Ok, I made it back to the Red Cheeks topic. 
While 1st Edition was being sold, someone at WotC decided that Pikachu should have red cheeks. Maybe it was the Art Director, or perhaps a manager told the Art Director to do it.
However it happened, the updated artwork with Red Cheeks was given to the typesetter, who was told to use this for the next print run.
He did that, along with any other changes management had asked for.
That’s correct. I wonder if your WotC employee is Jill Waller?
She was the Production Coordinator at the time, and later became a Brand Manager.
She would certainly have a story to tell about this incident.
I found her through a couple mutual friends who worked at WotC, and tried to contact her in January 2024 about a Pokemon project I was working on, but she never replied.
When Japan wasn’t happy about the Red Cheeks, there was some finger pointing inside WotC.
The typesetter removed the Red Cheeks at the same time he added the shadow for Unlimited cards, along with whatever other changes they asked him to do.
Redo all of the cards & collation, and replicate the earlier sheet layout.
It seems that Japan being upset about Red Cheeks, is what stopped the Shadowless print run, and also stopped the E3 Promo print run.
The link below will explain the order for all the WotC early versions of Pikachu.
Print Run Order For Early WotC Pikachu Variations