Of Koi and Autobots

We have a pond of [koi](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koi) (colourful Japanese carp). They are generally happy and friendly. Over the week, one of my sister’s koi died. Interestingly, it was full of eggs. It is apparently rare for koi in a normal house pond to breed and get pregnant.
We thought that was a one-off incident – until the next day, when one of my koi died. I named all my 3 koi after the Autobot leaders. I wished it had been Ultra Magnus because I didn’t think much of him as a leader, but alas, it was Optimus Prime.
The loss of a pet fish is nowhere near the loss of a dog which you could at least hold and communicate with. However, I’ve known most of these koi since they were babies. I would tell guests at my home about how I saw the baby koi explore their new pond on their first day. The baby koi lined up in a row and the one in front would swim headfirst towards one of the oxygen pipes in our pond which was producing lots of bubbles. Then the koi would relax and get blown away by the bubbles. I even saw the koi’s mouth open up, like it was enjoying itself! What was amazing was how the koi after it would do exactly the same thing. They were like little playmates, taking turns to enjoy their jacuzzi playground.

The koi as adults, in happier times.
Even as adults now, when they see us they swim towards us (especially when they’re hungry). Our chagoi – a black species of koi which looks scary but is the [friendliest](http://forum.koimag.co.uk/tm.asp?m=13690) of all koi and is usually seen as the leader – would be particularly communicative and would make first eye contact with us. I call it Koizumi, after the Japanese presidentPrime Minister who was then in power. Thankfully, it is still alive. We cannot have a leadership crisis in the koi pond.
We will be getting replacements for the two Kois that just died. Optimus Prime may have been killed, but he lives on through the [Matrix](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matrix_of_Leadership). In the meantime, Hot Rod has of course been elevated to Rodimus Prime and will be the leader of the Autokoi for now. The new koi shall take on his name, new movies shall be made and his figurine will be available in various limited edition collections 😉