK tries to make her more serious… Either way, we can tell that it won't be easy; like RS x VP, this pairing has shades of a nature-balancing relationship. This shipping exists in very few stories I have read.
Sidetrack: When LK and DW face each other in a battle, I would refer to it as "Clashing of Sword and Staff" again for obvious reason (they are both melee)
RS x EM: Before I write anything, yeah this paring is one of the canon pairings throughout fanfiction as I observe, and the promotional video for the game's wedding system also featured these two. Now to the details, the best bet in reasoning for this pairing is, yeah everyone knows, Elsword decided to take magic into his attacks, and Aisha – EM is definitely the one he would likely look up for assistance. Although Allegro and, Penesio prepared everything during his advancement to RS, EM is widely believed to have given him a lot of pointers in magic during his Magic Knight training and she seems to be a little upset knowing that from – whenever it is that he became a Magic Knight – he can counter and burn her back with his own flame. Pretty much to say about this pairing according to all the information I have accessed to, but let's say the relationship is identical to a teacher-student relationship developing into something else. A good number of people I observe also believed that RS's outgoing and, yeah, being the King of Jokes and all, would match okay with EM's tsundere personalities. Though, they'll highly likely be bickering a lot due to RS's cocky nature and… somewhat a show-off, something like; you don't need to be a mage and you can still use magic – stated RS – while EM had already known very well of the knights who use magic to fuel their attacks in one of her History of Magic class. To sum up, there will be a lot of conflicts as well as competitions between these two during the relationship and let's see how they manage them. Finally, need not to say, I saw and read RS x EM practically everywhere!
Sidetrack: Now, if RS and EM are to be opponents and that most of you insist that EM taught RS magic:
RS: "Sensei", I will surpass you! (Note that sensei/teacher is in quotation marks, if you know why so that is)
EM: I'm afraid that won't be easy, Eldork! (EM would say something with the meaning like that, because as we know, magic specialty is her pride)
Therefore, it would be reasonable to refer to this battle as "Elsword's Final Magic Test".
RS x DW: This is where the bright side of Elsword and the bright side of Aisha meet. Their battle styles are similar to each other in a way that they had been reversed: RS relies more on magic attack while keeping his physical damage with his sword being a Knight and DW is a hitter while keeping her magic going being a Mage, thus making them hybrids. On the battlefield, they could manage themselves well if they work on how to co-operate with each other, mutually sharing their strengths and covering their weaknesses. An outgoing Elsword and a hyperactive Aisha would have no problem getting along with each other and DW is likely wouldn't mind RS's attempt to catch everyone's attention as she, herself would like to do that too until a stage later that they would actually be serious about their relationship, if not, it could be something like this for quite a good amount of time: One day, RS confesses his feelings to DW:
RS: DW, I like you, will you be my girlfriend?
DW: Whoa hey, RS, I've already told you that I liked you too. But I'm not telling you how or at what level though, hehe~~
For this paring, I would say that it does exist too, but in very, very, very few stories as far as I'm concerned.
Sidetrack: Three words only to describe RS and DW's showdown: "Flashiness vs. Sparkles".
IS x EM: Up to this point I have written the sentence "I would say this pairing does exist" for a few times now, huh? However, absolutely not for this pairing. Sure, we can see them in galleries or yeah, draw them out by hand, but never in fanfics (Not really, I take that back, there's one or two stories mentioned this pairing but again, super-duber rare). Still, all in all, IS x EM is highly likely the least ElsAis pairing possible to happen in stories due to their huge amount of differences in personalities and the way they see things. Of course, as one of the Transformation classes, IS does have a sense to protect in his mind, but IS and EM's attitudes are like fire against water or similar metaphors you could think of. It's going to take both of them a lot of work in order to even get along with each other, not to mention starting a relationship. In other words, it's going to take a miracle for this pairing to happen, unless we decided to make an OOC of either of them.
No sidetrack for obvious reason.
IS x VP: Right, the last possible ElsAis pairing to be named; usually called "dark pairing" due to obvious reason. What's good here is that they manage to keep their own traditional method of dealing damage, physical/combo chain for IS, magical/combo chain for VP (uh, I'm not saying that the others can't combo alright. Comboing is the key here after all). They are pretty much "meeting of the minds" too for using the same source of power which is Dark El. For this pairing, I would guess something like: VP's not stupid, she's fully aware of her loneliness and having a friend whose thoughts are almost similar to hers, which is having favors over the dark and mischievous deeds, ready to face the reality however harsh it is and so on. Another bond between them may come from their ability to control their powers: IS is struggling everyday to triumph over the darkness within his body while VP is trying to fully control her dark power. During this hardship, they could likely make a promise to each other about not giving up on fighting against their own darkness so that someday they would no longer be corrupted by the darkness. Victory against yourself, after all, is the greatest of all victories. With IS's sense to protect and VP's yandere personality, once they realize how important each other to themselves, it would highly result in mutual protection too. I have read an increased number of stories in which this pairing is adopted, thus showing they are becoming more popular.
Sidetrack: If IS is against VP, it could be simply put "Crossfires of Darkness"
A/N And that's all for Elsword x Aisha pairings. I know that after reading this, different people will have different attitudes and favorites about these pairings. I'm just doing the listing job and providing the information I got a hold of, not in favor nor against any particular characters, be somewhat imaginative about the latter details and try to be as neutral and objective as I can about them, although it seems that I failed to at some small details. I'm not stating my own favorite pairings for now.
Note that everything related to their "verbal interaction" are hypotheses. I'm also fully aware that this is not really a story, will try to write one when the ideas hit my head, I guess… Again, correct me if there's anything not true about what I've written.