Hm, at first I thought Blue was Gary, and all the other games had a similar theme. Red is Ash, same pokemon and everything. And as for talking, i guess nintendo wants to make it seem like you have lots of control over the game! And it can't make possibilities for every single thign you would say, so you say nothing! I've noticed it, but its never really bothered me. What would I say anyway? Haha, many I time I've been told i have nothing good to say...wait, thats a bad thing isn't it?
[edit] - Oh yeah! I beat him by the way, haha. I think i used an Alakazam to hynotize them, then psycic them to death- mwahaha! That and dream-eater. Which is intresting, cause I never really liked psycic pokemon x_x