Sam

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 from 40 years in the past to '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, 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. and 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 and  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 ed, 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 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.

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 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.

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

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

Voice actors
Sam ユキナリ