Mine Your Own Business

"We all get dropped sooner or later."

"Mine Your Own Business" is the 13th episode of Inanimate Insanity II and was released on November 10, 2018. It is the 31st episode overall.

Synopsis
When high-energy gems emerge, the contestants are sent into a mysterious cave to mine them out! A scary undertaking? Alone, perhaps. But luckily for them, it is a time for new friends, new allies, and new reluctant acquaintances! A simple challenge: grab a pickaxe and muster the strength to crack the shell. However, as the dig deeper and deeper into the cavernous depths, they find that truths behind the show's origin glow around them, waiting to be revealed. And, of course, among these truths is one of prominence: WHERE’S MEPHONE?

Prologue
The episode opens to reveal Fan recording himself doing an episode recap. As he does a recap of "Alternate Reality Show", you see Test Tube and Lightbulb exploring a cave. Lightbulb stumbles upon and befriends a purple robotic arm while Test Tube detects a high energy gem and walks up to touch it. You cut back to Fan, about to end the recap, when the camera suddenly switches off (presumably because of low battery). Test Tube approaches and touches the gem, causing it to glow intensely. You zoom quickly into Test Tube's eye as the screen fades to white. The screen quickly fades to black and the Meeple logo appears. It then fades into one of MePhone4's memories.

Memory #1
The memory is first displayed in MePhone4’s point of view while laying on an exam table at the Meeple Headquarters. Steve Cobs walks in, names MePhone4, then proceeds to introduce himself and discuss MePhone4's function but is cut off by MePhone4 trying to make a joke. Cobs attempts to correct MePhone4's joke but decides to work it out later. He then explains MePhone4’s tasks, nothing to MePhone that he may feel nervous due to his highly advanced emotion emulator. MePhone4 cuts him off again by asking if he had snacks. Cobs, unamused, goes on to explain that as his latest invention, MePhone4 doesn’t need food. Cobs walks up to a machine and activates it, finishing by stating to MePhone4, "I have the means to protect you." The machine lowers a screen protector on MePhone4, who instead focuses on the stars painted on the ceiling and reaches out for it. As the screen protector is pressed onto MePhone4, the screen goes to black and green glitches appear to first make the shape of Steve Cobs and then the Meeple logo.

Interlude
The intro plays and you've been brought back to the present time. Lightbulb attempts to wake up Test Tube and holds up her hand to ask how many fingers she was holding up, only to realize she couldn't hold up any fingers. Toilet and MePad teleport into the area as Lightbulb runs up and explains the situation while handing the gem to Toilet. MePad takes note of the gem and quickly teleports away. After Toilet claims he can teleport too, and fails, MePad comes back to tell Test Tube that she has earned immunity, confusing her and Toilet. MePad whispers something to Toilet, exciting him, and they both teleport away.

Elsewhere, Knife walks up to Fan, who is typing on his computer with the egg next to him. Knife closes Fan's computer to point to the sunset. Fan notes that he is still paying attention, pointing out the crack in his egg. Knife questions if he drops it, though Fan quickly defends it as Baseball walks in to provide a brooding comment.

Toilet loudly gathers the contestants together by banging on a drumset. MePad explains that the challenge is to find gems in the recently discovered cave. When a contestant touches it, they receive instant immunity. With 6 gems and 7 contestants, the contestant who doesn't get a gem is automatically eliminated. Fan questions the two co-hosts' actions, noting they've broken a pattern and that MePhone4 is missing, though Toilet quickly hushes him as MePad commences the challenge.

Challenge
Fan walks over to Test Tube, who is still frazzled and talks about her vision. Suitcase gets excited thinking that Test Tube's visions were similar to hers, only to realize that she was talking about something else entirely. Fan suggests to Suitcase if she would like to talk about what she's been seeing, especially since MePad and Toilet are acting weird along with Test Tube and Lightbulb starting to work together more. Suitcase agrees and they both walk into the cave. Test Tube begins to ask an unfinished question but dismisses it while Lightbulb excitedly notes a red X on the ground and chooses to do the treasure hunt challenge instead.

Meanwhile, Knife has entered the cave and spraypaints more red Xs on the ground. He starts to mine a rock, but hears a sneeze behind him from Microphone, who is invisible alongside Taco by wearing InvisiBows. After an argument between the two, Microphone offers Knife to join her alliance with Taco, which he quickly declines. Another argument ensues between Knife and Taco while Microphone notices another gem and decides to push Knife towards it, saying that she and Taco just want to help. His hand hits the gem and he's brought into one of MePhone4's flashbacks.

Memory #2
MePhone4 sits on a couch eating cookies and watching TV. Steve Cobs walks in, declaring that MePhone4 is watching "trash". MePhone4 defends the show and offers Cobs to sit down and watch with him. Cobs declines and walks away. MePhone4 creates some chips and scoffs at Cobs saying that reality TV is trash.

The flashback concludes as MePad and Toilet teleport in and declares Knife as the second contestant with immunity. They teleport away and take the gem with them as Microphone and Taco try to get Knife to join their alliance but he walks away muttering "Trash".

You cut away to Fan's camcorder footage as he begins to film Suitcase and ask her where they're going. Suitcase tries to narrate but Fan cuts her off questions the co-hosts' behavior and MePhone4's disappearance. Suitcase turns the camera around to point at Fan, now uncomfortable, who claims that the videos aren't really about him. Above them, Lightbulb is still digging her hole when the ground suddenly collapses beneath her and she falls into the cave near Fan and Suitcase. She emerges from the pile of rubble with a gem in her hand. Lightbulb holds it up and enters a flashback.

Memory #3
MePhone4 and Steve Cobs sit on the ground across from each other at Meeple Headquarters. While MePhone4 eats cookies, Cobs initiates a challenge for MePhone4 to create a tree. MePhone4 then creates a tree using his software, but it appears blue and glitches a bit. MePhone4 seems disappointed but Cobs reassures him and leaves and says he's expecting a spaceship by the end of the day. MePhone4 looks back at the tree, nervous, but then becomes determined to work harder.

Lightbulb exits the flashback and is dizzy at first but then tries to eat the gem. Right as it's in her mouth, MePad quickly appears, giving her immunity and teleports away with the gem.

You're taken over to Baseball, who tries to mine with his pickaxe taped to his foot. Test Tube wanders by and offers to help with her Tranquilizing Tracking Dart Blaster. Meanwhile, Taco and Microphone continue their search for a gem. Microphone attempts to bring up the events of the last episode to get Taco to talk. Taco, uninterested in the conversation, locates a gem above her and hits it with her pickaxe. The gem falls and knocks Taco off Microphone's head. The gem activates, though you do not see the memory. As Microphone picks up the gem, Toilet and MePad appear inside the cave and grant Microphone immunity as she hides Taco, who is knocked unconscious.

Back on Fan's camcorder, now held by Suitcase, she explains she thought Test Tube's vision would be similar to hers. Fan adds that he can never figure out how to explain his feelings but Suitcase urges him on. As Fan thinks about it, the egg cracks again. Meanwhile, Knife relaxes in a minecart when Taco and Microphone catch up behind him. As Taco calls out to Knife, he doesn't notice the track ahead splits off into two rails, one that's broken and falls into an abyss. As Knife's mine cart starts to fall off a broken rail, Microphone spots a lever by the tracks and changes their course. She quickly grabs Knife and drags him into her minecart with Taco.

Test Tube continues to help Baseball and points him in the direction of her darts. Baseball begins to talk about his problems with Suitcase and believes that if he just said something maybe things would have turned out differently. Test Tube says that she doesn't think it would have changed anything, explaining that after creating her own timeline with Lightbulb, she learned that the unpredictable can happen, teaching her to not repeat patterns. One of her darts beeps loudly as it discovers a gem. Baseball then mines the wall and activates the gem.

Memory #4
Cobs sits at his desk in his office examining MePhone4's data, noting that his performance "isn't quite optimal". MePhone4 walks in with a small boat in his hand to show to Cobs, who turns and quickly throws a blanket over a box, yelling at MePhone4 to not sneak upon him. After a moment, Cobs apologizes and says that MePhone is improving.

The memory ends and Baseball is confused about what he saw. MePad and Toilet teleport in and grant Baseball immunity, showcasing Fan and Suitcase are the final two.

Back in the minecart, Taco apologizes to Microphone for being reserved, though Knife doesn't believe it and starts to reminisce about Taco's actions in Season 1, particularly Taco's first alliance with Pickle. Taco tries to stop Knife but he warns Microphone to watch out in case Taco drops her too. Microphone defends Taco and asks Knife that if he doesn't join their alliance that he could at least not say anything. Knife agrees and considers it a favor to the duo. He leaves by warning them to watch out for Test Tube and Fan who are analyzing everyone. Suitcase now reads off of Fan's phone, where he's logged his feelings in a note. Test Tube enters and is angered that they're not doing the challenge. She drags Fan away to find the last gem while Suitcase starts to hallucinate. Taco appears, still invisible, and starts leading her to the final gem, but bumps into Baseball.

As she walks away, Baseball tells her not to let him hold her back. Invisible Microphone starts to lead Suitcase and she walks into a tunnel where the last gem is. At the same time, Fan and Test Tube discover Suitcase about to touch the gem. Test Tube remorsefully tries to shoot Suitcase with her blaster but instead hits invisible Microphone, who upon being shot turns visible and falls to the ground. Suitcase reaches and touches the gem, sending her into a flashback.

Memory #5
MePhone4 walks into a dark storage closet, containing broken and old inventions, including Mecintosh and Adam. At the very back of the room is MePhone3GS, whose screen begins to play a voicemail as MePhone4 approaches him. He turns on, startled, and starts muttering a phrase, "Please Cobs don't". MePhone4 runs as MePhone3GS continues until he glitches, out of battery and the power is off. The door to the closet shuts.

Suitcase shakes off the vision as MePad and Toilet appear and excitedly collect the last gem. They teleport away as you follow them to the location of MePhone4, who lies against Paintbrush's painting of Steve Cobs, his screen displaying a software error message. Inside his software, the 6 gems connect and restore MePhone4's memory as he wakes up. MePad says that he's been out for a while but his screen prompted them with a challenge to find 6 gems. MePhone4 thanks them as Toilet celebrates, exclaiming they didn't need Adam's help at all.

Memory #6
The mention of "Adam" triggers MePhone4's memory as you travel into a vision of Cobs building Adam, who is actually a robot. When Cobs tries to activate Adam, he doesn't work and is put in the storage closet where MePhone4 eventually finds MePhone3GS.

Back in the present, MePhone4 yells at Toilet as he roots him back to Cobs since he was hired by Adam, and Adam was created by Cobs. Despite Toilet's defense and MePad's pleads, MePhone4 orders Toilet to leave.

Elimination
Test Tube and Fan argue about who gets to keep the egg, as Fan claims he cares for the egg, Test Tube doesn't trust him. As they argue, MePad and MePhone4 teleport in. Fan notices MePhone4 and approaches him in order to fix things, though he summons the Rejection Portal. Fan, knowing his time is limited, explains to Test Tube that he doesn't want the egg to hatch, keep his patterns, and stay in his shell. Test Tube apologizes as Fan is pushed into the portal by MePhone4, becoming the fourteenth contestant eliminated from Inanimate Insanity II. Both MePad and MePhone4 leave as Suitcase and Test Tube look on sadly.

You hear Fan's closing monologue as MePhone4 brings MePad back to the cave to reveal a large hidden gem that MePhone4 instructs MePad to touch.

Memory #7
In this flashback, MePhone4 runs through the halls of Meeple Headquarters and discovers MePad, who's still in the downloading phase. MePhone4 grabs MePad and goes in an enlarged version of the boat like object which turns out to be a spaceship as he flies away from the MeCloud. Later, he goes into the cave and chooses to remove all his memories. After this, the gems fall out and vanish.

Fan finishes his monologue in his room in Hotel OJ, gets up, and turns off the camera.

Epilogue
After the credits, you see Test Tube sitting on a vending machine and hugging the egg. Baseball comes over and sits on the ground next to Test Tube. Baseball smiles and she smiles back for a bit but then looks back at the egg, which cracks a bit more which follows the events to Episode 14.

Contestants

 * Fan
 * Test Tube
 * Lightbulb
 * Knife
 * Baseball
 * Suitcase
 * Microphone
 * Trophy (mentioned)
 * Paintbrush (mentioned)

Meeple

 * Steve Cobs (flashback)
 * MePhone4
 * MePhone3GS (flashback)
 * MePad

Past Players

 * Pickle (mentioned)

Supporting

 * Toilet
 * Taco
 * Baxter (cameo)

Locations

 * Gemory Cave
 * Meeple Headquarters (flashback)
 * Hotel OJ
 * Dr. Fizz Machine

Non-Living Objects

 * Gemories
 * Alien Egg
 * Fan's Camcorder
 * InvisiBow
 * Tranquilizing Tracking Dart Blaster

Continuity

 * Fan's recap directly references the recaps done in the first season.
 * Gemory Cave is visited and explored, first appearing in "Sugar Rush".
 * Knife's line "I hear that one day she just dropped him!" references to Taco ending her friendship with Pickle in Journey Through Memory Lane/Part 2.

Cultural References

 * The top of the gems in this episode greatly resembles the "Diamond With a Dot" emoji, which Apple had released iOS 12.1 with 70 new emojis. The official Inanimate Insanity Twitter used said emoji in promotional content before the episode's release.
 * Several Pikmin 2 treasures can be seen in the closet in the 5th memory. Among these are the Prototype Detector, Doomsday Apparatus, Nouvaeu Table, Omega Flywheel, Proton AA, Durable Energy Cell, Fuel Reservoir, Superstick Textile, Exhausted Superstick, and the Furious Adhesive. In addition, underneath the only visible glass dome is what appears to be the Sulking Antenna.
 * Additionally, the audio log played by MePhone3GS has the title Adv_Log 404-PNF, which in itself is a reference to the PNF-404 planet shown in the Pikmin series.
 * This could also be a Reference to the Phrase "Page Not Found."

Trivia

 * The title of this episode plays on the word mine, referencing the challenge, and the phrase, "Mind Your Own Business".
 * This is the last episode the be released in 2018 and the last episode to be released in the 2010 decade.
 * This is the second episode where Taco and Microphone get a contestant eliminated. The first is Balloon in "Kick the Bucket."
 * This is the first episode wherein a character was banished from the show.
 * During the episode, it is revealed that Adam was possibly a robot created by Steve Cobs.
 * MePad and Steve Cobs had their voice actors changed this episode.
 * Steve Cobs' original voice actor, James Barkley was replaced by Peter Mancuso.
 * MePad's original voice actor, Grey Collins, is replaced by Justin Chapman.
 * He was changed, presumably due to a personal, inappropriate incident.
 * MePhone4S was indirectly mentioned by Steve Cobs during Baseball's vision in the line "I always did like that red."
 * A cardboard box featuring MePhone4S's glasses appears in Cobs' office but is quickly covered by a red blanket.
 * A picture of MePhone4S is hidden behind MePhone4's performance paper. This may be a reference to the running gag/easter egg that MePhone4S makes partially hidden cameos throughout the first season Inanimate Insanity.
 * This is the second season two episode that doesn't have anything for the viewers to vote on.
 * The first being Rain On Your Charade.
 * This is the first season two episode to have a recap.
 * This is also the first time the recap was done by a contestant (Fan).
 * Coincidentally, Fan’s voice actor, Brian Koch, used to do the recaps for season one.
 * At the end, while Fan sits on his bed talking to his camera, Baxter can be seen on the other bed. This could mean he shares a room with Paintbrush, or they're just visiting.
 * It’s likely it’s the former since there’s a picture of Paintbrush, Lightbulb, and Marshmallow on one of the bedside tables.
 * This is the first time the inside of a room that the contestants stay at Hotel OJ in is shown.
 * This is the first time there was a relationship between Baseball and Test Tube.
 * It is revealed that MePhone4 feels emotion thanks to his high tech emotion emulator.
 * It’s highly possible MePhone was the only Meeple product to have it at that time.
 * When inside MePhone4's software, the binary code translates to "Greetings and Salutations!", a reference to the start of the series, "The Crappy Cliff".
 * Multiple things in the storage closet scene were cut or changed, such as...
 * A scene of MePhone4 outside of the closet.
 * A discman beside Mecintosh was removed.
 * Some of the scenes displaying old Meeple tech were removed, including a brief scene where a computer mouse moves on its own.
 * MePhone3GS, instead of shutting down, keeps saying his mantra, and the flashback ends in the middle of it.
 * MePhone3GS' voicemail was originally a song in a music program, and it was named "C11P-COB5".
 * MePhone3GS' lines were originally non-electronic and also differed from the final product. An example of this is him yelling "DON'T!" upon seemingly waking up. This was revealed to be |a placeholder.

Errors

 * The episode’s thumbnail depicts the scene where Taco, Microphone, and Knife were in the train carts. However, Taco’s asset wasn’t the one with the broken shell as seen in the episode.
 * The episode's thumbnail also has the black bowtie on Taco completely missing.
 * In the beginning and end of the storage closet scene, Mecintosh is at an impossible angle.
 * MePhone in his memories does not have his original voice (from The Crappy Cliff).
 * However, this could be justified, as the writers probably wanted the flashbacks to be taken seriously.

Deaths

 * Lightbulb is shattered when Fan's shovel collides with her.
 * MePhone3GS is completely shutting down.