As for why all the tropes mentioned so far centre around the start of the journey, mightn't it perhaps be because we, as discerning readers, tend to stop after that point if a journeyfic exhibits those characteristics from the very beginning?
While this is certainly true, the point is that there are more tropes and traps that a writer can fall into besides the ones at the beginning. Just because you manage to have an original first chapter doesn't necessarily mean that you've taken a fresh look at things from that point onward. For example, when reading a journey fic set in Kanto, one of the things I like to do is skip to the chapter with Bill in it. Even if the first chapter checks out (trainer got a starter that wasn't Pikachu/Eevee/author's favorite/traditional, trainer woke up on time, writer didn't bother with the whole "breakfast -> leave the house -> walk to the professor's lab" process, character is actually well-developed and likable), if I see that they've turned Bill into a Pokémon or trapped him in a costume just so the main character can help him change back/get out, I stop reading. It's not because I'm biased. It's because that's a certain sign to me that eventually, they stop bothering to come up with original plot points and have started to rely on copying the games and anime.
Then, there's other factors too. If your standard evil team members behave like the TRio, I stop reading. If your standard evil team members are ~*~darker and edgier~*~ but are still after taking over the world/destroying the world/awakening legendaries for no discernible reason, I stop reading. If your standard evil team is a
cult, I stop reading unless said cult is well-developed and have coherent philosophies besides "lol let's awaken Gozer." That's because these are all clichés in their own right, and they're massively important to the plot. So as soon as I see them, I know exactly what's going to happen in the story anyway. (It's probably best to
see my thoughts on villains if you're wondering what I
don't turn away from.)
And then, you've got the traveling companions. If the companion is of the opposite sex and acts like a tsundere, I hit the back button because it looks like you're setting up the Ash-Misty dynamic. If your character is basically a carbon copy of Ash's other companions, you can bet your britches I'm hitting the backspace key like it's my job. If your characters are competent and compelling
on their own, then I stay because you get what characterization is.
And the first battles. If your character wins, I get a little uncomfortable but proceed. If your character wins
most battles after that, I hit that back button. It's not because I think your character is a Mary Sue. It's because I think every battle is going to be predictable because I can tell you've stacked all the odds in your character's favor. I stop caring about the battle itself, even if it's extremely detailed and has characters pulling crazy-awesome stuff, because I know that unless it's a plot point that the character loses, what happens in that battle doesn't matter. They'll win, regardless of whether or not it's by deus ex machina.
Same couple of things apply to gym battles. The gym leader has to have some semblance of characterization; they can't just exist as badge dispensers. Moreover, the battle needs to be exciting in that the outcome needs to be questionable. Ash may have won all his badges eventually, but it wasn't unusual for him to lose the first time around -- or, in the case of the first season, not earn his badge through battling at all. (Hi, "Pokémon Scent-sation." Can we talk about how awesome you were as an episode?)
To continue on the subject of gym battles and clichés, quite often, a gym chapter consists of this: the gym battle. And that's about it. It starts with the character waltzing into the gym and ends with the character waltzing out with badge, and in between is basically nothing
but the gym battle. There's usually no character development for the gym leader during this chapter (and if there is any at all for them, it's outside of that chapter), and there's usually no effort to note gym puzzles or other trainers in said facility besides the gym leader. (As in, it's not that difficult to find the resident badge dispenser.) And this is quite odd and awkward for fic based on the games, but it's just as awkward for fics based on the anime, where even Ash might have had to jump through hoops to find the gym leader in their own gym. (Most first-season gyms were like this, if I recall, and in later seasons, you had gyms like Mauville City and Nacrene City.)
Then, let's talk about the Pokémon team. If they're basically ignored until a battle comes up, I hit the back button because congratulations on missing the point of a trainer fic. If they're treated like animals, I stay because yay for sharing headcanon. If they basically are carbon copies of Ash's team one way or another (examples: a Pokémon that refuses to obey and is subsequently violent towards the trainer for comedic effect, a Pokémon that has a crush on its trainer, one that was abused and abandoned because it's weak so it has an inferiority complex, and so forth), I hit the back button because I don't find those characters compelling. Even "funny" characters like a sarcastic (insert something here) and a clueless (insert something else here) interacting a lot doesn't hold my attention for that long because I've seen it countless times already.
And I could keep on going, but I guess the point is that there's definitely more that could be predictable in a fanfiction than just the beginning, and a lot of these things are elements a lot of people don't realize are clichés. It's definitely worth talking about what clichés
are besides just the ones in the beginning because a fic could have an original beginning but an unoriginal everything else. The reason why is because it's entirely possible to have a writer who's conscious of the standard list of clichés, but because that list only seems to cover the beginning, they won't be aware of what
else could be lurking after the first chapter. Hence, they'll go out of their way to create an awesome beginning... but fail pretty hard later on in the fic.
And even then, there's usually very little discussion as to why the clichés at the beginning are bad (or why they're bad at all). Quite frequently, discussions like this just say "you've got to be original" but don't really go into
why. They don't really detail that, yes, it's extremely bad if your reader can basically predict everything that happens from the beginning on out or feel as if they could, and they certainly don't mention that the reason why it's extremely bad for a reader to do that is because the fic stops being exciting for them. It's not really mentioned that a lot of clichés tend to ignore logic, like how difficult it might be to train a Pokémon that doesn't want to obey you at first and that the reason Ash could was because he nearly risked his life to earn Pikachu's respect. Not to mention it's never brought up what kinds of implications encountering a legendary at the start of the fic have on a character (if that even makes sense) or why a character needs to have a good reason for traveling besides "I'm of age so why not." Heck, most people don't even really touch upon why having a character hit up a professor's lab for their starter isn't always a good idea (besides "every other fanfic does it").
I guess what I mean to say is that it's okay to say "clichés are bad, kids," but if you're going to say that in a thread like this, you might as well discuss... well,
clichés. And you can't stop at just the beginning because that only covers the tip of the iceberg and (inadvertently) teaches writers that clichés for journey fics only exist in the beginning.
Or in even shorter, yes, good, successful fics generally avoid clichés later on in their storylines, but just because a story has missed every cliché normally present in the beginning doesn't necessarily mean it's a good, successful fic.
While I'm here, I'd also like to object to one other point in this thread.
A Pokémon league doesn't necessarily have to be supported by a government. It could according to your headcanon, but ultimately, it's a sports league, not a government organization. (If you're not looking at
Special, anyway.) While you'd still need some semblance of organization for the exact reason you mentioned, Ysavvryl (i.e., the fact that someone has to decide who're the gym leaders and whatnot), that can be formed independently from the legislative structure of society. So, you could theoretically have a Pokémon league or something resembling it in a lawless region; it's just that the rules might be a bit different based on what the people organizing it think would be important to have in place. In fact, we have one example of such in canon: Pokémon Colosseum.
