Back in high school (mid/late 2000s) I had designed fakemon so having one for this nuzlocke comic was something I wanted to do, especially knowing the BW/BW2 lore mentions a single ancestral dragon that gave form to the tao trio we know today. Here are some "fake" stats and moveset for you guys to have fun with.

NAME/DESIGN/DEX ENTRY ORIGIN: TThe median letter between R and Z is V, so the name was always meant to start with a V. Since this dragon is supposed to be the predecessor of the tao trio, I picked the first vowel (“a”) to symbolize that this was the first/original dragon of the tao trio. One of the Japanese words for gray is “haiiro” (灰色), which I modified (kinda like how the word “shiro” was incorporated in Reshiram and “kuro” for Zekrom). And since “hiro” has a pronunciation similar to Reshiram, the pronunciation of the end of the dragon’s name had to be similar to Zekrom (hence the “-om”). I suppose "Rem" is a consideration but in Kyurem's name, but the japanese roots for that part is 零 rei (zero) and 無 mu (nothing), which is the opposite of the Original Dragon's "completeness." Furthermore, because Kyurem was a forgotten byproduct of the dragon’s splitting (the games do not really acknowledge Kyurem until BW2 happens), I did not make a conscious effort to try to incorporate that into Vahirom’s name. I do realize the pronunciation for the fakemon is slightly different if you read up the Katakana (reads as "Vahaiiromu"). The English name goes as "Vah-hi-rom" but the Katakana pronounciation is fine too. I mean, if you look at the Romanized Japanese names of Reshiram/Zekrom/Kyurem, they are slightly different from the English name.

On the other hand, the design (with color scheme) is reminescent of Kyurem. In fact, the final design I chose is a mix of the two Kyurem forms you see in BW2, which I thought would fit better for the Original Dragon's form. Even the shiny form is a shoutout to Kyurem's shiny version. But the head in particular is a bit of a fusion of Zekrom/Reshiram/Kyurem specifically. If you want details on what design parts came from what, click here

In addition to the design reference, Kyurem is also used as a loose basis for Vahirom's dex entries. I tried to combine a bit of the Kyurem myth/rumor about how it supposedly landed via a meteorite and fell in the Great Chasm (meteorites can be composed of ice and/or metals). I will not go into detail about this in the comic, but I wanted to imply that the "incorrect" Kyurem myth mentioned in the games was a byproduct of time: the story of Vahirom landing in Unova was warped into present day's Kyurem tale since the Original Dragon's existence has been split into today's Zekrom and Reshiram. So many people to collectively forgot about the "true" story; besides, most stories around the Original Dragon focuses on its role in the Great Unovan War. Even though the Grey Shepherd eventually had befriended it, the town still upholds the superstition that something bad will attack them at night...especially Kyurem does exist in present day (supposedly) and probably was hostile due to certain historical events.

The title "Infinite Gray Pokemon" comes from me trying to form a title that is the opposite of Kyurem's (Boundary Pokemon) and using the same title scheme as Reshiram (Vast White Pokemon) and Zekrom (Deep Black Pokemon). Gray is added because White + Black = Gray.

STAT/ABILITY/TYPING: Since 2015, I have realized that trying to "balance" a fakemon is a pointless endeavor especially since Gamefreak/TPC will constantly powercreep itself. I changed up the BST a little bit from my old version but decided to just do whatever I want with the ability/signature moves lol

I picked Dragon/Steel as its typing because Steel moves are super effective against Ice types (Kyurem) and Steel moves are resisted by Electric types (Zekrom) and Fire types (Reshiram). When it split, Vahirom became stronger for the two hero kings by becoming the types that Steel cannot defeat while the "shell" that was left behind is weak to it. At the same time, the Steel typing offsets the expected 2x Dragon weakness to 1x, which means Vahirom is stronger than the three dragons in some respects (the trio are all 2x Dragon weak, even with their secondary typing).

Plus, the fact that Kyurem lived in a time where DNA splicers existed kinda gave me an idea that the Original Dragon would symbolize technological advances (i.e. similar to Stone Age -> Bronze Age). And in the case of this Pokemon, it helped bridge the Pokemon/human societies together to advance both societies. Finally, I am not sure if this is obvious in the picture, but the "blue" parts are supposed to look more steel-like (i.e. darker and more "solid") in this Pokemon, as opposed to the breakable ice parts Kyurem possesses (i.e. in BW2, the wings can break to reveal its true wings, which are used to absorb Reshiram/Zekrom through the DNA Splicer). I have my little theory on the DNA Splicer, which I am hoping to expand on for my comic Episode Grey.

CHANGES MADE IN THE TAO TRIO MYTHOS: I have already implied this before, but the timeline of Vahirom's existence is slightly different from game canon. The game canon has it so that the Original Dragon had befriended the twin kings that created Unova and later was split apart by the same twin kings due to their ideals vs. truth war. But I thought it would be better to have this Original Dragon be a Pokemon that helped the twin kings' ancestor, who helped create the Unova region; then it became a companion for the royal family for several centuries after. This way, I thought the Original Dragon would have a higher importance/significance in Ancient Unovan history.

FINALLY, A HUGE SHOUTOUT TO MY FRIENDS WHO HELPED ME OUT! Thanks for giving me valuable input on the stats, movepool, and other minor details! You're all amazing and I cannot thank you enough ★

Design Feedback:
MaeMacabre - Protocol00 - ShadeofShinon - zerodeath98 

Pokemon Ability/Signature Move/Metagame Feedback:
hitoshura0 - xiihangman - Zeronos12 - protojimmy

Japanese Name/Spelling Feedback:
RitsuBel 

Interested in the nuzlocke? Click [here]