Pay 2 Win

"Hey Wakka. Does Yojimbo seem…iffy, to you?"

"Eh? What you mean yah?"

Tidus remained silent, watching as Yuna paid the aeon to smite the fiends that the party had come across in their trek up Mount Gagazet. Fiends that popped out of nowhere like every other set of fiends they encountered, and fiends that at this stage in the journey, they could dispatch with great ease. Especially with a dog-mustering, sword-wielding, gil-grabbing aeon was thrown into the mix.

"It's just…different, you know?" Tidus asked, watching as Yuna paid Yojimbo another sack of gil, causing the aeon to swing its sword and dispatch another monster. "I mean, I get it. Yuna summons, we hang back."

"As Guardians should brutha," Wakka intoned.

"Um, yeah," said Tidus, deciding not to try questioning why guardians had to stay on the sidelines in the event of an aeon being summoned. "But usually those aeons weren't begging for money every time they used. Heck, you'd think a down payment of 250,000 gil should have covered all future services.

Wakka shrugged.

"I mean, I've never had 250,000 gil in my life," Tidus continued. "And I'm guessing you haven't either."

"Nah," Wakka said simply.

"Exactly," continued Tidus, watching as Yojimbo parried a fiend with his blade. "So now we have Yojimbo. Money-grabber wants our money for every blow, every little thing he does."

The samurai glanced at him before returning to battle.

"And, hey, he's a damn good aeon," Tidus continued hastily. "It's just, well, think about it. What if two summoners had access to Yojimbo. Would he demand payment for every blow from both summoners?"

"Probably, yah," Wakka said.

"Exactly," exclaimed Tidus. "So at the end of the day, the summoner with the most gil is going to win, other aeons notwithstanding. It's like, well, paying to win."

Wakka frowned. The other guardians, who were busy minding their own business (and shivering), provided no recourse. But as the last of the monsters were felled, and Yojimbo disappeared, Yuna seemed ready to lend an ear.

"Sorry," she said, though Tidus didn't know what she was apologising for. "I didn't think that would take so long."

"Eh, it's fine, yah," Wakka said. He glanced at the other guardians. "No problem, eh?"

A chorus of moody affirmations greeted him. All of them delivered through chattering teeth. It was odd, Tidus reflected, that the only people who didn't seem bothered by the cold were Auron, Kimahri, and himself.

Well, maybe not so odd for Kimahri. And…

He frowned, remembering what Bahamut had told him. He couldn't think about that. Not now. Not until he saw Zanarkand with his own eyes.

"So then," Yuna said, smiling, "shall we go?"

The affirmations repeated.

"Good. Come on then."

The group started to move out, Yuna included. But luckily they kept moving as he grabbed her arm. An act he immediately regretted for various reasons, but he figured he'd dug his hole. He might as well keep digging until he struck gil.

"Um, Yuna?" he said. "I was, um, thinking…well…"

"Tidus, you're my friend. If you have something to say, say it."

Friend? Is that a good sign? Am I in the 'friend zone?' Is that a thing in Spira? I…oh, wait, better say something. Um…help!

"Tidus?"

"Yojimbo," he blurted out. "I don't think you should use him."

"Yojimbo?" Yuna asked. "Why?"

"He's…he's bleeding us dry," Tidus said, letting the words tumble out. "He's gouging us for every little act, demanding gil at each turn."

"Well, yes," Yuna said. "I don't use him all the time."

"Yeah, but-"

"And as summoner, as the one leading this pilgrimage, I think I'm entitled to say how our money is spent," Yuna said, showing some of the assertiveness she'd started generating since Bevelle. "But of course, I could summon him." She smiled. "If, you know, want to sort things out personally…"

Tidus looked at his sword. A good sword, one Wakka had given him. And right now, looking completely useless.

"Tidus?"

"Nah," the blitzball player said. "I'm cool."

"Good," Yuna said, still smiling.

She began to walk off. Quite at ease for someone drawing closer to her inevitable sacrifice, or rather, what was thought to be inevitable. Desperately, Tidus looked for some way to break the ice.

"Bahamut's your best summon by the way," he called out. "Just saying."

There was no answer. Likely because Yuna disagreed, he reflected. And that she'd be using Yojimbo even more often now.

Damn.

Maybe it came from knowing you were going to die, to perish summoning the Final Aeon. And that it was best to spend your money here and now.

And for that, try as he might…Tidus had no answer.

A/N

I didn't use the aeons that much in Final Fantasy X, and mostly it was to do some extra damage to bosses or act as meat shields for their more powerful attacks (e.g. the first Seymour battle). Still, some, like Yojimbo and Bahamut, were more useful than others. Though I'm left to ask, why does an aeon need gil?

Anyone?