Escape from battle with high probability.
Description
Flee is a Skill in Final Fantasy IX used by Zidane, which lets the whole party run away from a battle where escaping is possible at the cost of small amount of gil.
Obtained[]
Flee can be learned for 40 AP from the Dagger, Mage Masher, Zorlin Shape, Ultima Weapon, and Germinas Boots. As Zidane starts with the Dagger, Flee is likely the first Skill he will master.
Mechanics[]
The party immediately escapes the battle that can be escaped while losing gil equal to 10% of the funds held by the opponents. Though the in-game description says "escape with high probability", Flee will always work unless the party is up against a boss or a fixed encounter. The support ability, Flee-Gil, causes the party to gain gil when escaping with 
and 
but it has no effect on Zidane's Flee ability.
If Zidane is poisoned, condemned, or has Gradual Petrify, and the player uses Flee the moment he is going to get KO'd from one of those status effects, he will still use the ability even though he is KO'd, sending the other members to safety.
Having Flee available means Zidane can use Free Energy when in Trance.
Use[]
Flee can be used to run away from random encounters. Flee is much faster than escaping by holding and , especially if Zidane's turn is coming up, and the gil cost is minor enough that the player can afford to use it frequently. It is especially useful if the player is up against a tough opponent and is about to lose, such as if venturing out to Popos Heights early and running into Grand Dragons and Garudas, or against Yans. It can also be used to avoid fighting certain annoying enemies, as Final Fantasy IX has no "No Encounters" ability like many other series's installments. For this purpose, the player could give Zidane Auto-Haste so he is more likely to get his turn first in battle.
Most of the time, however, the player is better off not running from battles. Though the EXP is not needed to beat the game (even if bosses give no EXP), fighting random enemies still lets the party learn abilities via AP-gain, earn gil, learn new Blu Mag spells for Quina, collect item drops, and empower Zidane's Thievery and Freya's Dragon's Crest.
It is usually always faster to use Flee than to try escape via holding and . Flee is especially useful for a low level challenge run, and for speed-runs, as Zidane is available for most of the game.