[Ah... Ashley stays very still and glances up from her book for a moment...before looking right back down. What does she say to this...?]

Oh. Um... [One hand pets Chikorita, dutifully.] Sports aren't...uh, everything. 'Cause...there's being smart and studying. S-so reading's not...a bad thing to do. It's how I started studying a lot.

[When confronted with something she doesn't know how to respond to, she defaults to learning. So...talking about it shouldn't be a bad choice, right? That's what she thinks.]