Roark (anime)

Roark is a character appearing in Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl, who is the Gym Leader of Oreburgh City in the Sinnoh region and the son of Byron, the current Gym Leader of Canalave City.
==Appearance==
==Personality==
Roark is a young man that works in mines. He is enthusiastic of fossils (a trait he inherited from his father), due to having Fossil Pokémon brought back to life. Like many Gym Leaders, Roark always provides advice to trainers such as reminding Ash that he is supposed to focus on his current opponent and not his potential opponent. He battles using offense tactics but has poor defense tactics which his father, Byron, always reminded Roark to use as well.
==Etymology==
The name Roark comes from "rock" and "ore".
His Japanese name, Hyōta, could come from 揚炭機 (yōtanki, coal unloader) and, following the plant-based naming of Gym Leaders, 瓢箪 (hyōtan, a type of gourd).
==Biography==
Years ago, Byron was once the Gym Leader of Oreburgh City. He used to spend time with his son, Roark, who had once found a fossil and gave it to his father.
Byron had left his family to become the Gym Leader of Canalave as he was more interested in fossils on Iron Island, leaving his former position to Roark.DP107: Ancient Family Matters!
Roark used to mine for fossils. It was how he discovered Cranidos' fossil, which he eventually revived.DP017: Wild in the Streets!
===Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl===
As the heroes entered Oreburgh City, they encountred Paul, who also wanted to challenge the Gym Leader. The group was informed by a worker named Ian of Gym Leader Roark. However, the latter was busy working in the mines, searching for some hidden treasure. Thus, they went to see Roark in person in the mines, where Roark had his men dig out a rock - a fossil. Roark was happy, thinking he could awaken the Pokémon inside this rock soon. He turned to Ash and Paul, and accepted their challenges; since Paul came first, Roark faced him in the battle, though apologized for making him wait. Roark first used Geodude against Paul's Azumarill, and negated its Hydro Pump with Hidden Power, defeating it with Rollout. Paul then sent Elekid, who quickly defeated Geodude with a Brick Break. Roark sent Onix out, who attacked Elekid with Slam, though Elekid used Protect to defend itself.
Due to its Rock Head ability, Onix didn't take recoil damage from Double-Edge, and posed a considerable force with its Stealth Rock. As Onix wounded Elekid, Paul sent Chimchar out, who was damaged by Stealth Rock on the field. Paul's Chimchar using Dig was enough to defeat Onix, to which Roark sent Cranidos out. Cranidos' Headbutt and Zen Headbutt caused Chimchar to become frightened, ignoring some of Paul's commands, until it activated its Blaze ability. Chimchar retaliated with Flame Wheel to deal damage to Cranidos, until the latter used Zen Headbutt to defeat it. Paul sent Elekid back on the field, and used Brick Break against Cranidos' Flamethrower. In this exhausting match, Elekid won the battle, earning Paul the badge.DP015: Shapes of Things to Come!
Ash wanted to battle Roark right after his match with Paul. However, Roark showed that his Pokémon were exhausted, so the match was postponed a day later. In the Gym match, Roark sent Cranidos, who swiftly evaded Ash's Aipom's attacks, hitting it with Headbutt and Zen Headbutt. Ash then sent Pikachu, who used Iron Tail against its Zen Headbutt, but was countered using its Thunderbolt move. Pikachu and Cranidos both used Volt Tackle and Head Smash, which made the two sides collapse. Ash switched Pikachu with Turtwig, who managed to defeat Cranidos using Razor Leaf, while evading its Flamethrower. However, Roark sent Onix, who quickly defeated it and Pikachu with Double-Edge and Screech attacks.DP016: A Gruff Act to Follow!
As Ash was training with Brock, Roark joined them. He commented he didn't know whom Ash was trying to defeat, noting his rivalry with Paul. Regardless, he went to dig for some more fossils, on the site where he found Cranidos' fossil. Hearing that someone let the Fossil Pokémon out, Roark teamed up with Ash and the group to Oreburgh Mines, finding an Armaldo and Kabutops rampaging about. However, Team Rocket managed to steal the fossil-revival machine, and his Cranidos got caught in the net made by Team Rocket. While others worked hard to stop the Fossil Pokémon from rampaging, Cranidos evolved into Rampardos and blasted Team Rocket off. Roark thanked Ash for helping him saving his hometown from its rampage and he gave him a rematch for his Coal Badge.
At the Gym, Roark noted Ash has gained more confidence. This time, Ash had Pikachu use spinning attacks, as well as preventing Onix's Stealth Rock from being activated, before it was defeated by Iron Tail. As Roark sent Geodude, Ash swapped Pikachu with Aipom. Aipom evaded Geodude's attacks with Double Team, before getting slammed by Seismic Toss. However, it did defeat Geodude with a Focus Punch, earning Roark's respect. Roark sent out Rampardos, his ace. Aipom used Swift to attack Rampardos, who was unhurt by this attack, and defeated Aipom with a Headbutt. Ash sent Pikachu, who tried to spin again to counter Rampardos' moves, but failed. As Rampardos used its tail to lift Pikachu in air, the latter used Iron Tail to strike a blow against its Zen Headbutt.
Due to Mold Breaker, Rampardos resisted getting paralyzed by Pikachu's Static ability, and defeated it with a Zen Headbutt. As his final Pokémon, Ash sent Turtwig, who bit Rampardos' tail to prevent itself from getting tossed in the air. After getting wounded with Head Smash, Turtwig used Synthesis to recover. Fooling Roark, Rampardos jumped when Turtwig attempted to do so; instead, Turtwig used Razor Leaf underneath Rampardos to defeat it. With Roark's defeat, Ash had earned his Coal Badge.DP018: O'er the Rampardos We Watched! While on their way to Hearthome City, Ash recalled the events with Roark.DP048: Satoshi and Hikari! Heading Towards a New Adventure!! Roark's Gym Battle against Ash was remembered by Ash, Dawn and Brock, as they were going to Snowpoint City.DP120: Mysterious Creatures: Pocket Monsters!
Roark went to Canalave City to confront Byron, because of Byron's wedding anniversary with Roark's mother. However, the two started aruging about who was the better expert on fossils. As the heroes arrived, Byron greeted them, but stated it was not a good time to take challenges. The heroes observed Byron's fossil collection, to which he showed them Anorith's fossil, which was much larger than expected. Roark continued arguing with Byron about whose fossil Pokémon was stronger, and on Brock's propsoal, this escalated into a battle, where Byron's Bastiodon faced Roark's Rampardos.
Roark apologized to Ash for having him wait for his challenge against Byron, to which let him have this battle. Both sides promised they wouldn't go easy on each other, as the battle started. While Bastiodon protected itself with Iron Defense, Ramprados charged with Zen Headbutt, seemingly making it look as the two sides were evently powerful. Byron was not pleased that Roark called himself a Gym Leader with moves like that, as Rampardos went on offense. As Rampardos used Flamethrower to collide with Bastiodon's Flash Cannon, an alarm was triggered, for Team Rocket attempted to steal fossils. They found a hole in his room, for the thieves dug it out to steal the fossils. Going through the tunnel, they encountered Team Rocket, where Byron and Roark sent Bastiodon and Rampardos to battle them. Bastiodon shielded Rampardos, as the latter attacked Team Rocket's machine with Head Smash. To defeat them, Rampardos and Bastiodon carved holes in the machine, letting Ash's Pikachu use Thunderbolt on the holes to blast Team Rocket off.
As Byron and Roark went to secure the fossils, the latter noticed a fossil that he gave to his father. Seeing that Byron still kept it, Roark noted that Byron still cared for him. With the matter settled, Byron decided to take on Ash's challenge tomorrow. He promised that his son would be the referee, and advised Ash to prepare himself for the upcoming battle. 
Roark served as a referee in his dad's Gym battle against Ash. Roark gave Ash some advice during the battle and became amused to Ash's win against his father to win the Mine Badge.DP108: Dealing With Defensive Types!
===Pokémon—Zoroark: Master of Illusions===
Roark also appeared in the ending scene of the 13th Pokémon movie, along with his Rampardos.MS013: Pokémon—Zoroark: Master of Illusions
==Pokémon==
===On hand===
==Voice actors==
*Czech: Pavel Tesar
*French: David Macaluso
*Portuguese (Brazil): Sergio Corsetti, Yuri Chesman
*Spanish: Cholo Moratalla
*Iberian Spanish: Ricardo Mendoza, Ignacio Casas
==Trivia==
*Roark is also identical to Brock when fighting against their challengers in Gym battles and also owns two Rock-type Pokémon such as Geodude and Onix.
**Brock also mentions his own Onix who is now evolved into a Steelix that he also raised it just like how Roark did to his own Onix.
**Both men are also the ones to defeat Ash in its first official Gym battle before they lost in the rematch.
**Roark and Brock are also being passed the torch from their fathers Byron and Flint who are the former Gym Leaders in their respective cities as Byron became the Gym Leader of Canalave City despite being a native from Oreburgh City while Flint passes to Brock as Gym Leader of Pewter City and later passes his torch to his younger brother Forrest after he was technically defeated by Ash and immediately gives up the title to join him in his travels.
*Roark's Gym appears similar to the ones in Pewter Gym but the rock designs are brown instead of gray.
==Gallery==
AshVsRoark.jpg|Ash in his Gym Battle with Roark.
RampardosVs.Turtwig.jpg|Rampardos VS Turtwig
Sinnoh Gym Leaders.png
==See also==
*Roark (DPA)
==References==
pl:Roark#W głównej serii