Oreburgh Pokémon Gym Leader: Roark
Call me Roark the Rock!
The Oreburgh Gym is a narrow building built of stone. Two paths exist: a raised path that avoids the Trainers and a middle path that takes challengers straight through the Gym. Roark waits on a raised hill at the end of the paths. Although only two Trainers actually appear in the Gym, most of the miners in the Oreburgh Mine are also members who relax at the Gym in their free time. While Roark is the Gym Leader here it is revealed that Byron had originally asked Riley to be the Gym Leader here until Riley turned it down in favor of Roark.
The Oreburgh Gym first appeared in Shapes of Things to Come!, when Paul challenged Roark. Ash watched this match, and in the next episode lost to Roark because his concentration was instead on besting Paul. After some heavy training in Wild in the Streets! and some advice from Dawn, Ash re-challenged Roark in O'er the Rampardos We Watched!. This time, he won the match, gaining his Coal Badge. In Ancient Family Matters! it was revealed that prior to Roark becoming Gym Leader, his father Byron was the Gym Leader, but ultimately left to become the Leader of the Gym in Canalave City.
Geodude was the first Pokémon Roark used against Paul. It first battled Paul's Azumarill, and despite being at a major disadvantage, it defeated the Aqua Rabbit Pokémon as if it were nothing. Geodude then went up against Elekid, and this time it had a type-advantage, but it was defeated by a single super-effective Brick Break attack. It was also used as the second Pokémon in Ash's rematch and faced Aipom. Although it put up a good fight, Aipom's speed and agility turned out to be too much for Geodude, causing it to be defeated by her super-effective Focus Punch.
The powerhouse of Roark's team, Onix was used as Roark's second Pokémon during his match against Paul. It first went up against Elekid and while it was able to weaken it, Onix was struck by Elekid's Static and was paralyzed, allowing it to be defeated by Chimchar. Onix was also used during Roark's first match against Ash and easily won the battle for its Trainer, knocking out an already exhausted Turtwig and Pikachu. During the rematch, Pikachu made up for its loss and defeated Onix with Iron Tail.
Rampardos is Roark's main Pokémon. It first appeared as a Cranidos. It was used to battle Paul, but lost. Then, against Ash, it won. It knows many powerful attacks such as Zen Headbutt and Flamethrower. While battling Team Rocket, it evolved into Rampardos. In the rematch, Rampardos defeated Ash's Aipom and Pikachu and almost defeated Turtwig, but Turtwig managed to win.
Many episodes later, it reappeared with Roark, where it battled against Byron's Bastiodon.
In the manga
In Pokémon Adventures
The Oreburgh Gym is the first Gym that Platinum challenged and was featured in A Conk in Cranidos's Cranium. Diamond and Pearl were thrown out by the Gym Statue for the duration of the Gym challenge, consisting of Gym Trainers and the Gym Leader himself. They, however, helped Platinum to win the battle against Roark from the outside by concealing information in their manzai routine.