Even if Ash didn't defeat Alan, the fact remains that this is the closest he has gotten to win the League, and he went from losing on the Top 16 to getting 2nd place. I'll take that over nothing. And hey, he was defeated by a decent character we came to know and like, and with a good team, instead of being defeated by a nobody with a Deus Ex Machina.

Tobias is the equivalent of that one kid that had an Action Replay or a Gameshark.