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Rainbow Road was a mess.
After their final defeat by the hands of Mario and his pathetic brother, Bowser was captured and Kamek had been forced to retreat the Koopa Army back to base, until they could come up with some plan to retrieve their king.
However, this was one of those instances the king could wait. He had to find the Koopa General first and foremost.
He flew around the mess that was Rainbow Road, looking for Blue Shell and his anxiety levels rising as time passed by. He feared the worst.
He finally spotted something down, at the very shore of the ocean. He flew towards it and truth be told, it was Blue Shell, covered in sand, cuts and blood. Several shards of the colorful road sticking out of his body in random places with dried blood coating their shine. Kamek kneeled beside him and shook his shoulders, a desperate attempt to wake him up.
There was no reaction, no sound, no gasp, no deep breath, no cough.
Nothing. Not even a pulse.
Kamek knew instantly what had happened. His son had blown-up Rainbow Road but that wasn't what killed him, no. The road fell on him and killed him. Was it instantly? Did he suffer? Kamek hoped he didn't. He hoped it was a painless death. He may have been the general, but this was still his son. A son that perished in the line of duty. A son whose egg he saw hatch. A son who he taught how to walk, how to talk, how to behave, how to fly.
To anyone who knew him, he was a leader. A koopa they would follow into battle.
To him, this was his baby. Now his baby was gone. And he knew exactly who to blame.
He carefully, as if he would disturb his son from his slumber, removed the shards of the road sticking from him and threw them into the water. He held his body gently, hugging him, cuddling him as if he was still a child. A sleeping child. He sobbed. A father shouldn't bury his child. It wasn't the order that it was supposed to be. He was supposed to die first, possibly of old age, and his son would live on, maybe even start a family of his own.
The color blue was the color of his family, of his lineage. The lineage that was suddenly taken from him. Now he only saw red.
None of this would have happened if Bowser simply had listened to him in the first place. The princess wasn't going to accept him. Kamek simply followed along, but he didn't agree. He mobilized the whole army just to force a princess from a harmless kingdom to marry him. What happened? Their loss and the loss of the lives of many Koopa Troopas. Where did that lead him? To a simple bird cage.
He wasn't going to kill Bowser, no. He also considered him a son, but he couldn't put that above the love he had for his own blood.
He knew Bowser was going to escape eventually and Mario would try to stop him. He also knew that history would repeat itself over the future futile attempts at winning Princess Peach's heart by force. Many more lives a stake. How many more had to lose their lives for Bowser to win over a princess that only had eyes for someone else, someone that truly respected her?
He was going to teach him a lesson.
He wasn't going to kill him or harm Bowser Jr, the child had nothing to do with this. He was at no fault for Bowser's decisions and was more likely than the Koopas Troopas to suffer because of it. Oh no... He was going to make it impossible for the king to never get his beloved princess, even if that meant secretly helping Mario on the sidelines. He had the advantage of being the king's advisor. He would go unsuspected. Make his goal unreachable. Ruining his plans unnoticed... Maybe a few extra power-ups for the brothers... Secretly push the princess into the arms of another...
The rest? The rest Bowser could do on his own. His own failures and losses. If Kamek were to get caught, which he highly doubted, he could face a death sentence, depending on Bowser's mood. But he wasn't afraid of what the king might do. Not anymore.
He had nothing left to lose.
He was going to sabotage everything from the inside. He was going to make him seem more like a joke than an actual threat. Right where it hurt. And in the end, it was Bowser himself who would push himself off the edge and Kamek wouldn't have to lift a finger, just move the pieces around.
He hugged his son tightly, placing a kiss on his forehead, possibly the last he'll ever give him.
His son died for nothing.
Bowser should get nothing.