History Characters / PokemonTheSeriesXYMegaEvolutionSpecials

** [[spoiler:However, his Charizard can be safely said to fulfill this role towards Ash-Greninja. While it put up a good effort each time, Greninja ultimately never managed to defeat Charizard in battle -- even during the Kalos League, where Charizard had taken prior damage from Pikachu, Greninja couldn't quite finish the job.]]

** Both have a Charizard, but use them in different ways. Alain specializes in his and puts it in the front of his team. Ash puts his behind in the reserve spot so that he can train the other, lesser-experienced Pokémon.

* InvincibleHero: He is currently the only major rival whom Ash faced multiple times and never defeated.

** Surprisingly, this reference is brought up again in ''[[VideoGame/PokemonMasters]]''. During the "Hearts United" anniversary event, Steven recalls his and Alain's battle with Rayquaza and expresses his hopes of battling Alain in Pasio one day.

** Surprisingly, this reference is brought up again in ''[VideoGame/PokemonMasters]]''. During the "Hearts United" anniversary event, Steven recalls his and Alain's battle with Rayquaza and expresses his hopes of battling Alain in Pasio one day.

* CanonImmigrant: In ''[[VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire]]'' if the player has Steven's promotional event shiny Metagross in their party during a certain scene of the ''Delta Episode'', Steven makes a nod to Alain and ''Act II'', saying that a long time ago he fought against Rayquaza alongside a young trainer who used a black Charizard.

** [[spoiler: PlayedWith and ultimately [[SubvertedTrope subverted]]. Alain has been victorious against Ash in three of the four battles they have had; two times in a one-on-one match and a third time during the Kalos League finals (with the remaining battle ending prematurely due to Ash [[PowerStrainBlackout collapsing from the strain of Bond Phenomenon]]). However, he is easily driven by guilt and his attempts to remedy the situation only make things worse thanks to [[EvilMentor Lysandre's teachings and orders]]. Alain doesn't find happiness until he meets Ash, whose battle prowess gives him a WorthyOpponent that Alain hasn't faced for a long time. It is Ash who snaps Alain out of his HeroicBSOD during the Team Flare climax, while also taking the power of Ash-Greninja to a whole new level. By the aftermath of Flare crisis, Alain begins to take notes from Ash's method of starting over again and privately sees him as the one trainer that he could not best.]]
** [[spoiler: However, his Charizard can be safely said to fulfill this role towards Ash-Greninja.]]

* NiceGuy: This guy is quite a selfless person who treats his Pokemon well, ditches his aloof behavior later on to open up to more people like Ash as he becomes completely polite to Ash without being rude to him a single time with strong respects and willing to help everyone like Professor Sycamore with research into the Mega Evolution.

* NotSoDifferent: Alain and Ash were quite similar in the beginning about making friends as they wanted to travel alone with just their Pokémon. However, after meeting their best friends and traveling companions, Alain and Ash realized how wrong they were about making friends as they had their opinions changed.

* TheJuggernaut: He's hands down one of the strongest non-Elite 4 or Champion trainers in the series. And it shows in many regards. First off, he's the first non-titled trainer to ever defeat one of the Elite Four (and just prior to that, he had to defeat 9 other Mega Evolution trainers to even reach said Elite Four member). His victory over the Kalos League basically amounted to him just effortlessly steamrolling every single one of his opponents with relative ease, using only two Pokemon until his final match with Ash. Even Ash's other rivals don't measure up to this guy. While Ash himself eventually defeated every last one of them, he's never once beaten Alain in any of their matches (though he came close in the finals). The only real thing separating him from someone like Paul is that Paul's methods are strategy-focused, while Alain is all about raw power.

** As an aloof powerful trainer with a penchant for dark clothing, is one of Ash's rivals for the league who defeated him and ultimately won said league, has a signature Pokemon that's the color black (albeit only when Mega Evolved), and regularly wins most of his battles through sheer overwhelming raw power alone, he's more or less everything Tobias could've been if he had been introduced early enough to receive a proper backstory and fully fleshed-out character, and also without the obvious need for any Legendary Pokemon.

** Funny enough, he's also this to Tobias. Both are incredibly powerful trainers who defeated Ash in a league conference and were ultimately declared the respective winners of those conferences. They both have a thing for dark clothing. Both are strong enough to easily win many of their battles with raw power alone. But the real difference comes in how they acquired and use said power. Tobias uses legendaries, and thus, rarely ever struggles in battle due to their natural raw power, and probably doesn't even need to train because of it, while Alain is shown to regularly level-grind his Pokemon (mainly Charizard) against powerful opponents on a routine basis to get them as strong as he possibly can, and has been shown to struggle numerous times against opponents who have just as much power (if not more so) and experience as he does. Both trainers love to use their respective ace Pokemon for many of their battles. But whereas Tobias almost exclusively relies on just Darkrai (as he doesn't really doesn't need much else half the time) until forced to do otherwise, Alain at least has shown he's not above using his other Pokemon (even when Charizard is perfectly healthy enough to fight) for some battles. Also, Alain received proper introduction and characterization into the series long before his final battle with Ash, with the specials even showing us how he first started on his journey with Charmander, and how he later fell in with Lysandre and got his keystone and mega stone. While to this day, the writers absolutely refuse to tell us anything about Tobias (who didn't even show up until halfway through the Sinnoh League and hasn't been seen since), including where or HOW he even got Darkrai and Latios in the first place.

** As an aloof powerful trainer who has a penchant for dark clothing, is one of Ash's rivals for the league who defeated him and ultimately won said league, has a signature Pokemon that's the color black (albeit only when Mega Evolved), and regularly wins most of his battles through sheer overwhelming raw power alone, he's more or less everything Tobias could've been if he had been introduced early enough to get a fully fleshed-out character, and without the need for Legendary Pokemon.

** Funny enough, he's also this to Tobias. Both are incredibly powerful trainers who defeated Ash in a league conference and were ultimately declared the respective winners of those conferences. They both have a thing for dark clothing. Both are strong enough to easily win many of their battles with raw power alone. But the real difference comes in how they acquired and use said power. Tobias uses legendaries, rarely ever struggles to win a battle, and probably doesn't even need to train, while Alain is shown to regularly level-grind his Pokemon (especially Charizard) against powerful opponents on a routine basis, and has been shown to struggle numerous times against opponents who have as much power (if not more so) and experience as he does. Both trainers love to use their respective ace Pokemon for many of their battles. But whereas Tobias almost exclusively relies on just Darkrai (as he doesn't really doesn't need much else half the time) until forced to do otherwise, Alain at least has shown he's not above using his other Pokemon (even when Charizard is perfectly healthy enough to fight) for some battles. Also, Alain received proper introduction and characterization into the series long before his final battle with Ash, while to this day, we know absolutely nothing about Tobias as a character due to him not even appearing in DP until Sinnoh's semi-finals, and he's never appeared again since.

** As a powerful trainer who wears dark clothing and is one of Ash's rivals for the league who ultimately defeated him and won said league, and regularly wins most battles through raw power alone, he's basically Tobias without the need of legendaries.

* UnknownRival: Reveals that he and Garchoo trained like hell in the hopes of one day defeating Alain after their first battle. Alain couldn't care less.

** Funny enough, he's also this to Tobias. Both are incredibly powerful trainers who defeated Ash in a league conference and were ultimately declared the respective winners of those conferences. They both have a thing for dark clothing. Both are strong enough to win many of their battles quite easily. But the real difference comes in how they acquired and use said strength. Tobias uses legendaries, rarely ever struggles to win a battle, and probably doesn't even need to train, Alain regularly level-grinds his Pokemon (especially Charizard) against powerful opponents on a routine basis, and has been shown to struggle numerous times against opponents who have as much power (if not more so) and experience as he does. Both trainers love to use their respective ace Pokemon for many of their battles. But whereas Tobias almost exclusively relies on just Darkrai (as he doesn't really doesn't need much else half the time) until forced to do otherwise, Alain at least has shown he's not above using his other Pokemon (even when Charizard is perfectly healthy enough to fight) for some battles. Also, Alain received proper introduction and characterization into the series long before his final battle with Ash, while to this day, we know absolutely nothing about Tobias as a character due to him not even appearing in DP until Sinnoh's semi-finals, and he's never appeared again since.

** Funny enough, he's also this to Tobias. Both are incredibly powerful trainers who defeated Ash in a league conference and were ultimately declared the respective winners of those conferences. They both have a thing for dark clothing. Both are strong enough to win a number of their battles quite easily. But the real difference comes in how they acquired and use said strength. Tobias uses legendaries, rarely ever struggles to win a battle, and probably doesn't even need to train, Alain regularly level-grinds his Pokemon (especially Charizard) against powerful opponents on a routine basis, and has been shown to struggle numerous times against opponents who have as much power (if not more so) and experience as he does. Both trainers love to use their respective ace Pokemon for many of their battles. But whereas Tobias almost exclusively relies on just Darkrai (as he doesn't really doesn't need much else half the time) until forced to do otherwise, Alain at least has shown he's not above using his other Pokemon (even when Charizard is perfectly healthy enough to fight) for some battles. Also, Alain received proper introduction and characterization into the series long before his final battle with Ash, while to this day, we know absolutely nothing about Tobias as a character due to him not even appearing in DP until Sinnoh's semi-finals, and he's never appeared again since.

** As a powerful trainer who wears dark clothing and is one of Ash's rivals for the league who ultimately defeated him and won said league, he's basically Tobias without the need of legendaries.

** Funny enough, he's also this to Tobias. Both are incredibly powerful trainers who defeated Ash in a league conference and were ultimately declared the respective winners of those conferences. They both have a thing for dark clothing. Both are strong enough to win a number of their battles quite easily. But the real difference comes in how they acquired and use said strength. Tobias uses legendaries, rarely ever struggles to win a battle, and probably doesn't even need to train, Alain regularly level-grinds his Pokemon (especially Charizard) against powerful opponents on a routine basis, and has been shown to struggle numerous times against opponents who have as much power (if not more so) and experience as he does. Also, Alain received proper introduction and characterization into the series long before his final battle with Ash, while to this day, we know absolutely nothing about Tobias as a character due to him not even appearing in DP until Sinnoh's semi-finals, and he's never appeared again since.

** Funny enough, he's also this to Tobias. Both are incredibly powerful trainers who defeated Ash in a league conference and were ultimately declared the respective winners of those conferences. Both are strong enough to win most of their battles quite easily. But whereas Tobias uses legendaries in all his battles and most likely doesn't even need to train, Alain regularly level-grinds his Pokemon (especially Charizard) against powerful opponents on a routine basis. Also, Alain received proper introduction and characterization into the series long before his final battle with Ash, while to this day, we know absolutely nothing about Tobias as a character due to him not even appearing in DP until the Sinnoh's semi-finals, and he's never appeared again since.

** Funny enough, he's also this to Tobias. Both are incredibly powerful trainers who defeated Ash in a league conference. Both are strong enough to win most of their battles without really even trying. But whereas Tobias uses legendaries in all his battles and most likely doesn't even need to train, Alain regularly level-grinds his Pokemon (especially Charizard) against powerful Pokemon on a routine basis. Also, Alain received proper introduction and characterization into the series long before his final battle with Ash, while to this day, we absolutely nothing about Tobias as a character due to him not even appearing in DP until the Sinnoh's semi finals.

* ButtMonkey: In Mairin's Illustrated Mega Evolution Journal, Mega Charizard X gets its ass handed to basically every Mega Evolved Pokémon it battles. While we don't see the result of the battles, as it could easily have made a comeback, it is heavily implied that it has actually lost to a Mega Slowbro. It was also put asleep by a Mega Audino. The canonicity of these shorts, however, is unconfirmed.

** [[spoiler:During the final match, Alain sends out Charizard to fight Pikachu, even though he still has Bisharp left, which surprises Ash's friends in the audience who don't expect Alain to send his ace out so soon. It shows that he is playing safe and doesn't want to lose yet another Pokémon to Pikachu, [[LetsGetDangerous so he prefers choosing the one member that he can always rely on, rather than the other remaining member that is already damaged]].]]

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Alain is suitably horrified and guilt-ridden when he discovers Lysandre's real intentions.

* CharacterDevelopment: Alain was cold to anyone around him, minus Sycamore, and would distance himself from making friends as he believed they hold him him back from becoming stronger. However, after meeting and befriending Mairin, Alain began to question his belief as his friendship with her got to see a different perspective and mellowed his cold attitude a little. Once he meets Ash as both a friend and rival, Alain realized that being with Mairin did change him for the better as he made more friends that isn't her or Sycamore.

* EasilyForgiven: [[spoiler: Despite helping (albeit unwittingly) Team Flare capture Z2 and collecting the Mega Evolution energy that was needed to kickstart the Flare crisis, Alain is largely forgiven by Mairin, Sycamore, and Ash's group once he turns against Lysandre and saves Chespie from the Megalith Zygarde. Alain himself, however, views his contributions to be nearly unforgivable despite not knowing the full extent.]]

* HeroicBSOD: He doesn't take the revelation of Flare's true purposes very well.

* ItsAllMyFault: Blames himself ''heavily'' for Chespie's comatose state. In fact, Alain's tendency to blame himself for everything that has happened is his FatalFlaw [[spoiler: as it prevents him from taking action against Lysandre despite becoming the "strongest" in the League. It only took Ash freeing himself and giving an inspirational speech to snap him out of his depression state and fight Team Flare.]]

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Alain is suitably horrified and guilt-ridden when [[spoiler:he discovers Lysandre's real intentions.]]
* MyGreatestFailure: [[spoiler: For unwittingly helping Team Flare devastate Lumoise City and bring the greatest crisis upon the Kalos region. Even after turning against Lysandre and saving Chespie from the Megalith Zygarde, Alain never forgives himself for his contribution to the whole mess. He gives up the Mega Ring and Mega Stone provided by Lysandre in order to start his life over with Mairin and Sycamore again.]]

* NotSoDifferent:
** Alain and Ash were quite similar in the beginning about making friends as they wanted to travel alone with just their Pokémon. However, after meeting their best friends and traveling companions, Alain and Ash realized how wrong they were about making friends as they had their opinions changed.
** Alain was even similar to N as they both stuck with their beliefs for a long period of time until their travels helped them see things differently. In addition, Alain and N change in their beliefs were made further when they meet Ash as he guided them into better people.

'''[[Characters/PokemonJourneysTheSeries Journeys]]'''\\

'''XY:''' [[Characters/PokemonTheSeriesXYAshsPokemon Ash's Pokémon (Kalos)]] | [[Characters/PokemonTheSeriesXYCast Supporting Cast]] | [[Characters/PokemonTheSeriesXYGymLeaders Gym Leaders]] | '''''Mega Evolution Special''''' | [[Characters/PokemonTheSeriesXYRivals Rivals]] | [[Characters/PokemonTheSeriesXYVillains Villains]]\\

[[center:[[WMG:''[[Anime/PokemonTheSeries Pokémon anime]]'' [[Characters/PokemonTheSeries characters index]]\\
[-'''Series-wide:''' [[Characters/PokemonAnimeAshAndPikachu Ash Ketchum and Pikachu]] | [[Characters/PokemonAnimeTeamRocket Team Rocket Trio]] | [[Characters/PokemonAnimeTeamRocketOthers Team Rocket Organization]]\\
'''Original Series:''' [[Characters/PokemonAnimeOriginalSeriesPokemon Ash's Pokémon (Kanto, Orange Islands, Johto)]]\\
[[Characters/PokemonAnimeOriginalSeriesCast Supporting Cast]] | [[Characters/PokemonAnimeOriginalSeriesGymLeaders Gym Leaders]] | [[Characters/PokemonAnimeOriginalSeriesOneShotCharacters One-shot Characters]]\\
'''Advanced Generation:''' [[Characters/PokemonAdvancedGenerationPokemon Ash's Pokémon (Hoenn)]] | [[Characters/PokemonAdvancedGenerationCast Supporting Cast]] | [[Characters/PokemonAdvancedGenerationOpponents Gym Leaders and Frontier Brains]]\\
'''Diamond and Pearl:''' [[Characters/PokemonDiamondAndPearlAnimePokemon Ash's Pokémon (Sinnoh)]] | [[Characters/PokemonDiamondAndPearlAnimeCast Supporting Cast]] | [[Characters/PokemonDiamondAndPearlAnimeGymLeaders Gym Leaders]] | [[Characters/PokemonDiamondAndPearlAnimeVillains Villains]]\\
'''Black and White:''' [[Characters/PokemonBlackAndWhiteAnimePokemon Ash's Pokémon (Unova)]] | [[Characters/PokemonBlackAndWhiteAnimeCast Supporting Cast]] | [[Characters/PokemonBlackAndWhiteAnimeRivals Rivals]] | [[Characters/PokemonBlackAndWhiteAnimeGymLeaders Gym Leaders]] | [[Characters/PokemonBlackAndWhiteAnimeVillains Villains]]\\
'''XY:''' [[Characters/PokemonXYAnimePokemon Ash's Pokémon (Kalos)]] | [[Characters/PokemonXYAnimeCast Supporting Cast]] | [[Characters/PokemonXYAnimeGymLeaders Gym Leaders]] | '''''Mega Evolution Special''''' | [[Characters/PokemonXYAnimeRivals Rivals]] | [[Characters/PokemonXYAnimeVillains Villains]]\\
'''Sun and Moon:''' [[Characters/PokemonSunAndMoonAnimePokemon Ash's Pokémon (Alola)]] | [[Characters/PokemonSunAndMoonAnimeCast Supporting Cast]] | [[Characters/PokemonSunAndMoonAnimeKahunasAndGuardianDeities Kahunas and Guardian Deities]] | [[Characters/PokemonSunAndMoonAnimeAetherFoundation Aether Foundation]] | [[Characters/PokemonSunAndMoonAnimeVillains Villains]]\\