Healing Sickness

Healing sickness is a ailment often associated with healing effects.

## Overview

A number of healing technique exist, both chi/ki based and magical. While these are very potent, a known limiter of these is the problem of healing sickness. While not exclusive to actual healing techniques, it gained its name from those technique as it was most often observed with those effects.

## Cause

All living creature have, to varying degrees, an energy core that produces chi/ki and mana to varying levels. Humans for instance produce predominantly chi/ki with mana only in minor amounts and treated as a byproduct, while Kitsunes have pretty much the inverse situation, producing predominantly mana with chi/ki as the minimal byproduct. In all cases though, these energies are used by the body the to sustain it. When they're levels drop too low, the individual will begin experiencing increasing degrees of weakness and illness. Normally such conditions are transitory, and just need a bit of rest to recover the energy.

This is where healing sickness comes in. Most healing techniques involve infusing a recipient with foreign mana or chi/ki. This extra infusion speeds physical healing, but also bleeds into the recipient's energy system, in particular the energy core. The exact cause is a matter of speculation but it is know that this contamination slows the energy core's production of its own energies, and in extreme cases can outright stop it. Thus once the foreign energy is used up, there is now a large absence of energy in the body, resulting in a prolonged period of weakness until the energy core restores normal production levels. This recovery can take days, weeks or even months and in the most extreme cases lead to death.

It is important to note while healing is the most common cause, healing sickness can be observed from various other factors. The Ha Do technique, internalized, also can result in the same thing. Likewise, energy system attacks can exploit this principle as well.

## Symptoms

As already noted, those suffering from healing sickness have decreased mana/chi/ki levels for long periods. This consequently makes them quite weak. Those who boost their natural abilities with chi/ki often are so weak they initially can't even move with the sudden lack of energy and may need days to adjust.

Beyond that, lack of energy also slows natural healing in a kind of rebound effect and can leave the individual more prone to other illnesses due to this.

In extreme cases, where production of energy has completely stopped, the individual will generally die, putting a natural limit on how much external healing a person can receive as if they receive enough contamination to stop their energy production they will hit this level and die.

## Notes

* In AST, Kasumi and Ranko have both been observed suffering from healing sickness by name, but Lemon was also suffering from it and even pushed herself so far as to put her life in danger. All three had different causes, Kasumi from the use of the Ha Do, Ranko from healing itself, and Lemon from over reliance on an external mana battery that she depleted.
* Ranma in AST has weaponized this principle, attacking opponent's energy systems, both stealing energy away, and contaminating it to induce a light healing sickness like effect.
* Ms. Hinako is presumed to have been suffering from this same condition in her youth, although in her case from a faulty energy system that simply produced little energy. Happosai modified her energy system to allow her to steal the energy of others to power herself while also isolating her core to prevent contamination, although if she attempts to steal a mana user's energy this bypasses that protection causing her immediate extreme weakness.
* Self healing techniques usually don't suffer this issue. The reason is the energy used is just redirected, and not foreign. Instead the limit with them is just the user's available energy, and the user is essentially trading ki/chi or mana levels for physical recovery. However, those self techniques that utilize external energies would presumably suffer the same faults as non-self healing techniques.
* While unusual, it is possible to survive purely off external energies, although this causes a like vampire condition, requiring constant infusions of these energies. As an example, it is quite likely that Akuma, from Street Fighter continuity, is in such a state, forced to have the Ha Do on constantly to survive which has likely led to his altered appearance. Like Ms. Hinako, while not truly in such a state, has a similar situation, only able to retain her adult form with external energy.