A/N: Hey, sorry about the late update guys, I really meant to get on top of things again but school got in the way...

I'm going to try to make this one have a bit more plot than the last two, so it won't just be the basic formula again. There'll be some character development! Yay!


Tails coughed and eyed the darkness warily as he walked into the old warehouse on the far side of town. The place was poorly lit, with only a small amount of light shining through the nearby window. Seated, there, was a shady figure in a top hat. "Come, come on in," the voice greeted warmly, making Tails a bit more comfortable about the whole situation.

Well, at least he knew the person wouldn't hurt him.

Rouge Bat flipped on a nearby light switch and took off the puffy black hat she was wearing. "Tails, nice to see you sweetie!" she said in her seducing voice, making Tails blush a bit.

"Hey Rouge, thanks for meeting me here," Tails said with an embarrassed smile. His twin tails twitched bashfully as the bat flew up from her chair behind her desk and floated down majestically next to Tails.

"Alright honey, I know you wouldn't come here if you didn't have something that needed to be done, so lay it on me," Rouge said in a no-nonsense voice, winking.

Tails sighed and felt a bead of sweat drip down the side of his furry head. This was kind of embarrassing. "OK, well I have this problem…this girl problem. Simply put, they won't leave me the heck alone. So I need a way to get them to do so…not only that, but one of them has to fall in love with me."

Rouge thought for a moment before smiling. "Why don't you just date them all and pick which one is the best?"

"Please, I already tried that," Tails said with a roll of his cyan eyes.

"How about you try to make some of them fall in love with someone else?"

"Already tried."

"Oh, I know! You can just date other girls and maybe they'll get the hint…"

Tails felt like yelling, so he did. "Geez, don't you think I've thought of all those things already?" he exasperated, his eyes bugging out a bit. "They won't leave me ALONE! So somehow I've got to make one of them fall absolutely head over heels for me, and the other three have to…disappear."

Rouge frowned, pressing her lips together to make sure her lip stick was still fresh. "Hmm, that's a toughy sweetheart…you're usually the crafty one though…you have a plan?"

"Sort of," Tails admitted. "See, I was going to try to put them in a…tournament of sorts."

"That's awful!" Rouge almost smacked the fox.

Tails stopped her before she did. "Now, not like a literal tournament…but more like a mental one. See, I'll have each of the girls have…encounters with one another, and eventually they'll get so sick of fighting each other that three of them will give up. The toughest one gets yours truly!"

Rouge let the information digest a bit before giving him a thoughtful look. "You know, that sounds more selfish than anything."

"Maybe it is," Tails agreed, rubbing the back of his head. "But I can't go on like this anymore. I'm starting to get gray fur, and I'm only 16."

"You're already 16?!" Rouge's eyelids flew open and her eyes glittered with surprise. "Time has gone so fast! But I guess that makes sense because I'm 21…"

The twin-tailed fox couldn't help but smile at Rouge's enthusiasm about trivial matters. It seemed like all girls were the same. "Um, anyway, you'll help me with this?"

There was a pause as the white bat gained her composure and spun around quickly, her back facing Tails. "Oh, I suppose…" Then she turned her head, smiling seductively. "If you can pay, of course."

Well, that was pretty much inevitable. Reaching into his pocket, Tails produced an aqua colored Chaos Emerald. "It's all yours, Rouge," he answered, holding it out. Rouge smiled wider and gently took the emerald, flying back up and landing in her chair behind her desk.

"You're a cutie," she smiled, beckoning to come to her desk. "Well, we might as well draw up some ideas…we don't want to do this wrong this time, do we?"

***

This was it. Today was the day. It was go time.

The distressed twin-tailed fox couldn't help but smile just a bit as he went over the chart he and Rouge had come up with. It was a bit like a tournament chart, with four bubbles that led up into two different battles. That was the easy part; he could just fill in the names later.

The harder part was listed on the other paper that he held. This had a bunch of different scenarios on it to which the girls could encounter each other. For example, one scenario was: You go to a restaurant that you know two different girls are going to that day, and you continuously flirt with them until they've had enough and they begin to tussle.

Rouge was so crafty. Tails would have to give her a hug later.

Yes, this seemed wrong. Yes, it seemed diabolical. Yes, it seemed just plain selfish. But Tails was tired of trying to please everybody. This time it seemed like there was no pleasing everybody, and somebody was going to have to suffer.

Tails tapped the pencil he held to his chin and leaned on the desk he was seated at in his house. Now, what scenario should he use and which girls should he match up?

The fourth one seemed like a pretty good start, and it sounded simple enough: Promise two girls to go out to a picnic at the same time 'accidently', and get them to fight each other by complimenting both their foods.

It was nearing seven at night, so obviously it was too late to do this today. Tails left the papers on his desk and yawned, sauntering into the living room to watch some television before bed.

Unbeknownst to him, however, a figure was watching him through the window in his room. He eyed the papers mischievously before speeding away into the darkness.