Shion grew up in Gongaga and saw the instillation of the Mako reactor there. A highly skilled swordsman, he knew discipline, honor, and humility. His older brother on the other hand knew none of these things. He was a wastrel and a gambler. He was always getting in over his head, but Shion was always there to bail him out.

One day the debt was just too high and his brother was kidnapped by a local gang after failure to pay up. Shion confronted them and killed every one of them to free his brother and helped him escape to Mideel. The gang’s leader had Shion arrested for the crime of murdering his underlings. He was sent to Coral Prison and then transferred to the mythril mines near Midgar. He was sentenced to thirty years of hard labor. Shion spent three years of his sentence in the mines, only seeing the sky at night when the men emerged from the caves.

Rufus would visit every now and then to check up on the progress being made. The mythril was used in the refining process of man made materia and he was sent regularly to evaluate the amount being extracted. Veld usually traveled with him and was there to witness Shion in action with a utility shovel when the dig site was attacked by a swarm of Crawlers. Many of the prisoners fled in fear for their lives, but Shion stood his ground and easily dispatched the creatures. Veld was impressed and asked Rufus if he would commute the young man’s sentence in exchange for his joining the Turks. Rufus agreed and Shion readily joined.