Tyler made it his mission to find him. Later on, Tyler sees a glimpse of his father when wishing from him through a wish monster but James runs away after being spotted. After James had Rusty write a letter to Tyler to check up on him, Rusty noticed Tyler's Energem and told James about it. Realizing he didn't have to hide anymore, he came to Tyler's aid by fighting Ninja as the Aqua Ranger and freeing him from the control of the corrupted T-Rex Super Charger. After spending lost time with Tyler and planning new adventures for the both of them, Tyler's Energem got cracked in a battle. In order to fix the Red Energem, father and son headed into the Sampson Caves to use the lava to mend the Energem.

When they realized, they needed more pressure to fix the Energem, Tyler wanted to use Dino Armor X power to dig, but James objected that the pressure and the heat would probably kill him. His son told him that they had the world to think about and ultilized the Dino Armor X. After the battle, James spoke with Keeper and James decided to leave the base and use his geology skills to find the Silver Energem. Tyler did not like the idea but his father reminded him they had to think about the world.

James returns once Zenowing is revealed to be the Silver Ranger and be in possession of the Silver Energem. He assists Shelby in creating the Spinozord. He goes back in time with the Rangers when the Energems were all collected and help defeat Snide. He returns to modern times with Tyler, Shelby, Riley, Chase, James, and Kendall. Presumably he continues to have adventures with his son and age normally.