As The Pokeball Turns
As The Pokéball Turns is a Pokémon interview podcast that shares real stories from Trainers around the world. From personal journeys to lasting friendships, we explore how Pokémon shapes lives and builds community across the games, the TCG, and beyond. Join creators, community leaders, and everyday fans as they share what makes Pokémon more than just a game. New episodes drop every Wednesday and Friday. One voice, one journey, one memory at a time. Your next Pokémon adventure begins here!
As The Pokeball Turns
"Marshadow Climbs The Rock Slide" ft. DarthStormy | TRAINER'S EYE #181
He quit Pokémon to fit in. Years later, a single sparkle pulled him back and rewrote what belonging means.
For DarthStormy, a lost Game Boy in a bathroom stall became the moment he shelved Pokémon until Pokémon GO brought him back with a new kind of courage. From playground trades in late-90s England to returning as an adult who proudly shiny hunts, DarthStormy shares how letting go to “fit in” cost him joy and how rediscovering it rebuilt patience, community, and self-trust.
We trace the long route from Turnback Cave daydreams to a Facebook page built around Marshadow, the spark that made him say, “I’m done hiding.” This is a Pokémon story about acceptance, identity, and the strange power of nostalgia to heal what we abandoned.
Listen now and relive the moment you claimed your fandom out loud and follow for more powerful stories like this.
Sources
Opening Song: "Forget You" by Alex_MakeMusic from Pixabay
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Your next Pokemon adventure begins here!
my name is DarthStormy and this is my Pokemon story.
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.
David Hernandez:Welcome to As The Pokeball Turns, where every voice, every journey, and every memory brings us closer to the world of Pokemon. I'm David Hernandez and I'm joined by Star Stormy the Marsh Shadow. Welcome to As The Pokeball Ball Turns. Thank you for coming on the podcast.
DarthStormy:Pleasure to be here, Dave.
David Hernandez:Absolutely man. And you know, obviously there's some meaning behind Marsh shadow. Right. But I wanna start with just a fun question just to kind of ease things into us for both of us. So the question's this, if you could explore any one Pokemon location in real life, just for one day, where would you go and what would you do there?
DarthStormy:Oh, that's quite a broad question, isn't it? I've been playing a lot of Pokemon Legend Zaius recently before Lord Z, so I'm going to say turn back cave. And explore theirs and see what Pokemon still is hiding there.
David Hernandez:Why turn back cave?
DarthStormy:Well, it's obviously the location where we find Gina in that game and it just seems like it's quite spooky because obviously ghosts and rocks type poke kinda hiding there. it'd be interesting to see what else is hiding there.
David Hernandez:It sounds like, there's some mystery behind it. There's more to that area that you probably didn't experience in the game. Is that kind of fair to say?
DarthStormy:Yeah, because I, I think to be fair history in is the, technically my first introduction to generation four, I, I have got the faithful remakes and I've only played that briefly. So I'd like to explore more of, The region slash the region.
David Hernandez:Well, what was it like for you to dive into Pokemon what do you remember about those first early days of those games?
DarthStormy:I started my Pokemon journey back in, when it came to the, to England, because I'm in the uk and Pokemon came to us in the, the late nineties, 9 19 98, 99, 9 with the show, the first couple of games, red and blue, and the trading cards. at that time everyone seemed to be in The Pokeball'cause it was the new thing to be part of back then. So everyone was bringing cards into school and at luncheon breaks they'll be bringing their place, their game boys and their Pokemon games, and try not to get the teacher to confiscate the cards.
David Hernandez:It's nice to know that's the same thing that happened to us over there, so I'm glad it wasn't just a US thing. I swear teachers had it out for us with Pokemon.
DarthStormy:Yeah, I think it's just the global thing where teachers don't like us having any sort of fun.
David Hernandez:Did you have a lot of people who played Pokemon with you in school a lot? Like how big was it for you over in England growing up?
DarthStormy:so my group of friends I was with, I'm pretty sure played a lot of Pokemon on the, the games and I had a, a younger brother, I still got a younger brother, but he, he's not really into Pokemon. He played a little bit and when he, but his side of fame was just used, the first Pokemon he ever got. So he got, he's got his starter and leveled that to the max and he caught Bogger one, but he didn't train him up and involved them and use them. Starter. That's it. Starter. That's it.
David Hernandez:Well, when it came to Pokemon,'cause you said your brother didn't stick with it, but obviously you did to a
DarthStormy:Yeah.
David Hernandez:What do you think about Pokemon? Kept you engaged for as long as it did? Like what do you think it was at those early times?
DarthStormy:I think a bit more obviously escapism reality there. because I, I have a game boy out. I would be escaping into the little world of catching all these little monsters and having fun, especially on car journeys when we went to visit a lot of family around what? Around the uk.'cause anyway, we went to like certain events that family members went to. That was fun.
David Hernandez:wow. Would you like Level A Pokemon or were you just try to beat the game? Like how, how much did you play Pokemon since you played it a lot?
DarthStormy:I always would be playing it kind of like I am nowadays, but I guess it's team. It might not be the best team that, or the team that ever recommends you have for the game, but I'll find a team that I think is cool and I'll level it up evenly. So in red and blue I obviously picked, I think my first thought was charmander. Cliche. Cliche. A lot of people say that, but yeah, I, and then I'd, that would get to a certain level and I catch a new poker one and I put, and so on
David Hernandez:I know you lost your Pokemon gold through, falling in a toilet, if I remember correctly.
DarthStormy:Yeah, I went,
David Hernandez:Yeah.
DarthStormy:I got folk on gold and the Pikachu version Game Boy, and I was very happy about it. I was playing that and I think we went to a, a restaurant and I took it with me to the restaurant to display it. I went to the bathroom, I popped it on the, the system of the toilet whilst I was using the toilet. And then this when I finished, just walked out. like, where's your game boy? Obviously back then I wasn't, it was sort of, ah, crap. So I went back in. By the time I went back into the cubicle, I then I was like gone. Bollocks.
David Hernandez:Oh my gosh. I mean, that must have been heartbreaking to lose your game boy in such a shitty manner. pun intended.
DarthStormy:I think that was when I
David Hernandez:I think that
DarthStormy:stopped, kind of poke Pokeball one.'cause obviously the, I think gold and silver came out in 2002, 2003. that's when I was starting my secondary school from the age of 11, 12 to 16, 17. And then when you starting secondary school, you want to fit in and be part of the, the core kids, but looking back, I never was part of the core kids, but I thought I tried to fit in. So I stopped playing Pokemon at the age of 12.
David Hernandez:Right.'cause I guess, I assume Pokemon was probably, I'll say a kitty kind of thing, or wasn't popular to be a Pokemon fan at that age.
DarthStormy:Yeah, because you, there's all these new scenes coming up, all these fads, and everyone's like, oh, this is, this one's cool. This one's cool. I was like, oh, I'm gonna jump, dive into the deep end of that one. Dive into the deep end of this other fad, and folk just left, stayed behind.
David Hernandez:Do you ever regret, leaving Pokemon Behind for such a reason, or do you kind of feel like it was necessary
DarthStormy:I think at the time I thought it was necessary, but now if I could go back in time, I would tell my 12, 13-year-old self go and bug your above. Go get, get another concert game. Boy. Yeah, it's the new games. Stick with it.'cause I'm now in the process of collecting all of the games, the main series game. So look, red, blue, yellow, gold, silver crystal. So I've got quite a few of the games now. I just need. To have one of every generation, I just need X or Y. But I mean, Z technically counts as it's part of technically gen six, but I want X or Y.
David Hernandez:It sounds like Pokemon's more important to you now than it was back then. what is it about it now that wants you to, like you would tell your past self that, Hey, just stick with Pokemon. Why would you want to tell your past self? Do you feel like it's more important to be a Pokemon fan to you now?
DarthStormy:I'm in the the mindset of if I find something fun, I'm going to carry on with whatever it is. And at the moment, since Pokemon Go came out, that's when I started return to Pokemon and that was fun then it still is. Well. Isn't fun because obviously the order changes but it still Pokemon in general is just fun for me. So I playing Pokemon Go, I'm playing the main series games. I also do a little bit of card collecting, so if I find something fun, I'm gonna invest into that fun item.
David Hernandez:It reminds me it's so important how we should accept what we love.'cause I remember a friend told me this one time, why?'cause I felt ashamed playing Pokemon Go at some point, oddly enough. And I asked her like, did you ever feel like uncomfortable being this? Like why would I be uncomfortable about something I like? And it kind of changed my perception and it's so important for us to be able to accept. What we genuinely like because that's part of who we are.
DarthStormy:Yeah.
David Hernandez:And just like you, now you've come realize like, you know, obviously you're a teenager, right? We are feeling all the emotions we're trying to fit in. It makes sense. But when you get older you kinda realize like, why should I be ashamed of this? There's a lot more worse things I could be doing besides Pokemon. I'm glad I had the hobby. Now am I probably too invested in it? Absolutely. But I don't regret it. I never do. And it's always so much fun. And the people you get to connect with and all the other, things we can talk about and we talk about this podcast, you know.
DarthStormy:Oh yeah, definitely. Why? Why? Corner put, you know, this fun hobby of ours into a corner that's only acceptable here and there. Because you got all the other types of gamers. You got the PlayStation gamers, you got the Xbox gamers, the Call of Duty players. They're not se question into the corner. They're out there like, oh yeah, I played corner of duty and I've killed this guy seven times, but he keeps coming back. I'm gonna kill him again. I was like, so
David Hernandez:Right.
DarthStormy:I'm gonna bring out my Pokemon out to the corner and I'm gonna have fun. I'm gonna catch all The Pokeball. I'm gonna shiny hun.'cause that's also what I like doing.
David Hernandez:What do you like about, why do you like shiny Pokemon?
DarthStormy:It just the, odds are very high to catch, get one. So it's like trying to figure out the different methods of shining hunting and then sticky without. Because when I was a lot younger, I didn't have any patience for anything and I started playing Pokemon and Go, and obviously when it first came out, there was no shinies. After shinies were introduced, I'd be catching stuff and like, huh, this might actually help me out, make me a bit more patient. And it has. just love the old kind of sparkles of folk as well. I was like, oh, that one looks cool.
David Hernandez:it's almost like you're rewarded for being persistent enough, right? Because eventually it's gonna shine. Now it may take a while to get there, but you feel like you enjoy that reward of actually seeing a different version at the end of the day.
DarthStormy:Because it, to be blunt, it's a, it is a horrible, monotonous task in counting the same Pokemon and the same sport over and over again. For s and the thousands of accounts, especially before was gen five, when it was one in 81 92. And after
David Hernandez:that was before the
DarthStormy:however many encounter takes, he, he, the next he hit walk into, yes, it's shiny.
David Hernandez:Finally. I mean, obviously every shiny hunter has like maybe this long, painful, I'll say drawn out, well, maybe not painful, this long drawn out hunt. I gotta ask, like, I'm sure you have one, right? Do you have one that kind of comes to mind?
DarthStormy:Well, I've been doing obviously hunting Go, which is currently encounter the encounters. Then kind of started in sorting DY as well. Wasn't really. Again, encountering encounter. I just see people on Twitch who would be doing one that, oh yeah, I'll jump in here, I'll jump in there and help you out with the occasional one if you need an extra person. So the one that comes to mind is again, it's installed and shield. I was encountering shiny elder goss. The Goss. Oh, what's the base for it? The Goss. It's a goss flower, one of the two. And it's such a beautiful, shiny, and I got to, I, it was 1200. when you think about the shiny odds, it's very early on, but this is when I got the shiny charm as well, so it's still under odds'cause encounters for shiny odds in that game is one in three 1,365, there's still 1200 for shiny elgas is under odds, was brilliant. I haven't had one that's gone over odds in the first few or the recent ones yet.
David Hernandez:Not yet. Eventually,
DarthStormy:Oh, I'm sure I'm gonna get one.
David Hernandez:what's one shiny Pokemon you hope to get someday?
DarthStormy:Oh, I would like to say marsh shadow, but the, you can't really tell the shyness it goes into the battle mode.
David Hernandez:Yeah, I mean, yeah, count it. Like, even if it's not released, I know my show's not released, but if you wanna eventually have that shine, go for it.
DarthStormy:Yeah, when.
David Hernandez:Now is Marcha your favorite Pokemon?'cause we, for those who don't know, that's the name of your Facebook page. What's the connection with Marsha?
DarthStormy:Well, earlier, only if I came back to Pokemon from Pokemon Go and after Pokemon Go was let's go, and all the consecutive switch games. So I didn't play any Gen four, gen five, gen six, gen seven games. So when I found out there was Marsha that was in the game, I didn't know what it was. The Hell's a marsh shadow. It came out in the Go Fest to court here and I was like, this thing's brilliant. I love it. It's got a little weird annoying, and Moss shadow's got what I class as a top knot, but it is still brilliant. It's. black, gray color scheme, and when you go into battle mode, it face goes this like greeny yellowy color, which is just brilliant. I love it From seeing more shadowing, vocal, go in front that go fest. And I just tapped on the screen to see what moves man make.'cause obviously every pop in that game who tap a screen does a move as attack. And I saw it's face go green and you like, this is brilliant, I want this thing.
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David Hernandez:Well, you mentioned Pokemon Go a lot and I know that's what brought you back to Pokemon after you took a hiatus. What was it about when Pokemon Go, was announced and even released? What enticed you to want to start playing that, playing Pokemon Go?
DarthStormy:Well, it, it was actually actually a cowork of mine when I was, because back in 2016 I was working in retail and the English version of Walmart, which is Asda, and a coworker of mine goes, have you heard about this? Can you poker mobile game? I was like, I've heard of it. You know, you can download the a PK version of it, right? Like, wait, you can do that. It's like, yeah, just Google Pokemon, go a PK file and download it. So I downloaded it and I like when I got home from that day, I was like, Hey, cool, let's canto starters, let's tackle what I did. Obviously, I didn't realize you can only tackle one, like the original games. And I think I tapped on Volvo sword just'cause it was number one. And then obviously the catching aspects and the collecting aspects, because obviously that's what we are as Pokemon trainers, and so we're collectors of these breaches.
David Hernandez:And how has playing Pokemon Go changed your love for Pokemon, or changed how you connect with the f?
DarthStormy:because it's, a mobile game, so you can, wherever you go in the world, it's with, we've got smartphones nowadays, so we're gonna take our smartphone everywhere we go. And everywhere you go, you, they've not Pokemon Go. There'd be Pokemon, there'd be different Pokemon, depends on where you go in the world. But they'll be Pokemon. I'd love to go to places like I know Mexico for uc or Egypt for Mira, or it said you live in Greece just to complete the DS and everything.
David Hernandez:It almost feels like you get to live your own journey through
DarthStormy:Yeah.
David Hernandez:Have you met a lot of people through Pokemon Go?
DarthStormy:When I first said, when I first started playing, it was just with the guys from my retail job because we was finish work, was we had a little like messenger group chat. He wasnt me stop at at this point because it was, blast or saw a dragon ice or something rare. So they'd all meet up and then we would get group into cars and drive around catching poker on. And for dinner a couple years later I took a break'cause obviously nothing new came either'cause I wasn't around. I stopped playing around the time that Chinese and Gen two and the raids and all that came into the game. So I didn't realize that that was there. But came back in the summer of 2022. I kept seeing the odd posts here and there on Facebook.'cause I'm still friends with some of the people who were playing Pokemon Go and they're like, oh yeah, this is how they're like is that a shiny Pokemon? Why is that different color? Because when I went back to Pokemon Go, I didn't realize what Chinese were. People post and like, what the hell have you done to your, no, this is to new variation. It's just shiny sweet. I can get back into this game.
David Hernandez:And I know you met some friends through Pokemon Go. How was it to kind of find out that they were Pokemon bands too? And what did those conversations open up for you?
DarthStormy:When I came back to Pokemon Go, as I say, I was in the middle of 2022, a couple years after that. During those last, last couple years, between 2022 and 2020 into 2023, I was just around my local area walk and not really knowing there anyone saying elsewhere in Pokemon Go. And the nature of the work I was in at the moment moves up to a different town. So I had to jump ship and move to the new town and. We again, it would go around. We just walk on around that town and a couple of people I see on their phones looks like they're catching pop, just spinning their finger and the ball they try and catch and I'd like walk up to, you're not playing pop and go, are you? Yeah. At Nick. True. That's a i, a good friend of mine who's is still playing Pokemon Go to this day. And between the two of us, we kind of created this to the community of for Pokemon Go Players. is also there YouTube v login four, Pokemon Go as well. So I mean, a lot of his YouTube videos just at the very beginning of his YouTube career.
David Hernandez:Did it feel kind of weird being, I guess, in the background in that kind of video?'cause I know it can be kind of intimidating.
DarthStormy:Well, because we, we will constantly go to every weekend when there was a different event or a different raid. he would host, he would be the host of it, and I would just be there supportive. He would bring me into his YouTube videos. And, how should your hunt go? What's your, what are the hunting for today? What so you expecting from this raid and all that sort of stuff? I dunno yet. I mean, obviously the with raiding and stuff because everyone's off to the shuns and I was never lucky enough to get any shun fire raids
David Hernandez:Mm. I mean, those are hard to get. Shindo are like, you gotta be lucky to get those.
DarthStormy:or, or you got be like fleece kicking and mystic seven and, and paid to do it. Get them.
David Hernandez:Oh yeah. But they also play hours upon, well, days upon
DarthStormy:yeah, that
David Hernandez:so.
DarthStormy:they're definitely hardcore grinders.
David Hernandez:there ever a point, I guess, after you came to Pokemon Go, you started playing more of the games afterwards? Was there ever like a moment or something that you saw on either Let's Go BDSP, sword Shield, that kind of made you realize you were truly back to Pokemon and couldn't put the games down again?
DarthStormy:I'm still currently on my very, very first switch that came out when the switch officially launched, and I think I was that. Bought sword and I blitzed through that. I mean, I think I mainly bought sword because it obvious a gala region. It is based on the United Kingdom. And I was like, cool. I got a, a region based on where I live. I'm going to explore the hell outta this game, which I did on my first play for, and I didn't find any shinies. This was before the the DLCs came out. So I was like, cool, that's completed. Say files, do it again. And they did that two or three times. Then obviously they, they would release the Let's go and the BDSP games and like, okay, let's have a look at this and see when let's go. Came out. It's a, was a partner game to Pokemon Go.'cause obviously the catcher mechanics is same as Pokemon Go. I'm not really enjoying this'cause you have to try and love playing in handheld, like, gotta try and position the switch at the right angle to throw the pool and like, I'm not really enjoying this, but I've recently come back, well I say recently, it's been a year and a half, two years ago. I've come back to, let's go. I've, I'm really, let's go. I've set myself off a couple of challenges in let's go and well this Switch's game as a whole, whereas. Complete the living deck to get the shiny charm
David Hernandez:Shiny.
DarthStormy:and then create a shiny living deck, which is, and I haven't completed one on any of the games yet, but I've got a good chunk except for sword, which is a lot of, encounters.
David Hernandez:Well, let's transition to talking about your Facebook page. for those listening, you know, you started a Facebook page called Darth Stormy, the Marsh Shadow. We talked about, you know, how Marsh Shadow kind of connected with you. What made you wanna start a Facebook page and how did, I guess you form it?
DarthStormy:Well, initially, I just wanted to, this is going back a few years. I wanted a, just a, a Pokemon related Facebook page, so at that time, I. think I did part of a run through BDSP and I was like, Hey, look, my shs, it's evolved to, to its final form, the luxury, like that's quite cool. So I made the, the page called something along lines of luxury. I can't remember exactly what I called it. So I was as luxury. Died but I still had it on my account. I was just left it for years. And then I think December, 2023, I revamped it and it was just, initially it was just called Dark Stormy 90,'cause that's my in game name on Pokemon Go. Just so I could post like a catches shiny catches, Hyundai catches, rare catches and like raids that I'm doing with friends. so I could try and get a bit, more beefed up. and then the couple years ago There's a, group chat for Pokemon admin pages the admin of Cherry Charma under 2.0. I commented on one of her pay posts about Scarlet and Violet. I think I was trying to still complete the decks back then. So yeah, he agreed to help me do some trade evolutions.
David Hernandez:Mm-hmm.
DarthStormy:I did got those straight evolutions, I was like, do you know any, are you able to help me promote my page a bit to get more interaction? I said, well, there is a group chat for all of The Pokeball pages I can invite you to like. Sure, let's do that. That'll help. And it's flourished since then. And, and then obviously I had another look at names with a lot of the people in that group chat are named after Pokemon, like obviously Cherry Charmander 2.0, Harry Ga, Hitman Chan, which I know has been, has been on your show. And then a few hours like that. So I thought, let's turn, do Stormy 90 into a, a Facebook page that's based on The Pokeball. And then I went back and I looked at some mythical Pokemon.'cause a lot of the guys in that chat, they don't have, they're not mythical Pokemon, they Raf s Crafty and Float Sword and Charmander around it just to name a few. so I looked at my Pokemon Go account like, you know what? I really do like that mouth shadow, that according from the Go Fest a while ago, let's change to my name. So since then, that's how I became do storming the mouth shadow.
David Hernandez:And what has it meant to you to have that kind of support and connection from the the Pokeys group, especially after coming back to Pokemon, later in life?
DarthStormy:It is been very helpful because there's recently a few of the pages that follow on Facebook, on Pokemon in general. They're doing like feature, like spotlights and posting and saying about this page or that page and the next page. So like recently my friend and. Is Beast has had me as a featured page of the day getting people to give me a bit more love, which is brilliant. Thank you guys for doing that And I've been trying to keep my activity off. I'm seeing post work and like, oh, I can put my 2 cents in here. I can do my 2 cents in there. So I'd comment on them and I didn't like recently I got one like that from Ros and it's says
David Hernandez:Mm-hmm.
DarthStormy:all there regular people like under the. Actual name and then, don't forget these pages. And then he lists a load pages and I was amongst them. So that's helped out a lot.
David Hernandez:Well, Dar Stormy, that's gonna be interview, but I want to finish on one last question. If you could have a dream team of six Pokemon, we'll do shiny since you're a shiny hunter, what six shiny Pokemon would you choose?
DarthStormy:Oh, that's, that's a brilliant question. I've listened to your podcast and listened to pretty much every episode. So you've got us out and I've been thinking on this question'cause I knew it's gonna come off. I never came onto your show and I think I've got three in mind and as I'm gonna go with at the end, the last three in the team is gonna be. Mega Gengar'cause it's a brilliant, beautiful, white, shiny I gotta put marsh shadow in there even though shiny sucks. But I've gotta have marsh shadow now. The original fighting ghost type poker one. And I really, I do like gar chump, so I'm gonna put guarders, say it be guard mega marsh in four, five, and six. Spot one I'm gonna put for alligator
David Hernandez:Oh, that's a good one.
DarthStormy:especially it's shiny. It's a nice like green lime greeny kind of shinier. That's quite.
David Hernandez:It's a very underrated, shiny, I'll say that much, especially from Jodo
DarthStormy:Yeah, I'm gonna put in just because of this, the shiny changes from the bright to the 3D animations. I'm gonna put in Purple Charles art.'cause that's what it used to be in generation two when you gethin.
David Hernandez:mm-hmm. It changed the black
DarthStormy:Yeah, because of the saturation. And that's what one spot. Two. I know it's got.
David Hernandez:You got one more left.
DarthStormy:I know it's got, two starters, but they're still brilliant starters. and I'm gonna have a second pseudo legendary in there. It's gonna be comau, the final form of Django,'cause that's a beautiful yellow and pink, shiny.
David Hernandez:Well, dark stormy, thank you for coming on. As The Pokeball Turns, before you go, if people want to connect with you, if they wanna follow your Facebook page, where can they go? By all means, please plug away.
DarthStormy:So the Facebook page is mentioned a few times is Daft Stormy, the Marsh Shadow Daft. Stormy is all one word. I do have a couple of other socials. There's like TikTok and Instagram. TikTok is Daft. Stormy plays with a Z and Instagram is Darth Stormy. And that's where, pretty much where you can find me.
David Hernandez:and thank you for listening to As The Pokeball Ball Turns, if this story resonated with you, share the podcast with the fellow trainer and don't forget to follow us. For more voices, more journeys, and more memories. I'm David Hernandez, and remember, your next Pokemon adventure begins here.
