Sorry for the wait, but there first chapter of my new short story, Chaos Regeneration, is now up! If you liked Sonic X or are interested, I suggest you give it a try!

Anyway, on with Masterminds!

The chaos map began to beep, so I looked down at it. I had expected there to be a dot at the edge of the map, but it was much closer, as if the chaos energy had just appeared. Strangely, there were several lines moving outwards from a single point; one of the eleven lines ran between us and that point, as well. There was no mistaking that it was Eggman with some of the Master Emerald's pieces. He had powered the pieces he had, and they were establishing an energy connection with both the remaining pieces and the chaos emeralds.

"Hey, Knuckles! Bad news! Eggman's brought the pieces to the altar!" Knuckles looked down at me from the wing.

"Fly faster, then!" I nodded.

"Hold on tight!" He prepared himself, and I set the plane into six-six gear. I closed the overhead windshield and flipped a green switch labeled 'chaos boost'. The chaos emeralds began to glow, and the plane accelerated. The speedometer had just passed Mach two, and the accelerometer was at twenty meters per second per second. I had recently installed a new engine, but I hadn't reached Mach three with it. I thought that it would be a perfect time to test it.

"Uh, Tails?" I turned my attention to Sonic. "I think Knuckles wants you to slow down a bit."

I looked up at the wing. Knuckles was clinging to it with both hands and yelling in my direction. "Oh, sorry!"

I slowed down to Mach one; Knuckles regained his grip. I looked at the map. Twenty kilometers left. Almost one minute.

One minute later, I landed the plane on the island. The signal was still on the map. Knuckles jumped from the wing. He grinned a bit, then yelled "let's go!"

He led the way to the altar, and Sonic and I followed. We climbed the altar's stairs to find it completely empty. I heard the sound of the Eggmobile in the distance. "Get back to the plane!"

We all rushed back to the plane. The map showed the location of the Eggmobile. We took back to the sky and followed the signal. It took thirty minutes to catch up to the grey aircraft - it was faster than I remembered. I inched up to Eggman's vehicle, but Knuckles suddenly jumped into it. He snatched up two pieces of the Master Emerald and returned to the plane. He was about to go back for the rest, but Eggman had closed his cover. Knuckles pounded on it, but it wouldn't budge. He jumped back to the plane and looked at me.

"Shoot him down!" His voice was quiet through the glass and the wind, but I heard him. I was quite surprised by the suggestion. I shook my head. "Why not?"

"That's my body!"

"I can get him out before it crashes!" I shook my head again. I knew that there was nothing more to do. The engine was beginning to overheat, so I landed.

x-x-x

They may have gotten a couple pieces of the Master Emerald, but I'd gotten a headstart on finding the last three chaos emeralds! I immediately studied the new map. There were eleven lines. I then realized that seven were pieces and only three were emeralds - I could go through seven searched before finding an emerald! I chose a line at random and followed it.

x-x-x

Upon landing, Knuckles immediately left the plane and found a tree to wait under. Sonic poked his head over my seat and observed the map. "Uh, Tails? What's with all the lines?"

"It's like Knuckles said: the pieces that Eggman powered up are sharing energy with the other pieces… and the chaos emeralds, too. The lines are paths of chaos energy moving among the pieces." I turned off the map to save energy.

"Then what are we waiting for? The map's pointing right to the chaos emeralds!"

"The engine was getting pretty hot." I carefully propped my feet up on the control panel. Sonic crossed his metal arms and propped his metal feet on the back of my seat.

"So, do you have a handheld version of that map? I could find some emeralds on my own - that would double our efficiency, huh?"

"I'm working on one at home, but it's not finished."

"How about I go get it and bring some tools back so you can work on it?" I sighed.

"I can't just… There's so much more to do: I have to make it user-friendly, adapt it to a mobile interface-"

"I believe in you, buddy! You'll have it done in no time! So what do I need to grab?" I sighed again. He was dead set on this idea, and there was no stopping him.

"Just my laptop and the device. And an Ethernet cable."

"Where are those?"

"When you walk through the door, the device is on the overhead shelf to the left, and the laptop is on the desk to the right. An Ethernet cable is probably already plugged into it, but there's a box of cables under the desk if not." I pulled up my communicator's GPS, already prepared for his next question. I pointed. "Home is that way, one hundred kilometers."

"Cool! Be back in five!" I nodded, and he set off towards my home. I began to prepare my brain for a fierce session of coding.

This is Sonic's brain… This is gonna be tough… Wait! Sonic can only go Mach one in that body! Whatever… That means more time to prepare… I proceeded to mentally review my entire knowledge of coding. Fifteen minutes later, Sonic returned. He was wearing a large backpack, but I didn't question it.

"There wasn't anything plugged in. I don't know what an Ethernet cable looks like, so I just brought the whole box." I laughed, and he set everything on the ground. I hopped to the ground and dug an Ethernet cable from the box. I connected the device to the computer and opened Prower Programming. I had a long way to go. I shook my head.

"Sonic, I don't know about this… This could take hours…"

"Hours? Don't you just take whatever makes the plane's map work and put it in the handheld?" I was about to argue, but his words made sense! I don't have to make it interactive and user-friendly! I'm not releasing it to the public - it's just for the team!

"Yeah… Yeah!" I dug another Ethernet cable from the box and connected it to the plane. I sifted through the program files until I found a folder labeled 'ChaosTracker'. It was a Python script file. I copied it onto the computer, then imported it into the software. I clicked 'Save and test', then 'CTMobile'. The screen of the device immediately came to life, but nothing was on it. Sonic dropped a chaos emerald in my lap. I smiled, nodded, and put the emerald into the device's compartment. White lines then appeared on the screen.

"See? Told ya you could do it!" I laughed and explained my mistake to him. I disconnected and shut down everything, and Sonic took the device. "I just need a piece of the Master Emerald, now."

So that's what the backpack's for! Of course! I retrieved one of the large, green shards from the plane and put it into the backpack.

"Alright! I'm off!" I grabbed his shoulder before he could leave.

"Hold on!" I took another chaos emerald from the plane, leaving only two more. I placed it into his chest compartment. His body went rigid, then shuddered. "I don't need such a big range on the map, now, since we have lines. This should help you a bit!"

"Th… Thanks! That… That feels good!" His robotic body relaxed. I nodded.

"It should. Go get the communicator from Knuckles before you go." He did so, gave a thumbs up, and disappeared into the distance. The engine was still warm, so I returned to the pilot's seat and relaxed.

This chapter is so late! Sorry about that! I took the time to write a chapter of another story, but I got pretty sidetracked while writing this one! That's what happens when you procrastinate!