I will admit, this ship is a bit out there, but it was on my mind for a while before I officially made it canon to the AU. The reason I had been considering it was due to a few factors. From the start, Clarissa was single and had just split from an emotionally abusive husband and moved to Alola to have a fresh start for her and her kids. I always toyed with the idea of having her find a new love in Alola, I just wasn’t sure with who. I also already have one ‘Protagonist’s Mother/Interpol Member’ ship in Johanna/Looker so….. I liked the parallels between the Alola mom/Nanu ship and SabotenShipping. Nanu seems like the kind of guy who would benefit from being in a relationship, plus the ship name is super cute – ‘MeowthShipping.’ Just imagine Clarissa’s Kantonian Meowth and Nanu’s hordes of Alolan Meowth becoming friends…. it’s adorable. The other things that swayed me were the ideas of Selene and Elio bonding with Acerola and trying to set up Clarissa and Nanu on dates as well as just the entire concept of Nanu being the protagonist’s stepfather, since I feel like he gives out some pretty strong dad vibes in the games already.
As for how the actual romance plays out….. I’m not entirely sure yet! I do know that the two first met at the end of the game timeline when Nanu visited Melemele Island and keep in touch afterwards, slowly cultivating their relationship. Clarissa’s kids and Acerola all try and help the two grow closer as well, and eventually they start dating. After dating for about two years, they get engaged and this is also around when Clarissa finds out she’s pregnant. Nanala is born after the wedding. Clarissa moves to Ula’ula Island since her husband and kids both already live there and settles initially in Malie City next door to Selene, but later moves to Po Town once its renovations are sufficiently underway, so Nanala grows up mainly around there. Nanu continues to be kahuna and police officer, but is hoping that Tapu Bulu will choose his daughter to succeed him. Clarissa is mainly a homemaker, but she also joins a number of citizen councils and the like to help start committees for a variety of good causes. She and Nanu remain happily married.