A/N: Alright. So I kind of got lazy on posting this story...AGAIN. Sorry about that, you guys. I find myself falling in and out of these writing moods though as of late. One second I'm all pumped up and ready to get back to work writing this story and then the next, I'm telling myself I'll work on it later. Well, I finally found the motivation enough to work on Chapter 8 for posting. And yes. You are reading that chapter number correctly. For those who didn't notice, I went back and combined a few of the chapters together at the suggestion of a reader, Vioxxin. So thank you, Vioxxin, for your honest words and feedback. I really appreciate them. Hopefully the changes I made will create for a smoother read since I WAS kind of posting up super short chapters before. That being said, I hope you guys otherwise enjoy the NEW Chapter 8~ =3

From Rivalry To Passion- Chapter 8: Suspicions

Disclaimer- I do not own the cartoon that this fanfiction is written for, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Rating: M

Title suggested by LinnechaRose over on DA.

Critiques are welcome. Just please be fair with your critiques and put some actual thought into them before sending.

Note: Kindly refrain from leaving any negative comments about the CONTENT of this story. As the saying goes, if you don't like it, don't read and comment on it. When I ask for critiques on this story, I'd appreciate critiques on the quality of the story rather than the content. Because quite honestly, I don't care to hear whether you like the subject matter or not. Commenting negatively on the content won't make me change it and isn't helpful in the long run.

That said, hope you all enjoy~ =3

"THAT INSOLENT!...CONTEMPTUOUS!...FFFILTH BAG!" Zim raged as he threw open the door to his not-so-secret base, tossing his disguise off in the process before slamming the door shut behind him. "I'LL SHOW HIM…THEM…THIS ENTIRE FILTHY UNIVERSE WHO CAN AND CAN'T TAKE OVER A PLANET AS PATHETIC AS THIS ONE!" he went to grab an antenna and yank down hard on it before gritting his teeth and breathing in deeply. Letting go of the abused appendage about thirty seconds later, Zim exhaled out the breath he'd been holding in that entire time, his voice shaking slightly as he attempted to calm himself down.

Unbeknownst to the two conversing humans, Zim had trailed after them when he first saw them going to leave the school grounds early that day, wanting to know what relation the tall one had to the Dib-worm that he'd take the time to walk the boy home after his passing out in the school office. It wasn't until Dib mentioned that fateful day all those years back that Zim was finally able to place a name (or at least an identification) on what he recalled to be a rather familiar-looking human. Although it had been long ago, he vaguely remembered Dib's involvement with a human ally, the elementary school's ex-councilor. It was almost a shock to him that the human had managed to survive in space for so long, even more so that he found a way in which to return to Earth and resume his short-lived partnership with the Dib.

But something had been off about their interactions. The human boy had seemed rather upset by the older man's return to Earth, even though he had vowed to assist Dib once again in his self-proclaimed mission to stop his attempts at world domination.

Zim frowned at the thought.

'Attempts.'

That's all it had been these past six years: failed endeavors that hadn't truly gotten him anywhere with his status, with his people. The Tallest didn't even acknowledge him as a true invader anymore, if they ever did. He grimaced at the thought of his last transmission with them. He'd show them. He'd show all of them. He didn't need his planet's resources, and he most certainly didn't need their support either. He would finish his job by relying on himself alone. After all, what true invader needed the help of others to conquer a planet as ignorant as Earth?

Standing himself up straight again, Zim went to enter his underground base, prepared to pull an all-nighter if he had to, plotting. To say the very least, his last few schemes had been 'awful', 'uninspired', and dare he say, 'lazy'? He'd grown so accustomed to Dib foiling what plans he did come up with that he almost didn't see the point in trying any longer. But things were different now. His pride as an Irken and an invader had been called into question with Dwicky's remarks about him. He couldn't let a lowly human determine his fate as future ruler of Earth. Oh, how he'd make the human suffer at his hands. In fact, he'd make the man suffer more so than any other cruelty he claimed to have witnessed in space.

Taking a seat at his computer once he had descended into his main lab, he then began to type in commands at lightning speed, his six fingers dancing almost elegantly over the keyboard as they flawlessly brought up a video feed from within the Dib-human's house. Before he could do anything else, he'd have to learn what more the Dwicky-monster knew about him. But with limited information about the human's current whereabouts, he'd need to monitor the Dib's interactions with him until he could pinpoint an exact location to set up surveillance.

As if on cue, the sound of a door opening on the other end of the video feed alerted his attention to the boy's arrival. Once said human fell off to sleep, he'd then send Gir to his residence to attach a homing device to the human's clothing so he could keep track of his every move and interaction. With the Dib at his disposal, there was no way his plan to destroy the Dwicky-human and take over this planet would fail. He'd just have to be patient, ever waiting for his opportunity to strike and make good on his word of completing the job ON HIS OWN.

Eyes narrowed when the door to Dib's bedroom finally opened, a still rather agitated-looking Dib entering and going to flop down onto his mattress.

"Your days are limited, human. Your days are limited."

QQQQQ

Meanwhile, back with Dib, Dib sighed as he stared up at the ceiling of his room. He felt worn out by the day's events but too mentally worked up to sleep. After all, it wasn't every day one of his ex-councilors returned from space and offered to partner up with him again.

Turning over in his bed, he went to bury his face inside a pillow, breathing in his scent before exhaling out a small sigh.

So his proof of alien life forms really had turned out to be false evidence after all.

"Figures…" he muttered to himself before thinking back to what the dark-haired man had said to him.

Dwicky certainly wasn't any alien. But something about the way he spoke had seemed almost sincere. Did he really mean what he said when he pledged his loyalty to him?

'No.' Dib shook his head and shifted onto his stomach. 'He lied before about helping me, and I won't let myself fall for that again.' He thought as he hugged his pillow to himself, trying to forget the betrayal he'd felt the last time Dwicky had left him to face Zim on his own. The Irken was no threat. He was just a minor annoyance; a daily routine; even a way of life for him. Zim's threats were empty though, and he didn't see any reason to believe the Earth was actually in danger of ever being taken over. Dwicky was just trying to bait him into forgiving him, most likely because he felt guilty about leaving the first time. He wasn't that dense though, and Dwicky's words held little to no meaning to him.

Glancing at the clock in his room, Dib noted the time on the wall: 1:30 p. m. Dwicky had told him he'd know where to find him if he wanted to talk, but he didn't. He didn't want to talk or even see Mr. Dwicky again. But despite his desire to stay far away from the ex-councilor, he couldn't help but wonder about the night before.

He sat up in bed with a start, suddenly remembering that there were two figures that he recalled crawling out from the space pod last night. No doubt, the taller of the two was Dwicky himself. But who had been with him? Another human? An alien in disguise?

Shaking his head at his initial thought, Dib went to stand and grab his house keys again. It had to be an alien. Dwicky was the only other human he knew of to have ever entered space.

He didn't want to see Dwicky again, but to confirm his suspicions, he knew he had to.

So reaching into his trench coat pocket, he began to search for something Dwicky had slipped to him right before leaving the school building. It was a crumpled up piece of paper with an address written across it.

"817 Maple Street. The Comfy Platypus Inn? Room 104 in the front lot." He read the slip of paper once he had managed to fish it out from his pocket. He sighed. That was almost all the way back across town, near where the space pod had first crashed.

"Guess I better catch a bus there now if I want to make it back home before the buses shut down for the evening." he said to himself, heading out to door and down the street to the nearest bus stop. He'd confront Dwicky about the identity of his space companion once he got there. The older man wouldn't be able to hide the truth from him this time. Not when he still had proof on his camera of two life forms exiting the space vessel. What he'd do after confronting Dwicky though was still a mystery even to him. Obviously, Dwicky must have had a reason for bringing another alien to Earth with him, and he planned on finding out what that reason was.

A/N: And there you have it for now. As always, feedback would be very much appreciated. Until next time~