Sam

Note: This soft redirect exists to avoid revealing a critical plot twist without warning.

If you were looking for the character from Pokémon Trading Card Game, see Tech Sam.

If you were looking for the assistant to Brandon, see Samuel.

If you were looking for the English dub voice actor, see Sam Black.

Spoiler warning: this article may contain major plot or ending details.

Sam ユキナリ Yukinari
Sam
Age	10
Gender	Male
Eye color	Blue
Hair color	Brown
Hometown	Pallet Town
Region	Kanto
Trainer class	Trainer
Anime debut	Celebi: The Voice of the Forest
English voice actor	Tara Jayne
Japanese voice actor	Keiko Toda

Sam (Japanese: ユキナリ Yukinari) is a major character who appeared in Celebi: The Voice of the Forest. He is a young Pokémon Trainer who was transported by Celebi from 40 years in the past to Ash's time by accident.

History

Forty years ago, Sam traveled through the woods near Arborville and met a woman named Towa, who told him about the "Voice of the Forest", and that if he did hear it, he should not move or else he would be sent to another time. Sam was also told about a rare Pokémon living there. With that said, Towa gave Sam a piece of bread as a parting gift. While continuing his travels in the forest, a Pokémon poacher went chasing after Celebi, wishing to capture it. Sam defended Celebi from the poacher, and shortly afterwards, the Pokémon teleported itself and Sam into the future.

During the present day, Sam landed in the same area that he got teleported from. Ash and his friends arrived in the area and found Sam unconscious. Ash took him back to Arborville, where Sam woke up to find out that Celebi had disappeared. After an aged Towa explained the situation to them, and returned the sketchbook that Sam used, Sam and the group went into the forest and found Celebi where the Iron-Masked Marauder was destroying the forest. The Marauder encountered the group, but they escaped.

The Marauder sent Scizor and Sneasel after them. However, Sam and Ash battled the two Pokémon and were able to defeat them. Sam and the group arrived in a foggy portion of the Lake of Life and were able to heal Celebi with the water. As Celebi recovered, Ash and Sam played with it, having fun. Celebi then led the group to a Berry tree.

Later, Sam and the others encountered the Iron-Masked Marauder again. Despite their efforts, the Marauder managed to capture Celebi in a Dark Ball. Sam and Ash tried in vain to get the possessed Celebi to stop as the Marauder commanded it to destroy the forest. Celebi prepared to finish off Sam and Ash, but Suicune arrived and saved the two Trainers. Suicune was then attacked by a monstrous ball's tendril, which sent all three of them flying. They were caught by a trapped Jessie, who told them where Celebi was. Upon reaching it, Sam reminded Celebi about the time it had fun with him, Ash, and his friends, despite Celebi relentlessly attacking them in the process. The memories spurred Celebi to break free from the Marauder's control, destroying its Dark Ball in the process.

Sam's drawing of Pikachu and Celebi

However, expending too much energy drained Celebi's life force, and it fell unconscious and turned into a withered brown color. Sam took it to the Lake of Life to restore it, but the waters had no effect, even after Suicune used its powers to purify the lake. After a brief period of mourning, however, the Celebi spirits from all across time arrived and succeeded in reviving the fallen Celebi. The Iron-Masked Marauder emerged shortly after, and attempted again to capture Celebi, but he was defeated by Pikachu and subdued by the other Pokémon in the forest. Celebi then prepared to travel back to the past, and after exchanging farewells with Ash, Sam joined it and returned to his own time.

Ash expresses his sadness to Professor Oak about Sam leaving, to which Professor Oak assures Ash that he and Sam will always be friends. Misty wonders how Professor Oak knew Sam's name when they hadn't mentioned it to him. Professor Oak looks at a faded version of Sam's sketchbook, but does not reveal that he is Sam to Ash and his friends.

Sam briefly reappeared in a montage in The Rise of Darkrai, which chronicled the preceding nine movies.

Character

Sam was shown to have some skills in Pokémon watching, similar to Tracey, as shown when he drew in his sketchbook the Pokémon he saw, especially Celebi. After rescuing Celebi from a Pokémon poacher, he grew a bond with it.

Pokémon

		Charmeleon
		Sam used his Charmeleon in battle against the Iron-Masked Marauder's Sneasel, and won. It was contained in what appeared to be a metal Poké Ball with a red screw-top on it. Charmeleon's known moves are Flamethrower and Headbutt.
Debut	Celebi: The Voice of the Forest
Voice actors
Japanese
English	Eric Stuart

Befriended

		Celebi
		Main article: Celebi (M04) Sam met this Celebi during his time. However, it bumped into him while on the pursuit of a Pokémon Hunter which accidentally transports him to the present time of Ash and company. This time, the Iron-Masked Marauder was after Celebi. After Ash and Sam defeated the Marauder by snapping Celebi out of its dark self and got revived by the other Celebi from the past, this Celebi that met Sam took him back to his own time.
Debut	Celebi: The Voice of the Forest
Voice actors
Japanese	Kazuko Sugiyama
English	Kazuko Sugiyama

Artwork

Ken Sugimori's design of Sam

Voice actors

This movie article is part of Project Anime, a Bulbapedia project that covers all aspects of the Pokémon anime.