Aquatic Mine Zone

The Aquatic Mine Zone is a series of abandoned underground caverns beneath the Pumpkin Hill Zone. Partially flooded, the mine houses a number of switches that move water from one area to another; exactly why the mine was not fully drained is unknown.

Visited by an Echidna
Knuckles the Echidna traveled through them during his search for fragments of the Master Emerald, and later returned to them with the Chaotix during The Shattered World Crisis. While there, they encountered Chip, who had come into possession of a Chaos Emerald, and fought to protect him from the Hooligans. The caverns proved to be infested with Dark Gaia's Minions, most notably the monstrous Dark Gaia Titan. Due to damage caused by the planet shattering and the Hooligans, the caverns began to flood with Knuckles, the Chaotix, and Chip trapped inside them. (SU: #64, #65)