Ness is the silent main protagonist of EarthBound, and is analogous to Ninten and Lucas in their respective games.
Ultimate Story[]
Ness was one of the 100 heroes selected to partake in a test for Lisa. However, he was not selected in the top 8 because he was still very much young and was sent home. But then, Ly had her select a few extra to take part as a means of understanding whenever she needed to call for extra help. She chose Ness along with 3 others. Lisa took a personal interest in Ness and felt that he would be a great addition.
In the first Ultimate Story, Ness was chosen to be the Gym Leader to represent Viridian City. For the challenge that the trainer would need to do in order to battle Ness, they would need to face the other 7 Gym Leaders and collect their badges.
However, as soon as Ash and Gary were able to reach Ness' gym, Giovanni has retaken his position, claiming that Ness is currently suffering from PK fever and can't battle. In reality, he actually locked Ness away to take his place. When Ash was able to take on the challenge, Jesse, James and Meowth battled him instead and even though he won, they refused to allow him to challenge Ness. However, they were sent away, Ness was able to return to his position and challenged Ash and then Gary with both of them earning their final Gym badges.