Roark

Roark (ヒョウタ Hyouta) serves as the Gym Leader for Oreburgh City's Gym. Raork specializes in using -type Pokémon, and holds the Coal Badge for the trainers who defeat him.

In the games
Roark is the Oreburgh City Gym Leader in Pokémon Diamond and Pearl. When he's not at the Gym, he is the Oreburgh Mine's safety supervisor. Roark's specialty is Rock-Type Pokémon. He also uses a Fossil Pokémon, Cranidos.

If a player defeats him they will obtain the Coal Badge and TM76 (Stealth Rock). The Coal Badge will also give the player the ability to use Rock Smash outside of a battle.

In the anime
Roark first appeared in the episode Shapes of Things to Come where both Paul and Ash show up at his Gym for a battle. Since Paul was the first to show up he was able to battle Roark first.

Roark, using a team of Geodude, Onix and Cranidos battled Paul's team of Azumarill, Chimchar and Elekid. Roark's strong abilities were shown as he was able to defeat two of Paul's Pokémon, though his Cranidos was unable to withstand Elekid's power leaving Paul the victor.

In the next episode A Gruff Act to Follow, Ash battled Roark the day after Paul's battle. Using a team of Pikachu, Turtwig, and Aipom, Ash battled his way through Roark's team. In the end though, Ash was defeated by Roark and would need to challenge him again.

In O'er the Rampardos we Watched, Ash would have a rematch with Roark using the same Pokémon. Roark's newly evolved Rampardos proved to be difficult but was defeated by Turtwig. With Roark's defeat, Ash had earned his Coal Badge.

In the manga
He battled against Platinum and lost. He is also mentioned by Byron in the manga.

Pokémon
Roark's Pokémon are the same in both the anime and Pokémon Diamond and Pearl with the exception of his Rampardos, which evolved from a Cranidos in the anime.

Black 2 and White 2

 * Rock-type Tournament


 * Sinnoh Gym Leader Tournament/World Leaders Tournament

Voice Actors

 * Czech: Pavel Tesar
 * French (Europe): David Macaluso
 * Portuguese (Brazil): Sergio Corsetti, Yuri Chesman
 * Spanish: Cholo Moratalla
 * Iberian Spanish: Ricardo Mendoza

Trivia

 * Roark's Coal Badge resembles his mining helmet.
 * Roark is the third Gym Leader to specialize in Rock Pokémon.
 * Roark is the son of Byron.
 * Roark's grandfather is the Underground Man.
 * Roark's name may be derived from the word ROCK, like Brock's and Roxanne's name because he trains Rock-type Pokémon.
 * Roark is one of few Gym Leaders who had their Pokémon evolve in the anime. Others include Brock, Sabrina, Koga, Clair, Brawly, Wattson, Flannery, and Cilan.
 * Roark has the same hairstyle (and about the same color) as Silver in Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver.