Roark

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Roark ヒョウタ Hyouta
"Call me Roark the Rock!"
Art from Diamond/Pearl
Age	20 (est. by Pokeani)
Gender	Male
Hometown	Canalave City
Region	Sinnoh
Relatives	Byron (father), Underground Man (relative)
Class	Gym Leader
Generation	IV
Games	Diamond, Pearl
Gym	Oreburgh Gym
Type	Rock
Badge	Coal Badge
First episode	Shapes of Things to Come
English voice actor	Craig Blair
Japanese voice actor	Masataka Azuma

Roark (Japanese: ヒョウタ Hyouta) is the Gym Leader of Oreburgh City's Gym, known officially as the Oreburgh Gym. He hands out the Coal Badge to trainers who defeat him. He specializes in Rock-type Pokémon. He is Byron's son.

1 In the anime
- 1.1 Pokémon
2 In the games
- 2.1 Pokémon
- 2.2 Quotes
3 In the Pokémon Special manga
- 3.1 Pokémon
4 Trivia
- 4.1 Names
5 External links

In the anime

Roark in the anime.

Roark appears in the episodes between Shapes of Things to Come and O'er the Rampardos we Watched. Roark's Japanese voice actor is 我妻正崇 Masataka Azuma and his English voice actor is Craig Blair.

He battled Paul in his debut episode. In this battle, he showed his strong abilities (even beating Paul's Azumarill with his Geodude). However, his powerhouse, Cranidos, wasn't powerful enough to defeat Paul's Elekid. With this win Paul earned the Coal Badge from Roark. Following his defeat, Roark battled and defeated Ash.

He used Cranidos to battle the prehistoric Pokémon unleashed in Oreburgh City. During the conflict, his Cranidos evolved into Rampardos.

Roark then faced Ash again in a rematch. Onix and Geodude were defeated by Pikachu and Aipom. His powerhouse Rampardos battled against Ash's whole team and was defeated by Turtwig. Being the victor, Ash earned the Coal Badge.

Pokémon

Geodude

Onix

→

Cranidos → Rampardos

In the games

Oreburgh City Gym

Roark's team is made up entirely of Rock-type Pokémon. After he is defeated, he will give the player the Coal Badge and TM76 Stealth Rock; the badge gives the player the ability to use Rock Smash outside of battle. Roark, as the Oreburgh Mine's safety supervisor, lets the trainers of Oreburgh train in the Oreburgh mines. Despite his young age, he keeps the mine running safely and efficiently. After losing, he feels embarrassed that his Cranidos lost to a trainer without any badges and cautions the protagonist that the following leaders are a lot tougher. Roark later appears in the Underground, welcoming the player on their first visit there, and explaining a handful of features of the area.

As a child, Roark spent a significant amount of time playing on Iron Island.

Apparently, Riley was considered for his position first, but he declined and Roark was instead instated as the Oreburgh Gym Leader.

Pokémon

Geodude

♂

Lv. 12

Onix

♂

Lv. 12

Cranidos

♂

Lv. 14

Quotes

At Oreburgh Coal Mines
"OK, stand back and watch this. Using the hidden move Rock Smash, a boulder blocking your way... (Boulder gets broken to pieces) Fallen boulders need to be smashed so they're out of the way. If you could get the Badge from the Gym in town, you'd be able to do this too. Of course, you'd have to beat the Gym Leader first. That'd be me!"

Before battle
"Welcome! This is the Oreburgh Pokémon Gym! I'm Roark, the Gym Leader! I'm but one Trainer who decided to walk proudly with Rock-type Pokémon! As the Gym Leader, I need to see your potential as a trainer. And, I'll need to see the toughness of the Pokémon that battle with you!"

After sending out last Pokémon
"Think you can take down the next Pokémon like you did earlier?"

During battle
"No way! Not yet! Not giving up!"

When defeated
"W-what? That can't be! My buffed-up Pokémon!"

After being defeated
"This is embarassing... I went and lost to a Trainer who didn't have a single Gym Badge... But that's tough. You were strong and I was weak. That's all there is. According to Pokémon League rules, I have to give you our Gym Badge since you've beaten me, the Leader. Here's your official Pokémon League Coal Badge."

"In this region of Sinnoh, there are seven other Gym Leaders. I should warn you — they're a lot tougher than I am!"

At the Underground
"Hey! <player>! Is this maybe your first time here? Welcome to Sinnoh's Underground! Huh? Where is this, you ask? Doesn't the Radar make it obvious? This is a giant underground network of passages underneath Sinnoh. Huh? What I am doing down in this expanse of a place? That's kind of hard to answer. I mean, you can pretty much anything you want down here. For instance, you can dig up Treasure, Spheres, and make a Secret Base. You can play with your friends down here, too. You should talk to the Underground Man in Eterna City. I have to get going now. I'll see you around!"

In the Pokémon Special manga

In Pokémon Special's Diamond and Pearl saga, Roark returns to Oreburgh City from Eterna City just in time to meet Berlitz. He was exploring the underground with the Underground Man and Byron (who was there to discuss something with him). He owns an Onix and a Cranidos (that knows the move Shockwave) which he uses in his battle against Berlitz.

Pokémon

This listing is of Roark's Pokémon in the Pokémon Special manga.

Onix

Cranidos

Trivia

His Japanese Leader title is 化石と会話する地底のプリンス.
Roark is the third Gym Leader encountered first in the region that uses Rock-type Pokémon, the other two being Brock and Roxanne.
Both Roark and Byron use Fossil Pokémon in Gym Battles.
He is the first gym leader to wear eye glasses. There is another gym leader, Blaine, who sometimes wears sun glasses.

Names

Language	Name	Origin
Japanese	ヒョウタ (Hyouta)	Hyōtan is a type of gourd. His father, Tougan, is also named after a gourd.
English	Roark	Derived from Gaelic for "champion". Similar to rock.
French	Pierrick	From pierre, stone.
German	Veit
Italian	Pedro	From pietra, stone.
Spanish	Roco	From roca, rock.
Korean	강석 (Gangseok)	May be a combination of 'strong' (强, gang) and 'rock' (石, seok). Also, ore is called 광석 (Gwangseok) in Korean.
Chinese (Taiwan)	瓢太 (Piáo Taì)	From 瓢太 Hyouta.