>>50547144Alain is based on Anakin Skywalker.
He is supposed to be the strongest most capable pokemon trainer that ever existed, HOWEVER, he is a man completely driven by emotion.
We see him repeatedly make mistakes, wrong choices and hurt people because of this.
Now about his team that got strong in very short time. He's just insanely passionate about battling and crazy talented, obviously he would make it far very quick. Plus the Metang he probably received from Steven.
Him siding with team Flare and befriending Steven also gave him advantages, like access to the keystone (he found his own later on). He also managed to battle nearly all mega evo trainers in Kalos and other regions in a short time, prioritizing battling over everything else (even his only friend Manon).
The reason why he will be defeated by Ash are his misleading emotions. He wants to win to redeem his mistakes and so feels worthy of Manon, when in reality Manon will be happy either way, as long as she can stay with Alain.
Ash on the other hand wants to win so his dream comes true.
