WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Season 2, Episode 10 of Dr. Stone, "Humanity's Strongest Tag Team," now streaming on Crunchyroll.
Senku and Tsukasa may have finally found a way to coexist. In Episode 10 of Dr. Stone's second season, a momentary truce is struck between the two feuding parties, while a recent reveal might lead to stronger ties. However, this peace is interrupted when the true villain of this arc finally shows his hand, leading to a climactic battle that forces Senku, and a wounded Tsukasa, to work together to defeat him.
The new era of peace begins following the Mirai's revival, with the fluid even curing her ailments of the modern era. With that, Senku and the Ishigami Villagers are ready to wrap up this adventure. But as Chrome is taking inventory, he realizes some dynamite is missing. Shortly after, explosions are heard from the Miracle Cave. Further inspection reveals that Homura was able to escape from captivity. This could only be the work of one man -- Hyoga, who is down by the river with Tsukasa and Mirai.
As Senku catches up to Tsukasa, Hyoga decides to make his move. He lunges his spear to stab Mirai, knowing Tsukasa would protect her and the spear runs straight through Tsukasa. When Senku tries to save him from falling to his death at the bottom of the waterfall, Hyoga sends them both down and follows after.
The three end up at a location far from the help of reinforcements. Here, Hyoga finally discloses his beliefs to Senku: he believes petrification to be a chance to rid humanity of weaker deviations. It's a very Darwinist ideology. In direct contrast to Tsukasa who wanted a world for the young and pure to thrive, Hyoga only wants strong and elite individuals. To achieve this goal, he wants Senku’s help -- and he'll get it by force if he has to.
This sets the stage for another battle. Senku isn’t going to give in to any idea that doesn’t require saving every life, and Tsukasa is just starting to recover enough to fight -- even with a huge hole in his chest. While the impaired Tsukasa holds his own in direct combat, the dramatic fight concludes with a scientific move from Senku. He reuses the remnants from the cellphone to create a transformer under his clothing and delivers a high-powered voltage shock to Hyoga.
But the confrontation's ending isn’t as important as the motivations unearthed during the battle. Tsukasa recalls his revival near the beginning of Dr. Stone. Shortly after, he'd promised Senku that he would never be in danger again. Instead, Tsukasa had become life-threatening to Senku instead of being his shield. Despite a broken promise, Senku worked to save him, and Tsukasa knows how much he owes to Senku in return. This could be the restart of a beautiful friendship.
Their teamwork could prove to be a very domineering force in the future if they fully reconcile. Senku didn’t have all of his technology and materials at his disposal, and Tsukasa was severely injured. Yet they still proved to be a mighty force against the second most frightening man in the stone world. At full health and fully equipped, these two could accomplish just about anything.
