sailor buzz
The Original: Sailor Fleye

Once upon a time, back when the Sailor Neopets were first created to battle the Chaos Faerie, the pet now know as the buzz was instead called the fleye. Its form was essentially an eyeball with wings.

It's a weird pet, and the young woman who became Sailor Fleye - one Kara Lynn Quiner - was equally weird, complete with very large eyes that always seemed to be staring. Scientifically minded and never quite in touch with the rest of the world, she lost contact with the other Sailor Neopets shortly after the birth of her son.

Doctor Quiner had retreated from society to focus solely on her experiments, and her son would be the first victim . . .

The Founding of the Secret Laboratory

Somewhere under the ocean, deep beneath a familiar set of islands, on the verge of a thermal vent, lies a secret lab. It can only be reached by collecting the nine torn pieces of the map, which have been copied many times but seldom all gathered together.

It was in this laboratory that Doctor Quiner, along with an equally scientific-minded young yellow scorchio, set up shop. Since the Neopian Cold War had begun, they began a project to develop the genetic template for an unstoppable soldier. Their base was the material from Doctor Quiner's son Dana, who did not survive the process.

Dozens of experiments, identified only by number, were created; the early attempts failed miserably, often dying of built-in flaws, but each one grew more and more refined. In the meantime, the scorchio began work on another project: a mutation ray that would change the DNA of pets already born.

After the 68th experiment, Doctor Quiner finally succumbed to old age, leaving the scorchio to himself in the lab . . .

The Raising of Experiment 68: Kara Lynn

In his first emotional moment, and his last for a long time, the scientist gave 68 the secondary designation "Kara Lynn". He then went on to focus all of his energy on the Lab Ray, so 68/Kara Lynn was the last of her line for years.

News of the Lab Ray leaked out eventually. Users and pets began collecting the map pieces in the hopes of ending up stronger, faster, more exotic, or all three. The other experiments died; Kara Lynn languished. Her creator tested her on a regular basis and made careful note of the results, but that was all.

The presence of outsiders stimulated her curiosity, though, and one day Kara Lynn escaped . . .



Life After the Lab

Kara Lynn spent a week or two simply exploring. She knew a lot about Neopia's history and layout from her educational tests, but not a lot about social psychology. It wasn't hard to figure out what to do first. She created an account and a buzz, then adopted another; they seemed ugly to most people, but for some reason she felt an affinity with them.

Although normal society tended to be weirded out by Kara Lynn, she settled into a comfortable life: isolated, yes, but much freer than her days in the lab. She played games of logic on a regular basis, bought food for her pets and trinkets for herself, listened to music, and watched the sun set over the ocean.

Then the Sailor Neopets learned of her and asked for her help; and Sailor Shoyru moved to the island; and Kara Lynn discovered that the power to become Sailor Buzz had descended upon her . . .

Within the Story: Sailor Buzz

Throughout the course of the story, Kara Lynn has begun to assimilate into society; become very close to Jean (Sailor Shoyru); fallen in love with Jean's suave but sleazy older brother Nick; and generally settled into her role as a Sailor Neopet.

Meanwhile, the scorchio scientist prepared another experiment - Kara Lynn's successor, given the name Diane after Dana, in most respects her identical twin but enhanced further - to return Kara Lynn to the lab for follow-up tests. After she was rescue by Sailor Shoyru and other Sailor Neopets, the scientist did not pursue Kara Lynn further, and contained the dangerous Diane.

What will happen to Kara Lynn in the future, though, remains to be seen . . .