Sometime later, Jenny was out the door and walking to the bus stop for school. On the way there, she noticed that everyone in her neighborhood was an anthropomorphic animal of some kind. Some dogs, some cats, some bunnies, some foxes, and everything else in between. She also noticed that they had unusual fur colors like lime green and navy blue and fuchsia. She felt like a character in some kind of cartoon or comic or something. When the bus arrived, she noticed that everyone else on the bus was a furry too. They all behaved almost perfectly human (aside from the fact that sniffing each other was the preferred greeting now) and despite all the extra fuzz it was fairly normal. She was surprised how easily she recognized her cheerleader squad mates despite how different their faces were, and she felt like she could settle into this new world as if nothing had really changed.
Of course, that was before the news report. Her friend Susan, who was a stocky chipmunk in this new world, had her phone tuned into a livestream of the news. The news anchor on screen was a blue and white furred husky in a blue plaid suit jacket and a red necktie. Of course, the most notable thing about him was that he was also an extremely obese blob of fat who explained that he was recently struck by an immobility strain of Blimptrophy.
"For the lucky members of the public who are as of yet unaware," he explained, "We are currently experiencing a Blimptrophy pandemic the likes of which our world has not experienced in almost a century. Civilians and essential workers around the world are suddenly and steadily transforming into either floating spherical balloons or obese immobile blobs such as myself." The feed cut to various shots of furries experiencing various kinds of inflation. She saw people turned into spherical balloons floating up into the air, and more people turning into obese blobs who were unable to move around. She also saw all manner of robot drones trying to help everyone get a handle on things. "Emergency Response Bots are operating as quickly as they possibly can, with the rate of inflation expanding across the globe at an alarming rate. Within the hour, it's predicted that nearly everyone will contract Blimptrophy before the appropriate treatments can be administered. Although, if I may speak personally, I think I speak for the minority of us furries who don't want to be treated. It's been a dream of mine to be this big, and when the Med-Bots arrive I would like to request that they don't give me the deflation vaccine and instead take me to one of those blob pastures where I can get pampered for life. That's right, I'm announcing my retirement right now everyone!"
"My Grandma was around when the last Blimp epidemic happened," Majorca, a goth antelope girl said, "She was one of the blobs. They say what strain you get is based on your genes or something, so rule of family history dictates I'll be a blob too. The Med-Bots better get that treatment prepared fast. I can't afford to lose my gaunt figure."
"Gosh, I'm a bit scared," Susan shook her head, "I hope I don't become a blob. I think I read somewhere that Blimptrophy is supposed to be uncomfortable who don't have what people call the 'expansion fetish' gene. I suppose being a balloon could be nice, but not forever. What do you think you'll get hit with, Jen?"