As your body grows bigger,
Your mind grows flowered.
It's great to learn,
'Cause knowledge is power!
It's Cathedral Rocky
That chip off the block
Of your favorite cathedral
Cathedral Rock!
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When last we saw our favorite superhero, he had been captured by a fiendish super-villain and tied to a giant boulder in his darkened underground lair.
"It's elementary, my dear Rocky. I am the villain, and you are my prisoner. I have stolen your list of do-gooders, and I have hidden it in a safe place. Soon I will do mean things to them and all will fear the name, 'Mr. Naughty'!"
Rocky shouted out bravely, "Never, you bad man! I will stop you."
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Again, it's elementary, my dear superhero. You are tied to a giant boulder. You will never find your precious notebook. And guess what! I have an army of hungry rats just waiting to have you for dinner."
As if called, a horde of skittering and foul-smelling rats appeared from out of the darkness.
"Let me remove your shoes, Rocky," said the villain as he unlaced one red boot. "They like to start with the feet, you understand." He winked conspiratorially.
"The way I figure," answered Rocky, squirming to keep his feet away from the rats, "you hid my notebook somewhere at the zoo. I know I can find it with the help of my animal friends."
"Not even close, my tights-wearing friend. And see! They just love your little toes," laughed the villain. "Farewell, Rocky! Enjoy your dinner. Or should I say, enjoy being dinner. Heh heh."
**********
"You know," said Rocky, trying to stall for time, "You were once my hero. Back when you weren't so naughty."
"You must be referring to my alter-ego, Mr. Nice, the mild-mannered lab-dwelling scientist. Yes, I was quite an upstanding figure back then. What was I thinking?! Selfless work for the good of mankind?! Bah! Life is much more interesting when you're looking out for Numero Uno!"
"But you forgot one thing. Remember how I said the animals were my friends?"
"Yeah. What of it?"
"Well, all animals are my friends. All I have to say is the magic number, and you'll be the one smelling a rat!"
"Eh?"
"Just a figure of speech."
"Whatever. What's the number?"
"Infinity!" shouted Rocky.
"Infinity is not a number. It's a theoretical construct."
"Doesn't matter. See your precious rats? They are biting through this rope as we speak!"
Indeed, the rats were biting through the ropes. But before Rocky could completely free himself, his nemesis ran off into the darkness of the caverns.
Throwing off his ropes, Rocky stood and shouted into the darkness, "Ready or not, here I come!".
Using his super night-vision and super speed, Rocky sped through the underground caverns and captured the villain hiding deep in a cave.
"Nooo!" shouted the evil-doer. "How did you find me so fast?!"
"Elementary, my dear. I am a superhero," said Rocky, putting his hands on his hips and puffing out his chest. "Now. Where is my notebook?"
"I'll never talk! Why don't you try looking at the zoo?"
"A-ha! Thank you for that suggestion. Now I know exactly where to look!"
Do YOU?
Here is some help if you want it: the picture and the opening poem are just for fun. The puzzle is in the story. It should be a fairly straight-forward puzzle, and some of you will get it pretty quickly, but it might be very difficult for others. Feel free to email for help, though little will be given until there is an FTF.
FTF gets a brand new, unactivated TB dogtag.
If you like this puzzle, see the original, GC1HA1N. (Though you'll have a hard time finding it since it's in Washington State!)