Stitch's Sinking Feeling

The waves of the stormy Pacific ocean crashed against the hull of the HMCS Fredericton, as its crew bustled about to keep things in working order. As hectic as things were, the situation wouldn't be immediately obvious to anyone below deck, especially if they were on the bottom level, like a certain creature currently locked in a cage was.
Said creature was a blue, koala-like... Well, alien! He'd had no true name for most of his life, simply being referred to as "Experiment 626", but had fairly recently been given the name "Stitch" by a friend. More recently, he'd been captured by agents of some government he didn't recognize, who had put him in a cage and were now transporting him to... God knows where. Everyone on board was speaking a language he didn't understand, but he could tell from the commotion that something significant was currently happening.
SHRREEEEE!
There was a near-deafening shriek of metal, and Stitch stumbled a bit and covered his ears! FUCKING CHRIST, what the hell was that!? A few things in the room had fallen over, so clearly there'd been an impact of some kind outside. Hopefully it wasn't too bad... Then, there was a voice on the intercom. While he still didn't know what they were saying, it was short and partially repeated, so it couldn't have been good. After that, he heard the many muffled voices slowly get quieter... Th-they're abandoning the ship... AND THEY'RE LEAVING ME BEHIND! "No, come back! DON'T LEAVE ME HERE!" Stitch had already tried talking to the crew, and while they clearly didn't understand english, all that mattered now was if they heard him... Which it didn't seem like they did.
Well, that was that. Water was starting to flow into the room, so unless something happened soon, he was doomed to die in this ship...
Bang!
The ship hit something else, this time with a lot more force, knocking Stitch off his feet and sending a nearby machine of some sort tipping towards the cage, then...
CLANG!
It fell, and smashed through some of the cage's bars, giving Stitch a way out! He scrambled through the opening and bolted for the door, which was thankfully already open. Because he was so short, the water was already up to his knees as he splashed down the hall, and by the time he got to the nearest ladder it had reached his chest!
Stitch looked up the ladder... Shit, this is gonna suck... The rungs were rather far apart, and again, since he was so short, he'd have a hard time climbing them. Still, with the alternative being drowning, he had to do his best to get up there. With a lot of effort, he started awkwardly climbing, practically needing to stand up on each rung to be able to reach the next, holding the side for balance each time. This whole process was so slow, Stitch wasn't outpacing the water by much; by the time he'd gotten to the top and onto the next floor, it was only a bit below his knees again.
This next hallway had a lot of clutter blocking the way, though with another ladder visible past an open door, this was clearly the way he had to go. With that, he set off, climbing over fallen objects and hopping across others as the water continued rising... Stitch was definitely not making good time on this floor, and the water was soon at the point where, if he was standing on the floor, it would be over his head. And, stand he would, since his body was too dense to allow for swimming.
Just before reaching the door, he was out of stuff to stand on, and with the water at his neck, he didn't have time to think of a way to not go under. Ah, fuck, here we go... Stitch had always hated being underwater, but it was his only option now. With a deep breath, he puffed his cheeks and jumped from the fallen locker he was standing on.
Splash!
Not wasting any time, he immediately started swim-running to the ladder. Being so dense actually came with an advantage; with his weight keeping him so firmly on the bottom, he could walk and run at about normal speed. Reaching the ladder, he once again started climbing, which was a fair bit easier this time from the water somewhat reducing his weight. The ease also came with speed, and Stitch managed to get his head out of the water again, releasing his breath with a "Pah!"
At the top, the next hall was behind him, and the door at the end was closed. He could see another ladder behind it through the door's window, so he thought about what he could do to reach its handle as he ran towards it through the mostly clear hallway. Of course, the water was still coming, and was already at his neck as he started to tilt his head back to breathe for a little longer. Soon enough, Stitch took another deep breath just before the water passed his head again, needing to start holding it much earlier this time.
Eventually, he reached the door, looking up at the handle. It was too high for him to just reach for, so he tried jumping for it. That certainly got him closer, but still not close enough. He quickly scanned the hall behind him for anything he could drag over and stand on... Ah, there was a locker fairly close by. It was upright, but Stitch could likely knock it down, jogging toward it and giving it a good shove. He watched it wobble a bit, pushing it again each time it started leaning away, and eventually it toppled over with a loud SLAM, its door falling open in the process. Smiling between his puffed cheeks, Stitch ran around to the other side and started pushing the locker towards the door... But, it was so heavy! Damn it, this is gonna take forever! But, in the corner of his eye, he noticed there was some stuff in the locker. Oh, I should probably empty it out, that'll speed this up.
There wasn't much of any significance in the locker, just some clothes and... A box? Stitch took its lid off... Wha- Why are there so many dumbbells!? The box was completely full of what looked like 10 or so dumbbells for some reason. So that was the issue! He pulled the box out of the locker, then started back to go push some more, then realized... Wait, that box would work way better! He took all the dumbbells out of the box, then picked it up and ran back to the door. The water had finally reached the ceiling of this hall, and Stitch's lungs were starting to complain about holding air for so long.
He set the box in front of the door and hopped onto it, hoping it would support his weight... And it did! He jumped again, now managing to reach the door's handle and hanging from it, the water's current pushing it open at last. With that, Stitch dropped from the handle, ran into the room and started quickly climbing the ladder. Though, near the top, he slipped, falling between two rungs and landing back on the floor, the impact forcing some bubbles to spurt from his lips. Ugh, for god's sake, I don't have time for this! Again he climbed the ladder, slightly slower to make sure he wouldn't fall again, this time making it to the top.
Again, this floor's hall was behind Stitch, and while the flow of water seemed to have slowed down, he'd taken so long to get here he could barely get his head above the water, only having enough time for a couple quick gasps. "Pah, huuu, huuuup!" Already he had to hold his breath again, though he was at least somewhat refreshed.
The door at the end of the hall was closed again, though this time a cabinet had fallen in front of it, so Stitch wouldn't need to find something to stand on this time. Once again, he ran down the hall, but was soon interrupted by a loud sound of some kind and the ship shaking again, causing him to trip. That must have been the ship hitting the bottom... He was gonna have a hell of a time getting to the surface from so far down. He got up and continued down the hall, then hopping onto the cabinet and pulling the door's handle, which... Didn't move? ...You've got to be kidding me... The door was locked. What moron takes the time to lock a door when trying to escape!?
All Stitch could do now was check the nearby rooms and hope there was an extra key somewhere, and considering he couldn't read any of the signs, he'd have to just guess. He turned around and looked in the nearest room... A desk with a chair and some filing cabinets. He'd found an office of some sort! Well, that was certainly lucky. He walked in and looked around, not seeing any keys anywhere, then checked the desk's drawers. Nothing important, a few tiny bubbles, nothi- A keyring, perfect! Except... Ugh, come on! There's so many keys! Well, it couldn't be helped, he'd just have to try all of them. Grabbing the keyring from the drawer, Stitch went back to the locked door and started trying keys...
A full minute of this went by, with slowly growing discomfort and frustration as he tried key after key. He'd had terrible luck with the keys so far, having gotten through all but a few of them at this point, and was beginning to worry that none of them would work. Then, there was just one left. Stitch hesitated for a moment. If this one didn't work, that would probably be it for him. He nervously tried it on the lock... And it worked! Of course it would be the very last one, stupid thing, wasting my damn time... He finally opened the door, deciding to keep the keyring with him for now, holding it with his mouth so he had his hands free, and climbed up yet another ladder.
This time there wasn't a hallway, just a small-ish room with another door, a tiny air pocket that was well out of his reach... And a portable ladder that could get him there! Tossing the keyring aside, Stitch scrambled up the ladder and shoved his... Nose, into the air pocket. It was barely even an inch thick, and he had to not breathe too heavily or he'd risk sucking in water, but at least he could breathe a bit. The air was visibly draining out, slipping through an unseen crack, and with one last deep breath, it was gone... Well, that was that. All the air Stitch had now was what was in his lungs and cheeks.
He dropped from the ladder and tried the door, which thankfully wasn't locked, and finally got outside. Holy crap, I'm so far down... Looking up, he couldn't even see the surface, just a watery void and some bubbles floating from the ship and Stitch's nostrils. There was no possible way he could hold his breath long enough to just walk up some path to the surface, he'd have to find something to help. Looking around the deck, there didn't seem to be anything like that... So, determined, he went back through the door and into the ship again.
First, Stitch looked around the entrance room, since he'd gotten distracted by the air pocket before... Hey, there was a life ring! It was floating from a hook, too high up for him to normally reach, but not with the portable ladder. He dragged it into position, thankful that it was already propped up on the wall with the hook, then climbed up and grabbed the life ring, which had enough buoyancy that he could hang from it and not drag it down. Nice, this'll totally work... If I can find a way to get it outside.
Stitch grabbed onto the hook and slid the life ring off, causing it to float up to the ceiling. Now, um... Oh, I got it! He jumped and grabbed the ring again, then, with a lot of effort, pulled himself up and swung back and forth, then flipped upside-down and pressed his feet against the ceiling! Now he could easily carry the life ring, walking along the ceiling to bring it to the door. He had to be really careful, now; one wrong move and the ring would float off without him! Stitch climbed through the top of the door, made sure he had a good grip on the life ring, and pulled it through. It pulled much harder than he'd anticipated, flipping him back over and immediately slipping out of his hands!
"NBLOBLO!", he shouted, landing on his back as he watched his lifeline float away like a balloon. Can't believe this shit. Why do I have to be so damn heavy? That whole process had wasted about a minute, plus some air from his lungs, which took this moment to remind him that he needed to figure something out eventually. "Mm...Mmm..." He got up, and went into the ship once again to find another solution. The entrance room didn't have anything else of significance, so Stitch begrudgingly jumped down to the next floor and checked another room further down the hall... A berth. Probably wouldn't have anything helpful, but he'd check back later if he couldn't find anything somewhere else.
He continued down the hall and looked into another room... A cargo hold! There had to be something helpful in there. An assortment of things were laying around in it, some clearly having spilled from crates that had broken as the ship sank, but nothing immediately useful. Stitch looked around at the labels on the crates, some of which were thankfully in english and clearly not written very formally.
"Assorted goods for Bits and Pieces" No, the most relevant thing that could have would almost certainly be goggles, which he didn't need.
"Tailoring supplies for Carousel Boutique" Definitely nothing important.
The next crate's label had been torn a bit, but what was left still gave a good hint as to its contents: "-ronty's Undersea Tours" That sounded good! Stitch just needed to find a way to crack that crate open. He tried just opening it... Nope. With how things have been going, guess I should've expected that. Looking around, it seemed like the best thing around to open the crate with was a hammer sticking out of a broken one. Stitch tried to pull it out, but it was stuck. He pulled harder, bracing against the crate...
Crack! "AblAblH!" The hammer suddenly broke free, sending Stitch tumbling a good distance with a bubbly yelp of surprise. He got up and went back to the important crate, setting about pulling out the nails... Which had been sent in too deeply for the hammer to catch them. Not being able to get enough speed underwater to just bash the thing open, he only really had one option. Stitch jammed the claw end of the hammer into the top of the crate, pulled it back out, then shoved it back in next to that spot. He was going to carve a circle of holes into the crate, which would take an eternity, then hope he could slam down on it to break it loose.
A full minute went by like this, Stitch now having been holding his breath for 3 minutes, his cheeks visibly bigger as his chest started to spasm. Finally, the circle was done. Wasting no time, he bashed the hammer against it... Nothing. He tried again, getting the same result. Don't you DARE tell me I wasted my time on this! He stood up and started stomping on the crate, still to no effect. Finally, he jumped and slammed both feet on it at once-
Crunch! Finally, the circle he'd outlined with holes broke free! Nice, there we go! There BETTER be something helpful in this. Stitch moved the broken wood aside and started rummaging through the crate. Goggles, snorkels, flippers... Scuba tank! "Hblell yeblah! MM!" Well, that was certainly a waste of air. It didn't really matter now, though, he'd get to breathe soon enough. He put the regulator in his mouth and sucked in, getting... Nothing. Stitch wasn't too familiar with these, and there was clearly more to them than he thought. There was the regulator and the tank itself, obviously, but what was all this other stuff? A long tube with a thing on the end that had a stick pointing at an E, what looked like a second regulator for some reason, a knob-looking thing at the top of the tank... Actually, that knob looked rather promising. Stitch turned it and tried sucking on the regulator again, still not getting any air. Stupid thing, let me breathe! He smacked the tank in frustration, obviously still not accomplishing anything, then tossed it out of the crate and climbed out of it himself.
As he did, he happened to look down and see that he was fully erect for some reason. He'd been so focused on escaping that he hadn't really noticed his arousal until now, having gone almost 4 minutes without a breath. Stitch's lungs were complaining in earnest now, with little grunts and moans accompanying the contractions of his chest. "Hrmm...Mmblpblp..." With the scuba tank being a bust, he had to go find something else.
Back out into the hall he went, checking room after room and finding nothing useful. Soon enough, a fifth minute had passed, then a sixth. Stitch had now checked every room on the floor, even the berth, which turned out to also have nothing helpful, like he'd expected. His only choice now was to go even deeper, which he did, jumping down to the next floor as his cheeks inflated further and he started blushing from the strain of holding his breath.
He continued searching all the rooms he found, slowly losing his composure as he went longer and longer without finding anything that could help him escape. Finally, eight minutes in, with volleyball-sized cheeks and a purple blush, Stitch found something significant: An inflatable life raft! Wasting no time, he grabbed it and bolted back through the hall, leaving a trail of bubbles as he did. As he scrambled up the ladder, however, the life raft's handle got caught on something without him noticing, and there was a sudden PSSHHHHH as it quickly inflated! "GOBLD DABLMN IBLT!" The raft's rapid expansion caused it to force itself under Stitch and start pushing him upward. He tried to climb out, but the raft's acceleration had him pinned in place! Soon enough, it slammed against the ceiling above the ladder, and everything went dark. Not because he was unconscious, but because he was now trapped against the ceiling.
How does this just keep getting worse? Stitch squirmed against the life raft in the pitch black, barely able to move as it squeezed him all over. It felt rather nice on his dick, but he tried to ignore it and focus on getting out. It was slow, and taking a lot of effort, but he felt like he was making progress. Sure enough, he soon saw a faint light, slowly inching toward it... And his head popped out from under the raft! It had taken him a full minute so far, but with a bit more wriggling, he managed to get the rest of the way out and fall to the floor.
Whining and leaning against a wall, Stitch covered his mouth with one hand and held himself up with the other. The lack of air was really starting to get to him, cheeks now as big as basketballs and his belly sucked in. J-just...Let me...B-breathe... He was well past his breathholding record, and once again without a plan on how to surface. Keeping a hand on his mouth, he dropped down the ladder again and resumed his search.
After a minute and a half of searching the cluttered hallway's rooms, Stitch stiffened up, moving his free hand to also cover his mouth and going "MMH, HMMBLBLB!" A burning feeling was forming in his chest and his cheeks were turning blue as his instincts started telling him to just give up and breathe. N-no, I can STILL GET OUT OF HERE! As determined as he was, the air in his lungs had been mostly used up and wouldn't keep him going that much longer. Mentally recovering a bit, Stitch started walking again to continue looking for anything helpful, keeping both hands on his mouth just in case.
Still finding nothing after another minute, he dropped back to the bottom floor. There weren't many rooms here, thankfully, so it only took about 30 seconds to check them. Then, he was back in the room with the cage he'd been locked in, a 12-minute-old breath sitting in his struggling lungs. Almost immediately, Stitch noticed an inflatable life vest... Y-you can't be s-serious...Th-this whole time...There was something RIGHT HERE!? Taking a hand off his mouth, he snatched it up and bolted back through the hall, not getting far before he stiffened up again, dropping the life vest to more effectively cover his mouth again as his cheeks slowly grew larger than his head. Eyes rolling back, chest jolting back and forth, Stitch knew he needed to do something right now if he wanted to keep his lungs dry. His heavily throbbing dick told him exactly what to do, and he snapped a hand from his mouth to his dick and frantically stroked it. It certainly didn't reduce his desperate need to breathe, but the pleasure at least helped him keep his composure.
Letting go of his mouth, Stitch grabbed the life vest again and started awkwardly running down the hall as he continued to masturbate, a trail of bubbles streaming from his lips. Reaching the end of the hall, his cheeks had gotten so enormous that they brushed against the doorframe! He had to momentarily stop jacking off as he climbed the ladder, his will faltering for those few seconds before he reached the top and could resume pleasuring himself. That whole process continued for a minute; run down a hall, climb a ladder while trying his best not to inhale, then repeat. Finally he was outside again, having avoided getting the vest's handle stuck on anything.
Stitch fumbled with the life vest for a moment, his vision blurring and fingertips starting to go numb, when he was stunned by a sudden orgasm! It had snuck up on him as he'd mostly been paying attention to the inferno in his lungs, and thus he wasn't prepared for it. His cheeks briefly bulged even bigger, before he went "PLABLBALALBL!" and blew out all his air in a giant cloud of bubbles, shooting a load into the water at the same time! Fuck, FUCK, NO! As little as it was doing now, it was at least making me lighter! Coming down from his orgasm, it seemed slightly easier to hold on, now, with what was essentially all carbon dioxide out of his lungs, not even enough of anything left in him to puff his cheeks.
Attempting to put on the life vest, Stitch realized it was too big for him. He didn't care any more, simply grabbing on as tight as he could and yanking on the handle. Psshhh, the vest went as it inflated, and thankfully had quite a bit more than enough force to quickly lift him from the ship! He knew full well that this was likely his last chance; if he slipped, it was over, and if he inhaled, even if he kept his grip, it would take a lot longer to reach the surface. Several seconds passed, floating high above the wrecked ship he'd been stuck in for so long...
"Slk-glp!" Stitch slurped water through his nose, and while he managed to swallow it, he tried to press his face against the life vest so it wouldn't happen again, as even gulping water would slow him down a bit. Still, though, he sucked in again, "Hic-ulp!" This time he grabbed his neck as more water seeped into his mouth through his nostrils, beginning to inflate his cheeks again. Holding the life vest with just one hand wasn't enough, though, and he started to slip. Stitch tried to recover, letting go of his neck to frantically grasp at the vest, swallowing a mouthful of seawater with a loud gulp, but it was too late. The life vest floated off without him, leaving him rapidly sinking back down! His lungs were so empty he couldn't even scream, desperately swatting at the water in what could best be described as a mockery of swimming, taking several seconds to finally slam down back onto the deck of the ship. He may or may not have been lucky he was so tough, since landing at that speed would likely cause serious injury to a human. As it stood, it just left him stunned for a moment.
The life vest wasn't even visible any more, Stitch laying on his back and staring upward at where it might have been as he cried tears that weren't visible in the water. Suddenly, he jolted a bit. His lungs were done being ignored, rioting inside him after nearly 14 minutes without a breath, and, arching his back, he gave in to their demands.
"G-GHHUUUUAAAGLKL!"
Immediately he clutched at his neck and started thrashing about, coughing and hacking before sucking in again. He kept at this for a few seconds, taking loud gasps of water and coughing them back out, then he forced himself to stand up. Writhing about on the deck wouldn't solve anything, and he still had a chance to at least find air!
Still in a coughing fit and with both hands on his neck, Stitch sprinted back into the ship once again, jumping down the ladder and running into the nearest room, which was the office. "HUGLK, GARGL, GULK!", he went, tearing the drawers from the desk and yanking open the filing cabinets to no avail. J-JUST A BUBBLE, THAT'S ALL I WANT! He ran out of the room and across the hall to the berth, the blue of his blush starting to spread to the rest of his face. He pulled the sheets off the beds and tossed pillows aside, but still found nothing. "GAKH, HURK, HUUUP!" Stitch's instincts forced him to hold his breath again, puffing his cheeks even bigger than they'd gotten while he still had air in him. They were so big, now, that he had quite some difficulty fitting through the doorway, needing to turn his head sideways and squeeze one cheek through at a time.
Back out in the hall, Stitch ran to the cargo hold next, having a much easier time getting through the door as he'd gone back to frantically choking on the water. Grabbing the regulator of the scuba tank he'd discarded before, he shoved it in his mouth and inhaled as hard as he could. Still nothing. G-GIVE ME AIR, FFOR FUCK'S SAKE! I'M DROWNING, YOU'RE SSUPPOSED TO PREVENT THIS! Stitch started banging on the tank, even grabbing the hammer and using that, but all it did was subtly dent. Finally, he just bit the thing as hard as he could, rewarded with a sort of clung sound as he pierced it. He shoved the tank to his face and gasped from one of the holes he'd made, and still didn't get air! Though, now he could finally see... The tank had been empty all along. OH, COME ON! WHO EVEN DOES THAT!? Stitch threw the useless scuba tank a good distance, then ran to the nearest crate, the adrenaline rushing through him giving the strength to simply tear its lid off instead of wasting time with that hammer. Just clothes, in this crate. "GHUH, HUUURGH!" He ripped open another, finding a pile of books. A third crate had a bunch of electronics AND A TINY BUBBLE! Stitch gasped it down without hesitation and continued tearing open crates. If one of them had any air at all in it, that meant there could be one that was full of air!
This went on for about a minute more, with Stitch finding a variety of things as his gurgling echoed throughout the room, but he didn't care about any of them, slurping up any bubbles he could find. He even found jewelry at one point, but just gulped another bubble and didn't give it a second thought. Eventually, coming down from his extreme adrenaline rush, he was no longer strong enough to open any crates. Even then, he kept looking around for a while, hoping to find any crates that were already open or damaged enough that he could get into them.
Finally, his panicking came to an end, giving up on the many crates entirely and stumbling out into the hall. Stitch was a mess at this point, his now-purple tongue drooping from his mouth as he panted water, his whole face a dark blue. Remembering the life raft, he slowly walked down the hall to the ladder room it was stuck in, hoping he could find a way to get at the air in it. He hopped up and down for a while, flailing his arms around as he tried to reach the life raft stuck on the ceiling, though not getting anywhere near it. Then, he remembered the portable ladder he'd used to get the life ring, and set off back through the hall to go get it.
With some awkward walking and occasional tripping, Stitch got to the ladder leading to the entrance room and did his best to climb it. His coordination was starting to suffer from all the water-breathing, though, and he fell multiple times before he finally managed to reach the top. Grabbing the portable ladder, he fell back down and landed flat on his face, slowly struggling to his feet again. "...Nghuh...huulp..."
Stumbling back down the hall, Stitch finally got to the room with the raft again and started setting up the... Wh...where's thhe ladder? Looking back, he'd dropped it when he'd fallen down to this floor, and it was back on the opposite end of the hall. Ffuckssake... So, back he went, starting to hold a breath of water partway through, though he didn't puff up his cheeks much.
Once again, he grabbed the ladder and... Wait, no, wrong ladder. He grabbed the portable ladder and dragged it along behind him as he let go of his lungful of water to cycle more through him, looking back every now and then to make sure he hadn't dropped it again. Finally, Stitch had gotten the portable ladder to the room with the life raft on the ceiling, the whole trek having taken almost 3 minutes. He set the ladder against the wall and tried to climb it... It was at too much of an angle, and slid down the wall. "Glluk...sstayy..." He set it back up and held his breath again, but this time the ladder was too vertical, tilting backwards and sending Stitch falling to the next floor. "Blughk!", he went, as the impact of landing forced the water from his lungs.
After laying there for several seconds, he decided he needed to rest a while, sitting up and rubbing his hands together to try to wake himself up. Noticing he'd gotten hard again, Stitch instead started masturbating, getting a dopey smile on his blue face as he let out a watery moan, "Mmnuuuuhhh..." He'd been drowning about 5 minutes by now, and was looking even worse, tongue now dark purple and eyes lidded, but he had no intention of giving up just yet.
Now more awake, Stitch got up and climbed back to the raft room, having an easier time using the ladder than before, and set up the portable ladder once again. This time, he'd gotten the angle right, and it worked! Now at the top, he turned to the life raft and bit into it, causing it to spray bubbles all over as if it were an air-filled piñata. BLUBULBLLUBUBL! Stitch smiled as he watched it deflate, finally about to breathe a substantial amount of air again after so long. He raised his head into the newly-formed air pocket, gurgled up some water, and took a well-deserved breath. "Gluglgl, huuuufff..." It put a weird taste in his mouth, but he just assumed it was because it had been so tightly sealed in rubber or whatever it was, spitting up more water and breathing in again. "Blk, huuaa..."
For some reason, though, he still felt lightheaded, and could tell that his face was still a deep blue... Wwwhy...nnot workhingg... Unknown to him, the life raft (and the vest he'd tried earlier) used a canister of compressed carbon dioxide to inflate itself, thus, there was no point whatsoever in tearing it open to breathe. Eventually, Stitch got the idea... Or at least, the spirit of it. ...nneedh...mmore... Assuming his dire lack of oxygen had already drained this "air" dry, he took as deep a breath as he could, with water still taking up a fair bit of space in his lungs, then dropped back into the water and down to the next level to look for more air. He managed to hold his breath for a bit, a column of bubbles streaming from between his cheeks, which had reached the size of basketballs again. Just 20 seconds later, Stitch exhaled the rest of the useless bubbles and sucked in water, shuddering as he resumed drowning.
Nothing that notable happened for a while, several minutes ticking by as he continued re-checking every room on this floor of the ship, then the next. At the eighth minute, though, he heard something strange... A ringing sound, seeming to come from... A nearby phone? Stitch's curiosity got the better of him, and he had to know who was calling. It was too high for him to reach, but with this being the hall with all the clutter, he piled up an assortment of objects for about 30 seconds, then climbed to the top and grabbed the phone. Whoever was calling was pretty determined, since it hadn't stopped ringing in all that time.
Stitch forced his vocal cords to work. "Hh...hhhel-hic-lo?"
A cheerful-sounding voice responded, "Hi! Is this Stitch?"
How did they know he was here? "Thh-hulp-thassmme...glk..."
"Are you okay? You sound like you're choking!"
His eyes rolled back for a moment as his consciousness faded, but he forced himself to stay awake. "Dhh...gkh...d-drrownninng...mnneed-gurgl-airrhh..."
"Oh, you're drowning! Where are you right now? I could find you some air."
"...Shhhipf..."
"...That's... Not very helpful. You sure you can't elaborate?"
"...Ss-ulp-sannkh..."
"Hmm... Right, hang on a minute, I'll get back to you." With that, music started playing from the phone. All Stitch had to do now was hope he'd be aware enough to hear what whoever that was would say when they got back. In the meantime, he started jacking off and puffed his cheeks, though didn't hold his breath, continuing to breathe water through his nostrils. "Hmgh...glrglrgl..."
About 30 seconds later, the music stopped and the voice returned. "Alright, I'm back, are you still there?"
He blew the water from his cheeks and tried to answer, but couldn't focus enough to form any words, simply going "Urgl, gluk"
"Can't talk any more? Okay, I'll just hope you're coherent enough to understand me. I know where you can find air!"
Stitch's eyes widened for a moment with an excited-sounding gurgle, "Hrglk!"
"Go down to the next floor, and go through the third door on your left, got it? Still remember which way left is?"
"...Nnghuhuh..."
"Alright, now hurry! You sound like you're gonna pass out soon!" Stitch then heard a dial tone, his unknown helper having hung up, which he didn't bother to do himself, immediately setting off down the hall. Coming to the ladder room, he... Turned around. That was the up ladder, not the down one. He was barely able to stand, now, leaning against a wall to keep himself upright as he went back through the hall, slowly and clumsily climbing over the bits of junk strewn about.
Arriving at the right ladder, Stitch just leaned forward and tumbled down, landing on the next floor. Using the ladder to pull himself up, he walked even slower through this last hall, counting up the left side's doors in his head. ...onne...t-twoo......wwha... There were only two doors! That person on the phone had lied to him!
Wait, no they didn't. Stitch had just been counting the doors on his right instead. He'd been the one who lied, saying he could still tell his left from his right. He walked back to the start of the hall and tried again. ...o-one...ttwo...thhree! There it was. How had he missed this when he'd checked this floor before? It was closed, but its handle was low enough for Stitch to reach it if he stood on his tippy-toes, pulling it down and pushing the door forward.
The room was mostly unfurnished, with just a chair, filing cabinet, and locker. Also a "Hang in there" poster on the opposite wall, and another weird sound, sort of like "blblblblblb" He knew that meant something important, but after nearly 10 whole minutes of drowning, he just couldn't figure it out. Looking behind the door, he saw a weird cylindrical object with a crack in it, which had a bunch of shining orbs coming from it and seemed to be the source of the sound. Said orbs were flying up to the ceiling, where there were so many of them that it looked like they formed one contiguous surface. Hmm... cylinder, shining orbs, surface... Stitch suddenly realized; that was a broken air tank spewing out bubbles! He sprinted toward it as fast as his weakened legs could take him, but the bubbles stopped just before he reached it, though he was at least able to grab some before they floated away and gulp them down. "Huulp! Glup!"
Now, he had to figure something out quick, before he passed out. There had to be some way to reach that air pocket... The height difference between each bit of furniture seemed small enough that he might be able to climb them, so he decided he'd move them together. Stitch tried to move the locker first, but it was too heavy for him. The filing cabinet was also too heavy at first, but after he pulled open its drawers and tossed out everything inside, he could fairly easily push it up next to the locker. Then, he picked up the chair and put it next to the filing cabinet, finishing his improvised staircase.
Wasting no time on admiring his work, Stitch jumped up on the chair, climbed onto the filing cabinet, using its drawers as handholds, and grabbed onto the top of the locker, barely managing to scramble up onto it. Finally, his head was in the air pocket! ...But only partially. His eyes were above the water, but not his mouth or nose! Climbing up here had used up the last of his energy, and all he could do was slowly tilt his head back to try to get the air... But, doing so sent him off balance, and he began to fall backward, his nostrils getting within an inch of the air he desperately needed before he fell off the locker, tumbling onto the filing cabinet and chair-
"Ghup!" Stitch suddenly jolted to awareness for a fraction of a second, quickly falling back into his drowned stupor. He was... Back in the hallway, laying on his back? Confused, he raised his head to look at the... Wall? The door wasn't there any more! Or, had it even been there to begin with? He let his head fall back again, no longer having any energy to move, but still managing to stay awake. The door, and the room itself, had been a hallucination from the lack of oxygen. The person on the phone, too, never existed either. What had really happened was that he'd talked to himself for a while, and then collapsed just before he'd reached for the handle of the door he thought he saw.
Stitch laid there for a while, staring up at the ceiling, not even breathing the water any more. He shuddered every few seconds, still-erect dick throbbing heavily with his quickly-slowing heartbeat, before spurting some cum into the water. Shivering and quietly moaning as he had his last orgasm, Stitch's eyes rolled back, his shivers turning to twitches, then stopping entirely, his dick still hard even now, pointing straight up at the ceiling as he passed out. His heart stubbornly kept beating for several minutes, until that too finally stopped, his fully drowned body at last reaching its limit.