Although perhaps better known these days for their military uses – not only as a mainstay of every army, but because the first "cannons" were improvised by being cut off the back of a dead Blastoise – in ancient times Blastoise were beloved as the enemy of drought, for they can dance to bring the rain.

Rain dances in the old days were an elaborate religious ritual with shamans leading, a whole village forming a circle, and a Blastoise at the center whose strange, awkward dance the people would copy whenever they went too long without rain. The rain would last for days, and would not only power up water-type attacks and allow thunder to strike with deadly accuracy: it would also nourish plants, refill reservoirs, and even give inland peoples momentary lakes in which to swim.

These days, with the domestication of superior rainmakers such as Castform and a wetter climate in Kanto, the original dance has passed into the history books, if only in description; the knowledge of how to perform the actual ritual has been lost forever. Elements of the old Rain Dance remain in warfare and pokemon battles, where Blastoise are still often used to support their water-type comrades by draining clouds from the heavens, if for a far shorter duration of time.